Parent–teacher relationships in school micropolitics: beginning teachers’ stories

ABSTRACT

The article discusses parent–teacher relationships in school micropolitics based on beginning teachers’ stories. We employ a narrative approach and investigate how micropolitical conditions and strategies are portrayed in beginning teachers’ stories of parent–teacher relationships. The research material consists of narrative interviews with seven Finnish primary school teachers in the first and second years of their careers. The findings indicate that micropolitical processes play a part in constructing parent–teacher relationships. These micropolitics both enable and limit these relationships and influence how beginning teachers learn to cope with parent relationships. The findings reveal various micropolitical strategies that beginning teachers use to enact and construct parent–teacher relationships. Furthermore, the findings show that parent–teacher relationships do not necessarily include just parents and teachers, but are multidimensional, encompassing several intertwined relationships that micropolitically condition parent–teacher relationships. The implications for pre- and in-service teacher education and school leaders are considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Beginning teachers
• micropolitics
• narratives
• parent–teacher relationships
• teachers’ work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We acknowledge that students’ families can be very diverse. Instead of ‘parent’, ‘guardian’ would be a more inclusive term to use in educational contexts and schools and it is the term used in the Finnish National Core Curriculum. However, we use the term ‘parent’, as we used this term when interviewing the teachers, and the teachers themselves talked about students’ parents, moms, dads, families, or homes.

2. In this article, a beginning teacher refers to a teacher with less than two years of teaching experience.

3. A master’s degree is required for primary school teaching in Finland. Primary schools consist of grades 1–6 (students aged 7–12). Also beginning teachers are relatively autonomous in Finland and there is no inspection system. There is a relatively large amount of freedom in the curriculum for teachers. They can, for example, choose the teaching methods.

4. Few teachers dropped out from the research.

5. The interviews are a part of more extensive research material collected in the EMOT research project.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the research project called ‘Disentangling the emotional dimension in beginning teachers’ work’ (EMOT), funded by the Academy of Finland under Grant [number 265974] and by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Minna Uitto

Minna Uitto, PhD, is an adjunct professor and post-doctoral researcher within the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research focuses on the relationships and emotions of teachers’ work.

Katri Jokikokko

Katri Jokikokko, PhD, is an adjunct professor and university lecturer within the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research focuses on intercultural education, emotions, and beginning teachers.

Erkki T. Lassila

Erkki T. Lassila, PhD, is a post-doctoral researcher within the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. His research interests include teachers’ work as socio-material practice, gifted education, and narrative methodologies.

Geert Kelchtermans

Geert Kelchtermans is a full professor of education at the KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium), where he chairs the Center for Innovation and the Development of Teacher and School (CIDTS). His research focuses on the practices and development of educational professionals in their organisational and institutional working conditions.

Eila Estola

Eila Estola is a professor emerita within the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research interests include teachers’ work, identity, ethics, and early childhood education.