Cultivating professional agency: stories of novice teachers in public primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

This research dissertation entitled ‘Cultivating Professional Agency: Stories of Novice Teachers in Public Primary Schools in KwaZulu-Natal’ presents an understanding of the lived personal and professional experiences of novice teachers and the ways in which they cultivate professional agency in public primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal. This research study aimed at generating in-depth information in order to explore and understand deeply the novice teachers’ stories of cultivating professional agency. This study was conducted with a specific group of novice teachers. Each of the four research participants are either a male or female; Indian or African; a Foundation Phase, Intermediate Phase or Senior Phase teacher; and are teaching in quintile rank 5 public primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This qualitative research study is located within the interpretivist paradigm and uses narrative inquiry as the research methodology. This allowed me to understand the lived experiences of the novice teachers from the perspective of the participants as they negotiated their meanings of self. Multiple methods of generating data were used for this research study, which included: collage inquiry, artefact retrieval, metaphor drawing and unstructured interviews. The data generated allowed me to produce rich and thick stories of novice teachers. From the storied narratives, I was able to get glimpses of their lives as novice teachers and understand how they make meaning of self in their public primary schooling context in KwaZulu-Natal. The storied narratives were then analysed and interpreted through storied vignettes and themes. According to literature, novice teachers possess a weak sense of professional agency. However, the analysis and interpretation of this research study revealed that Luke, Lucy, Diya and Zenzile (pseudonyms) negotiated particular meanings of self, learning practices and relationships in and through which they exercised their professional agency in order to be agentic novice teachers within their public primary schooling contexts in KwaZulu-Natal. This research dissertation contributes uniquely to the field of education, more specifically adding to the growing body of knowledge on novice teachers and professional agency in public primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.