Teachers Matter

Summary

This co-authored book is based upon a four year study of variations in teachers' work and lives and their effects on pupils. It involved three hundred teachers of different age and experience, working in one hundred primary and secondary schools of different socio-economic status in England. The study is the first and largest of its kind. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the teachers, heads and pupils (including test results at key stage 1, 2 and 3, English and Maths) over a three year period. These concerned the impact on teachers' lives and work related to their own histories and to that of colleagues of similar experience working in similar contexts. Different patterns of influence and effect were identified between groups of teachers which provide powerful evidence of the contextual complexities of teachers' work, lives, identities and commitment in relation to agency, well-being, resilience and the associations between these and pupil attitudes and attainment. These have clear messages for policy makers, school leaders, teachers' associations and teachers themselves in understanding, supporting and sustaining their capacities to build and sustain classroom effectiveness.This distillation of the work presents those findings of the study which will be of direct interest to policy makers, teachers' associations and had teachers not only in the UK but also internationally. The book highlights the importance of career and professional development, the positive and negative influences upon these, the relationship between school leadership, culture and teachers' lives and how these relate to effectiveness. The work is original and highly relevant, since its messages relate directly to teacher recruitment and retention and the work-life balance, well-being and effectiveness agendas.

Author Biography

Christopher Day is Professor of Education in the Teacher and Leadership Research Centre at the University of Nottingham, UK.

List of figures and tables	p. vii
Series editor's preface	p. xi
List of contributors	p. xvi
Acknowledgements	p. xviii
Why teachers matter: policy agendas and social trends	p. 1
Studying teachers' work and lives: research contexts	p. 19
The VITAE research: a synergistic approach	p. 38
The schools, their teachers and their pupils: expectations, experiences, perceptions	p. 53
Teachers' professional life phases: a research informed view of career long effectiveness	p. 66
Emotional contexts of teaching: agency, vulnerability and professional identities	p. 102
What helps and hinders teachers' capacities to be effective	p. 124
Teacher effectiveness, pupil attainment	p. 156
Teachers who break the mould	p. 179
Real and resilient: how teachers sustain their effectiveness	p. 195
Commitment and effectiveness: contexts which make a difference to standards	p. 215
Future proofing school reform and renewal: why teachers matter most	p. 236
Notes	p. 258
References	p. 260
Index	p. 284
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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