Discourse analysis of teacher and parent rhetoric about teachers’ work.

Abstract

Teachers and the work they do are often at the heart of debates on education. The literature is proliferated with discussions of teacher professionalism, intensification of teachers’ work and teacher stress. This study is an exploration of what teachers and parents think about teachers’ work and the explanations thereof. The intention was to explore, not only teachers’, but also parents’ everyday talk (rhetoric); that is, their conceptions, beliefs and taken-for-granted understandings about teachers’ work. The path to insight involved the use of a case study to produce data from six high school teachers and four parents of high school going learners. In-depth data were produced through one-on-one interviews with each teacher and parent participant, and through focus groups with each group of participants (teachers and parents separately). Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) discourse theory was used as an analytical tool which provided lenses to identify, not only the taken- for-granted, but also the competing as well as the challenged or altered discourses (in the form of rhetoric).

Juxtaposing teachers’ rhetoric with parents’ rhetoric revealed their points of similarities, differences and tensions. The analyses of both sets of data enhanced understanding of teachers’ work; moving it beyond parents’ and teachers’ beliefs. The study posits that the rhetoric is a class-based perspective. The rhetoric of parents (who come from low socio- economic class) showed that, despite their disillusionment about the negative attributes of teachers (such as laziness and unprofessional behaviour) parents are sympathetic towards teachers. I argue that parents from the low socio-economic background are sympathetic because they understand the plight of teachers who have to work with ill-disciplined learners, and sometimes under unbearable conditions of work. At the same time, I argue that teachers (who are middle-class) feel unsupported by the department of education,

parents and school management; and as a result, teachers feel powerless to challenge some of the departmental policies they are expected to enact. The study suggests that a multi-layered support will be beneficial for teachers and it may enhance their work experience. Moreover, collaboration between teachers, parents, learners and the Department of Education, may improve learner achievement, hence contributing positively to teachers’ work.