The tensions between the ideal and experienced: teacher–student relationships in stories told by beginning Japanese teachers

Abstract

This narrative research explores the tensions that beginning teachers tell about their relationships with students between the ideals they have, and how the teachers experience those relationships in the micropolitical and relational environment of their everyday work. The phenomenon is approached through stories told by three Japanese beginning teachers. The stories illustrate the tensions originating from within oneself, and how they relate to relationships with senior colleagues or the hierarchical relations within the school organisation. The tensions are meaningful for the emotional distance created between the teacher and his/her students. Implications, in particular, for teacher training are considered.

Keywords:

• Beginning teachers
• emotions
• Japan
• narrativity
• teacher–student relationships

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 265974]; the Japanese government (Monbukagakusho:MEXT) scholarship.

Notes

1. We understand a beginning teacher to be someone with 0–7 years of teaching experience. The term ‘beginning teacher’ was chosen instead of ‘newly qualified teachers’ (Aspfors and Bondas 2013) or ‘novice teachers’ (Caspersen and Raaen 2014) because it is frequently used in previous literature (Craig 2013; Le Maistre and Pare 2010), also in the Japanese context (Miyajima 2008; Shimahara 2002) and in the larger research project that this research is a part of.

2. Erkki, originally from Finland, has studied the Japanese language since 2005. He lived and studied in Japan 2007–2008 for one year and has been conducting research in a Japanese university context since October 2013. The co-author Minna (situated in Finland) became involved at the analysis stage of the research.

3. Japanese teachers are usually transferred to another school after 6 years of service as fully employed teachers and no longer treated as beginners (Shimahara 2002). However, as many aspects of working conditions vary between prefectures enough for the teachers have to retake the employment test when moving from prefecture to another it means that even teachers with reasonable amount of experience enter the schools practically as beginners.

4. Shidô can be translated simply as ‘to teach’, but as teaching is considered to be a holistic undertaking, most teachers consider every teacher-student interaction to involve shidô (Shimahara 2002, 33).

5. Supervising the after school clubs is voluntary in principle (Shimahara 2002), but beginning teachers, in particular, are frequently made teach them against their own will in situations where suitably skilled teachers are not available. Depending on the school, the decision is made either by the principals or teachers in charge of extracurricular activities.

6. Typically mentors observe classes, but do not give straight answers to problems or comment on the teacher’s performance without being specifically asked, unless in cases where the teacher is really out of line (Shimahara 2002; see Howe 2005).

7. Teachers in elementary and junior high schools are organised into functionally separate grade units led by a senior teacher (gakunen shunin), who hold quite a lot of power as the middle leaders of the teaching staff. These units deal with issues salient to that academic year and through close interaction, being situated physically close in the staff room, and shared tasks, create a strong subculture of teaching within the school (Shimahara 2002).

8. In Japanese schools, teachers commonly use diaries as a method of communicating with the students on a daily basis and creating emotional bonds with them (Shimahara 2002).