Affinity and anonymity benefitting early career teachers in the r/teachers subreddit

Abstract

Early career teachers experience numerous challenges during their transition into the profession. Reddit is a social media platform that allows users to gather around shared affinity while remaining anonymous. This study explores how early career teachers participate in the r/Teachers subreddit through posts tagged as “New Teacher” content. Hand-coding of 2,445 posts created in 2021 showed that early career teachers primarily seek information and advice but also share personal stories. Early career teachers’ reasons for posting varied according to their background characteristics. This research has implications for using an anonymous online affinity space for early career teachers’ preparation and professional development.

Keywords:

• Social media
• educators
• early career teachers
• affinity spaces
• shared affinity
• anonymity
• online discussion forum
• Reddit

Disclosure statement

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hunhui Na

Hunhui Na is a doctoral student in Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies at Florida State University. His research focuses on self-directed professional learning by early career teachers on social media. He is also interested in students’ self-directed learning in online communities (e.g., Scratch), where they can develop computational thinking skills. Follow him on Twitter @HunhuiN.

K. Bret Staudt Willet

K. Bret Staudt Willet, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies at Florida State University. Dr. Staudt Willet’s research investigates self-directed networked learning. He is most interested in what happens when students, learners, and trainees finish formal instruction, preparation, and training. Read more on his website: https://bretsw.com.