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Not another brick in the wall : a qualitative study of teachers struggling with quitting or staying in the service
Author
Ng, Yew Hong
Supervisor
Bopry, Jeanette
Williams, Michael D.
Abstract
Teachers quitting the service is a major problem for many countries. In Singapore, the discussion on teachers leaving the service is largely based on statistical data, as well as surveys and random exit interviews of teachers leaving the service. Independent, qualitative research on teachers quitting the service is almost non-existent. This research aims to investigate the lived experiences of seven teachers who have, at one point or the other in their professional lives, struggled with deciding whether or not to quit the service. A combined methodology of hermeneutic phenomenology and narrative inquiry based on a constructivist epistemology was used to interpret the meaning of struggling with the choice of staying or leaving. For data collection, a virtual social community was setup. The participants were given questions upon which they posted their responses on the community website, in the format of a web blog. The participants then commented on each other’s experience by adding comments to each other’s blog. A face- to-face interview was then done with all participants in groups. Narrative analysis was used to analyse the data and guide the writing of the report. The research has found a sense of meaninglessness derived from practices of education misaligned with the individual’s perceived purpose of education, which coupled with a refusal to conform to these practices drove the research participants toward the crossroad of deciding whether or not to quit.
Date Issued
2008
Call Number
LB2833.4.S55 Ng
Date Submitted
2008