Academic
Exchange Quarterly
Winter 2005 ISSN 1096-1453
Volume 9, Issue 4
To cite,
use print source rather than this on-line version which may not
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Efficacy
and identification of professional self
Eleanor Peeler and Beverley Jane,
Jane, Ph.D., is Senior
Lecturer in Primary Science and Technology Education, and Peeler Ed.D. works within International and
Primary Education. At
Abstract
In this paper
we focus on issues identified by immigrant women from language backgrounds
other than English, who teach in schools in
Immigrant women teachers from language backgrounds other
than English (LBOTE) face many issues when they begin teaching in Victorian
schools in Australia. Although employment histories are sparse, the literature
suggests that this minority group is severely challenged to adapt in a new
educational environment. In many instances, these teachers lack knowledge of
local work cultures and are vulnerable to both political and social pressures (Viete, 1999). Not only are their skills
and experience under-valued, but colleagues may limit immigrant teachers’
professional articulation, thereby promoting their own superior position (Kamler, Reid,
& Santoro, 1999). A barrage of negative forces
and implicit racist attitudes can cause extreme insecurity and professional
isolation (Santoro, Reid, & Kamler,
2001b) that affect the immigrant teachers’
perceptions of self and self-efficacy. In this paper we report the findings of
a recent study (Peeler, 2005) that explored the issues that female immigrant
teachers confronted in their new teaching environment. These women’s
conversational interview responses reveal how they endeavoured to retain their
integrity while identifying their professional self.
Self-efficacy, the belief a person has in his/her ability to
carry out a task, can significantly affect motivation and performance. “An optimistic sense of efficacy fosters psychological well-being
and personal accomplishments” (Bandura, 1997:75).
People with low self-efficacy believe that failure stems from low ability and
such a perception may not easily be reversed. Those with high self-efficacy
believe that they can influence and even control their environment, and
typically demonstrate the affective characteristic of social efficacy.
A person’s sense of efficacy is immutable, social and
situational, in the way it responds and transforms, independently and
interdependently, in infinite processes of reconstruction and
re-identification. Kostogriz (2004) maintains that situational flows, or other people with whom a person
interacts, or are present at a particular time and place, shape the
construction of self. A person’s perceptions of self perpetually change and
transform, according to each unique interaction and the relationships attained.
Efficacy embraces awareness of self (Ivanic, 1998) and through actions and
interactions, presents to others the kind
of person one is in a variety of situations. For the immigrant teachers in
Peeler’s (2005) study, self-efficacy and identification of self-as-professional
were central to their classroom practice and student learning.
Previous studies have identified that immigrant teachers
must bridge any differences in educational cultures, by juxtaposing their own
self-knowledge with the social norms of others (LoBianco,
1999).
For immigrant teachers, meeting success on others' terms, or adopting
another’s unfamiliar teaching approach, initiates ongoing tension between
personal and group positions (Kostogriz,
2002). While trying to maintain their own
values, these teachers struggle to understand their new educational culture.
Expectations that newcomers must adapt and acculturate to dominant discourses
and conventions of social practice, are common (Farrell, 2000) and may be necessary when
students’ learning is at stake. Hence, immigrant teachers must acquire
appropriate socio-cultural knowledge and suitable teaching techniques if they
are to actively engage students in the classroom. However, immigrant teachers’
prior knowledge and experience are frequently under-valued and disqualified. As
a result, many immigrant teachers are unable to identify self-as-professional (Kostogriz
& Peeler, 2004).
In Victoria, Australia classrooms are multicultural in
nature. Despite diverse ethnic blends in the student body, immigrant teachers,
comprise only two per cent of teachers (Santoro, Reid, & Kamler,
2001a) and are a minority group. As such, they
must contend with language, culture and systems of knowledge that differ vastly
from those they previously knew and understood in their home country. While
Australia purportedly offers opportunities to immigrant teachers, scepticism
about their pasts and their potential, weighs heavily on their attempts to gain
acceptance. Censure of their English language competence and credentials,
criticism of their teaching style, and not knowing the cultural and social
subtleties of teaching, can confuse them and denigrate their morale.
Perceptions
of being a teacher, and understanding what teachers do, differ according to a
person’s socio-cultural knowledge. Construction of self as a teacher also
differs significantly. Immigrant teachers must construct a new sense of being
professional, by familiarising themselves with the culture of schooling in
order to understand their roles, responsibilities and relationships with
students, other teachers and their broader communities. The processes involved
in transferring knowledge, re-constructing self as a teacher, and developing a
sense of efficacy in their new environment, are not straightforward.
Immigrant women
teachers defining self
In
Peeler’s (2005) study, eight immigrant women teachers described the process of
becoming professional in a new educational culture. They came from a range
of cultural and language origins, and had varied teaching experience both
overseas and in
The teachers participated in a series of three
conversational interviews held over a twelve-month period. The interviews were
conducted in coffee shop venues and data attained formed narrative, poetic
texts, in which the teachers recounted historic, political, professional,
social, personal and intimate stories. Set within Victoria’s contemporary
education system, the stories acted as a social critique, and offered insights
into each teacher’s ongoing process of self-definition (Goodson, 1998). The study revealed
co-dependence between the teachers’ self-efficacy and identification in the
process of navigating change. Their sense of efficacy thus transformed and
shifted along a continuum between positive and negative according to the
situation and satisfaction in their task performance.
Kim came to over twenty
years ago as a refugee. Her teaching
areas are TESOL, Mathematics and Information Technology. She was qualified to
teach in
I
corrected myself … I changed my thinking and changed my method of teaching. She
suffered self-doubt and anguish, felt lonely and inadequate, I didn’t really understand much about the system … I felt like
quitting the job.
