The status of teachers
and how might we measure it?
Linda Hargreaves & Julia Flutter
Faculty of Education
Status …
• A struggle …
• Loss of status excites the brain more than losing money
• Alain de Botton equates it with wanting to be loved
• ‘ sto stare …. Latin for standing in society
• More than simple economic wealth – also determined by cultural and
life style choices
• The right to the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship – the ‘sociolegal entitlements of the individual’ (Turner, 1988)
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Percent rating ( 1 very low; 5 very high)
Perceptions of teacher status over the years in
England (2006) - teachers’ pessimism
5
4.5
4
1967
3.5
1979
1988
3
1997
2003
2.5
2006
2
1.5
1
Teachers
Teaching assistants
Faculty of Education
Governors
Parents
Occupational status of teachers
Three components (Hoyle, 2001)
• Occupational prestige
• public perception of the rank of teaching in a hierarchy of occupations
• Occupational status
• Is teaching a profession or not according to ‘knowledgeable others’?
• Occupational esteem
• Public regard for teachers’ care, commitment, competence
In everyday terms, status of teachers usually means occupational prestige
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The occupational prestige of teaching
(simplifed adaptation from Hoyle, 2001)
Number of children
 Number of teachers
 Limited budget
 Low pay
Children
as clients
Relationship with pupils
 Intermediate world
between childhood
and adulthood
 Pupils might get out
of control
Ambiguities in education
 Diffuse roles
 diversity of outcomes
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Supply of people?
women:
unqualified/less
qualified people
All cells impinge
on the image of
teaching
What exactly is the
teacher’s
knowledge and
expertise?
Occupational
PRESTIGE of
teaching
Contemporary factors likely to affect teacher status
• Economic downturn – job satisfaction and pay
• USA (2012 Metlife survey)
• job satisfaction at lowest ebb for 20 years
• 75% say schools have faced budget cuts
• 67% say schools faced teacher redundancies
• 60% report increased class sizes
• Similar story in Europe : Cuts in Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal
• ‘Status panic’ in France
• But salaries have risen in Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, Iceland
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More changes likely to influence status
• Prescriptive teaching methods (teachers as generalists)
• Emphasis on accountability through tests, inspections, league tables
• Rise of private tutoring
• Teacher mobility and migration – an increasing phenomenon
• Feminisation of the profession
• negative correlation between salaries : GDP and % women to all
primary teachers but not in Central Africa – UNESCO 2010
• Influence of the media?
• Teacher voice
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12 case countries in the report
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A range of states of teacher status
• New Zealand – status depends on ‘fame, fortune and power’
• Ghana – low pay, low living standards, but considerable investment in
engaging young people in teaching
• Finland – teaching considered top career over other professions; highly
competitive; women enjoy high status in Finland
• India – rapid decline in teacher status when state education introduced.
Role diffusion a problem – e.g. teachers to promote family planning
• Egypt – teachers despised; very poorly paid; private tutoring seriously
undermines status
• Spain – primary teachers enjoy higher status than their secondary
counterparts
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Public perceptions of teacher attributes in Spain
Table 2: Public perceptions that teachers have ‘A lot’ or ‘Quite a lot’ of the named attribute (%) (February, 2013)
Attribute
Kindergarten
Primary
Secondary/high
They are well-paid
38.6
40.8
44.7
They have social prestige
46.3
88.9
54.0
They have to have thorough training
84.4
88.5
91.7
They are allowed to develop personal creativity
71.9
71.0
67.7
They have to assume responsibilities
92.9
93.1
90.7
They need a strong vocation
92.3
92.5
91.4
Compiled from CIS. Center of Sociological Research. 2013. (N=2470)
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The media effect …but in England, press reporting has
changed since the 1990s
• ‘I think .. teachers get a better press than they think they do. I think they
get more exposure than many other public servants, for good reason,
but I think that the cliché that the media represents teachers in a bad
light .. is a bit anachronistic now’ (Education Correspondent - ‘Quality’ daily paper)
Changes in news reporting since 1990s (Hansen, 2009)
• Grammatical change (from objects to subjects)
• Lexical change (from confrontational to promotional language)
• ‘Teacher’ now carries powerful positive connotations
• Education news now prominent and high status
• Only other profession close to ‘teacher’ in headlines was ‘doctor’
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How can we assess teacher status?
