Instrucciones y respuestas del eoc libre

This section relates to the discussions I had with teachers about the impact of changing government policies upon school management and teaching practices. I have labelled it powerlessness because this is one of the over-riding concepts that seemed to describe teachers’ feelings about this topic.

During the stages of data collection, the school was subject to an Ofsted

inspection. Three years before, the school had received an overall ‘satisfactory’ judgement from Ofsted, whereas it had previously been judged ‘good’. Therefore, the school had attempted to address the recommendations given by Ofsted in order to improve the judgement, thus initiating a lot of change in school policy and practices. Achieving a ‘good’ judgement was seen as a key priority in a geographical area where there was strong competition from a much larger

comprehensive school. The pressures created by the impending visit were felt all academic year, as the school were expecting the inspection at any moment. Of particular interest in terms of this research are the teachers’ perceptions of how school management dealt with government ideals (which are perceived to be held by Ofsted inspectors too) and the impact this had on their teaching. Early on in the data collection stages, approximately a year before the Ofsted inspection, I interviewed Catherine, a head of department with a secondment within the senior management team and responsibility for continuing

professional development (CPD) across the school. Catherine felt that when the government changed their ideas about what schools should be doing it made teachers feel as if they were not as competent as they had previously thought.

‘…some people feel that their confidence has gone down whereas actually it hasn’t, their teaching hasn’t necessarily deteriorated. It may have even got better, but it’s perhaps a perception…I think we could all say with the new framework and increasing pressure on lessons the standards do feel like they’ve got higher and perhaps there’s a greater awareness of things like I don’t know AfL (assessment for learning) for example. So perhaps people who thought that they could do it before now know more about it and therefore feel a bit like they can’t do it.’ (Catherine, lines 35-41)

In other words, Catherine thought there was a dissonance between teachers’ actual efficacy and their efficacy beliefs. Essentially, she believed their efficacy doubts to be unfounded, based on a perception of low efficacy that did not exist. This perception may have been perpetuated by the discourse of government and management that appeared to change even though it was describing the same things. Sophie, who has been teaching for over 20 years, suggested that

management use ‘buzz words’ which can confuse teachers and that actually pedagogy has not changed just the language used to describe it.

‘…….sometimes you’re doing what they say you’re doing but you didn’t know they meant that in the first instance. I think over the years the words for different things have changed, the concepts, and people describe them in different ways……….people in more senior positions use all the correct

terminology but sometimes it’s presented in such a way that it makes it sound so academic that you begin to think, hmm, am I doing the right thing?‘ (Sophie, lines 49-57)

This suggests that efficacy doubts can be created simply by the use of new language for pedagogy and supports the concept that teachers may have

perceptions of low efficacy for skills that they do actually have. In addition to the confusion of new buzz words, changes in government ideals may create a

situation where teachers have too much information to take in and too many requirements to meet. Catherine believed that this could overwhelm teachers and create pressure that results in a drop in confidence.

‘I think it is because there is quite a lot of pressure on people and if you look at, if you like, the ingredients of a good or outstanding lesson there is a lot of pressure on people to include a lot of elements and I think that can knock confidence even if it is something that people can do.’ (Catherine, lines 48-

51)

Indeed, this ‘pressure’ can be seen in Jill’s discussion of changes to practice expected of her after the last Ofsted visit and the school’s decision to focus on more active pedagogy in the classroom.

‘…….before that I’d been confident that what I was doing was relevant

because I was getting good results……I sort of had a period of aah, well what’s wrong with what I’m already doing because I’m getting good results? A bit of a transition, a big transition for an older teacher actually.’ (Jill,

interview 1, lines 35-38)

Thus, the changing policies of government can be seen to filter into the changing expectations that school management have of staff, creating a situation where staff may feel bombarded with information and buzz words, causing them to question their efficacy. Holly suggests that the pressure to change created by the constant worry of the imminent arrival of Ofsted becomes ‘sustained’ over time, suggesting that it has less affect on teachers over time ‘…you get a bit immune to

it…’ (Holly, lines 73-76). This could imply that the motivation to improve is lost if

teachers are continually subject to an environment of change and improvement measures. So, short-term efficacy doubts create the motivation to improve but long-term efficacy doubts, where a person is continually bombarded with areas to improve and there is continual pressure by management, reduce this

motivation.

When interviewing teachers about moving the goal posts, it was particularly relevant to speak to teachers who had been teaching for more than 10 years, as it is likely that they would have experienced a wide range of changes in their

careers to draw reference from. Although educational policy is likely to have changed at many times in the careers of these teachers, it seemed from their interviews that they had found it most difficult to cope with more recent changes. However, it is difficult to ascertain if this is because recent changes are actually more ‘severe’ or ‘radical’ than previous ones, or due to recent changes being more prominent in their minds.

Jill talked about the feelings of powerlessness brought about by all the guidance thrust upon her from government, management and even the media. She had a period where she couldn’t understand why she should change her practice if she was getting good results. Jill openly discussed that her confidence had been knocked and that she felt there was more control from external forces such as government and school management.

‘I think to be honest until then I had been quite a confident teacher but there weren’t so many controlling factors from outside the classroom. I think we could be ourselves as individuals…’ (Jill, interview 1, lines 25-27)

There is also evidence that she perceives that the skill of teaching has been taken away from the teacher and placed onto management. This links with her

comments that good teachers should instinctively know what a good lesson looks and feels like (following instincts). Jill thought it odd when management started having staff meetings about lesson planning, where the implicit skills of teaching were being made explicit.

‘I think we started having meetings about lesson planning which you know I

thought was a bit strange at first.’ (Jill, interview 1, lines 40-41)

So, the feeling that teachers had to ‘conform’ to certain standards as suggested by external forces reduced Jill’s confidence and made her feel powerless.

‘….then I think suddenly the whole management (and the government!)…… I mean I don’t blame the management, the Times Ed everyone was saying this is what we need in lessons. And that’s what I mean., it controlled me , I felt controlled by it. I still do a bit.’ (Jill, interview 1, lines 43-45)

Some teachers I interviewed appeared less affected by changes in policy and practice than others. For these teachers, change was seen as inevitable and they had a pragmatic approach to it. Louise reacted to change by being flexible,

adapting her own unique teaching style to fit the new practices enforced by management.

‘…I've seen the school move from total freedom to having some prescription of what a model lesson should look like and I have developed my practice as a result of that. But there are still some things that I use from you know my training, modelling activities that type of thing. So I think this whole school approach to lesson planning… that has certainly changed how I teach. It's not necessarily changed some of my approaches I made my approach to teaching fit in....which I think from my observations of other teachers, other teachers have struggled to adapt to the changes that have come in.’ (Louise,

lines 112-120)

Sophie discussed becoming more computer literate and the fact that this was an inevitable change that she had to cope with. Although she still found the change difficult to master at times, she was able to also see the benefits of making the change on her teaching, therefore she also shows a pragmatic approach to moving the goal posts.

‘But because the schools have moved on and say we all need to be doing this, I have had to follow that lead so that’s helped me and it’s improved that’s

for certain. And it’s improved things that I do…………. I’d say the resources that I can provide the students with now have definitely improved and it’s improved my teaching……..but other aspects to do with admin and general day to day things very often it holds me back a bit.’ (Sophie, lines 65-75)

For Louise and Sophie, moving the goal posts did not threaten their own teaching approach as much as it did for some colleagues because they learnt to work within the constraints. This may explain why they did not appear to feel powerless. They had learnt to cope with change and make it work for them. Although they had both been teaching for a considerable number of years, this did not differentiate them from other colleagues who did feel powerless, as many of these teachers had been teaching for a long time too.