Kim’s story illustrates the tension immigrant teachers often
experience, between current and prior understandings. She felt pressured to
adjust and become more Australian by substituting new values for familiar ones.
Different approaches to teaching and learning are a major concern (Santoro et al., 2001b; Seah & Bishop, 2001), as are teaching methods,
roles and status, which can cause controversy with Anglo-Celtic peers (Hickling-Hudson,
1997). According to hierarchical traditions of
Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC), clear social distinctions mark teachers’
professional and social status. Teachers hold authority, prestige and
superiority, and demand utmost respect from their students. In contrast,
teaching approaches in Australia sway towards Western philosophies (Seah &
Bishop, 2001) and teachers must earn their
students’ respect.
Nina’s story
Nina’s story supports some of the
concerns identified above. She came to
You
don’t have sufficient English to comfortably enter a classroom of 26 students
who are normally unmotivated.
Mathematics and computers, her specialist
areas, have their own language; they are
not so language specific as other subjects. Despite the changes in teaching
practice Nina realised you are not alone in your own world. In
Recognising
and exploring a new language, new words, new country, and just re-establishing
everything you had there, here too. You win respect for your self too, not only
from others, it’s respect for yourself too … [it’s]
really rewarding to just being given that opportunity to win that respect. It’s
not assumed because you look different because you speak differently, it’s not
assumed that respect because you are winning that respect every time in your
new workplace and your study place or whatever.
Young Mi, Akiko and Aya
Young Mi, Akiko and Aya are teachers of Korean
and Japanese LOTE. Each experienced tension and confusion in their Victorian
school situations. Young Mi came to
In Korea they’re hierarchy
of teachers and students, so like students always follow and respect their
teachers, but in Australia there’s not this kind of relationship, so I feel
like I don’t know what I have to do, like what I have to cope with this kind of
situation.
Akiko
arrived in
In
‘Doing
yard duty’ can be a new experience for immigrant teachers. Sometimes Young Mi
felt like a schoolgirl herself, while at other times she felt ridiculed by
students. Rather than being friendly places, knowledge
communities, such as schools, can thus become hostile environments from which
teachers must seek respite, causing their sense of efficacy to be seriously
diminished. They are neither seen as professional, nor see themselves as such.
Aya arrived in
Often I have to confront
with the students … They get quite aggressive … I had to stop fighting among
boys, Year 8 boys and Year 9 boys, and I felt really scared … I just went
straight back to the staff room and cried. I was really shaking … I don’t feel
really safe to go around by myself.
Aya’s ideal was to be a resourceful teacher, who used
authentic materials, such as books, photos and magazines, and come up with different ideas for games.
Initially, she was happy when she began her first teaching appointment.
However, being by myself in class she
admits, I really couldn’t teach at all
last year.
I just couldn’t do any
enjoyable things … I couldn’t get their attention … I felt like there’s this
glass or wall in front of me and I almost cried in the class I cried a lot
after the class (laugh) … I felt like I was rejected.
Aya
now questions her decision to teach in
Relationships,
identification and self-efficacy
Associations with students
are central to teacher professional efficacy. However, they are difficult to
establish, and delicate to maintain. Relationships are significant in the
process of self-development (Gee, 2001) and articulation into a new
community. The nature of the relationship affects the ability to share common
experiences that potentially lead to a sense of belonging (Alfred 2000). Shared
allegiances generate solidarity that aids a person’s articulation of different
understandings into new discourse communities. Feeling undervalued can be
devastating for immigrant teachers and counters the ideals of multiculturalism
that embrace “a sense of self-worth … and optimism for the future … in a
socially cohesive and culturally rich society” (DETYA, 1999). In Victorian multicultural
schools there is the potential for immigrant teachers to engage students in
positive learning experiences by drawing on their personal and cultural
knowledge.
Young
Mi, described above, has been unable to confirm her professional status in
the eyes of her students, colleagues or herself. She lacks professional and
personal efficacy, as well as identity as a teacher. In contrast, Akiko and Aya have been able to establish credibility as teachers of
Japanese LOTE in their schools, and are identified as specialists in their
field. However, as Aya (above) described, it is not
always easy. In Kim’s case, she explains her feelings when she first arrived in
this country.
I thought myself
I would never become a teacher in
Fortunately, Kim recognises her own skills and knowledge, so
she realises that going back to teaching is easier than starting a new career. At first she suffers self-doubt and anguish, feels lonely
and inadequate, I didn’t really
understand much about the system [and] felt like quitting the job. She
recognises that speaking another language
is an advantage so, in time, develops confidence and a positive sense of
self, believing that with my talents and
with my willingness I can be as good as them (Australian teachers). Kim was
able to teach from an ‘undivided self’, which Parker Palmer describes as
an integral state of being central to good
teaching. In the undivided self, every major thread of one’s life experience is
honoured, creating a weave of such coherence and strength that it can hold
students and subject as well as self. Such a self, inwardly integrated, is able
to make the outward connections on which good teaching depends. (Palmer,
1998:15)
Conclusion
In Peeler’s (2005) study
reported in this paper, it was found that immigrant teachers’ perceptions of
efficacy are interdependent on their identification of self as a teacher, and
self in relation to various others. Initially, fragile relationships are rife
with tension, while in time, greater stability establishes positive
self-concepts. In their roles as teachers, the professional status and self-perceptions
of these women immigrant teachers were found to be dependent primarily on their
relationships with students, but at the same time relations with other members
of their community are also significant.
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