• Several contextual layers to take into account
• National characteristics of education
• Establishment? Stability? universal primary education?
• Unions - how well placed to assess teacher status?
• Possibility of two questionnaires according to state of education
• Use of McArthur ten rung ladder as ‘litmus test’ ?
• Use of comparative ratings
• Perceptions of change in teacher status over time
• Relative status of kindergarten, primary and secondary teachers
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Conceptual framework: from distal to proximal contexts
CONTEXTUAL LAYER
Society
Education system
Teaching force
Regional/Local
Own School
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ISSUES RELEVANT TO
STATUS
• History, economic stability
• Demand, supply, source of
teachers
• Pay and conditions
• Longevity
• Stablity
• Complexity (public/private)
• Recruitment –entry qualifications
• Retention
• Initial training and CPD
• Cooperation or competition
• Links with local schools
• Relationships with community
• Internal relations
• Leadership style – democratic?
• Sense of trust and responsibility
• Resources and facilities
Look at this ladder . If a very high status occupation was on the top rung, and a
very low status occupation on the bottom rung, which rung would teaching sit on
in your local area / region / national context?
High Status
Occupation
Low Status
Occupation
High Status
Occupation
Low Status
Occupation
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High Status
Occupation
Low Status
Occupation
Example of comparative ratings to define high status
To what extent are the statements below true of a high status profession and the teaching profession,
1 = not at all true and 5 = very true?
True of a
high status profession
True of the
teaching profession
1 2 3 4 5
Has high entry qualifications
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Requires rigorous training
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Enjoys good working facilities
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Members trusted to use their
judgement in clients’ interests
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1 2 3 4 5
mean rating (1 = strongly disagree; 5 =
strongly agree)
Defining‘a high status profession’and
the teaching profession in England (2006)
Reward and Respect
Control and Regulation
5
4.5
4.33
4.21
4.35
4.16
4
3.5
3.51
3.44
3.05
2.88
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
High Status
Profession
2003
Teaching
profession
2003
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High Status
Profession
2006
Teaching
profession
2006
Perceptions of change in teacher status over time
Change in teacher status over the years (on a scale of 1 (very low) to 5 (very high) )
Year
1990
2000
2010
Very low
Very high
• Years could be significant event (change of government, major
educational reform) or just equal intervals as shown
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Percent rating ( 1 very low; 5 very high)
Perceptions of teacher status over the years in England
(2006) (critical dates)
5
4.5
4
1967
3.5
1979
1988
3
1997
2003
2.5
2006
2
1.5
1
Teachers
Teaching assistants
Faculty of Education
Governors
Parents
Main Topics to be considered
National level
• Demand and supply of teachers - mobility and migration
• Entry qualifications and competition
• Respect for education
• A voice for teachers?
• Public and private sectors?
Education system
• Trust and autonomy
• Control of entry to profession
• Recognition of advanced teaching skills
• Pay and conditions?
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Topics at each layer for consideration
Regional/local level
• School cooperation or competition
• Provision of local training for teachers
• Relationships with community
• Opportunities for research
School
• Leadership style
• Trust and responsibility
• Internal relations
Individual teacher
• Self efficacy, commitment, motivation
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Item suggestions from New Zealand
(Hall & Langdon, 2006)
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Concluding comments
• Hoyle’s determinants of teacher status remain valid over time and place
although they vary in impact from place to place
• The achievement of universal primary education should raise not lower
teacher status, if teachers are trained
• Training and professional development, and greater competition to train
as a teacher, will promote teacher status
• Being involved in research is now perceived (in England) as status
raising
• Teachers need a voice to reveal their professionalism as well as basic
needs to make the public more aware of their responsibilities and
expertise
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Teacher organisations
• are uniquely well placed, being in touch authentically with individual
teachers and with government ministers
• to promote teacher voice
• to collaborate with governments on reforms
• to increase public awareness of teachers’ work and expertise
• to make this first step in consulting on the determinants of teacher
status, how they may vary with national and local conditions
• and to bring them to the fore
Faculty of Education
Thank you!
Merci bien!
Faculty of Education