Casualisation and career pathing of supply teachers in state secondary schools in Mauritius=Ukulondolozwa kanye nokuthathwa komsebenzi kothisha abahlinzeka ezikoleni zamabanga aphezulu eMauritius.

Abstract

This qualitative case study examines the casualisation of teachers at secondary school level with the goal of better understanding how short-term contractual teachers carve their careers in response to their casualised status. Despite the importance of teachers in maintaining the quality of education, teaching is becoming a more non-permanent and casualised profession, potentially causing instability in the educational system. The study uses an interpretive lens to explore the ways in which supply teachers personally experienced, perceived and understood the casualisation phenomenon and further probes how these experiences influenced their career path. The conceptual lens of a ‘precariat’ was used as a starting point to elucidate the insecurities faced by supply teachers in relation to their casualised professional status. Data was produced with different categories of supply teachers as well as non-supply teachers in two phases. Firstly, an art-based methodology was used to compose metaphorical collages representing casualisation of teachers. In the second phase, each metaphorical collage was used as a trigger material to carry out stimulated recall interviews, which constituted the main data production tool. The data analysis included building case reports, which were compared and contrasted intra and inter category wise. A further analysis included unraveling supply teachers’ symbolic representation of casualisation and career pathing, firstly, in their narrative reports and, secondly, in the symbolism assigned to numerous aspects of the phenomenon in the metaphorical collages that they produced to portray the professional selves of short-term contractual teachers. The findings suggested that the participants interpreted the casualisation of supply teachers in complex but not always contradictory ways. The supply teachers construed supply teaching both as a no-career job and as an integral part of career-building. The study concludes that the supply teachers were concurrently enfeebled and empowered by their casual status, but they demonstrated hope and resilience despite being cornered by professional precarity. The contribution of this study hinges on the conceptualisations of different categories of supply teachers about the ways their casual status influences their career pathing and on the new perspectives around the ways they convert the challenges of working on short term contracts into leverages for agentic possibilities. The study has implications for broader academic theorisation since it uses Mauritius as a site to generate new knowledge about casualisation in relation to Small Island Developing States.

IQOQA

Lolu cwaningo luhlose ukuhlola ukutohoza kanye nokucabeka kwendlela yokuqashwa kothisha betoho. Ubuthishela bubhekene nenkulu ingcindezi njengalokhu kunokuqgoza kokuqasheka kwabo emhlabeni jikelele. Le nselelo ibangwa ukuthi othisha abasaqasheki ngokugcwele, okwenza ukuntengantenga kwezemfundo. Ucwaningo lwesimo oluyikhwalithethivu kulandelwa indlela e-interpretive ukuhlonza imizwa yokwesaba othisha betoho ababhekene nabo ngekusasa labo. Kube sekusetshenziswa ikhonsepthi iprecariat ukubheka lesi sihlava sokungaqashwa ngokugcwele kothisha okuphinde kwasebenzisa indlela e-art-based eyindlela yemetaphorical collage. Icollage le isetshenziswe ukuqoqa ulwazi lapho khona othisha bekhumbula izingxoxo zenhlolokhono, okube yilona thuluzi elinqala ekuqoqweni kwemininingo. Ukucutshungulwa kwemininingo kubandakanye ukwakhiwa kwezimimbiko okuye kwaqhathaniswa ezigabeni zonke. Olunye ulwazi lubandakanye izethulo zothisha abayitoho. Ucwaningo lukuvezile ukuthi akubona bonke abanethemba lokuthi umsebenzi wabo uphephile futhi unekusasa eliqhakazile. Othisha betoho bakubona ukusebenza kwabo kuyitoho ngethemba lokuthuthuka ekutholeni isipiliyoni esingabasiza ngengomuso. Okunye okugqamile kulolu cwaningo yithemba abanalo othisha betohi yize noma ikusasa libukeka libufiliba. Ukubaluleka kothisha betoho kuvela lapho kunesidingo nesikhala sabo lapho kushoda khona abantu abaqeqeshelwe ukufundisa. Izwe laseMauritius yilo elisetshenziswe njengendawo eyisibonelo, yokwenza lolu cwaningo, kodwa imininingo etholakele ingasetshenziswa ukubhekana nezinkinga ezingaphansi kwalesi sihloko ngokusabalele.