The Micropolitics of Teacher Induction

Abstract

This study investigated the political events characterizing the start of a teaching career. An interpretative framework was used to access the perceptions and meanings teachers gave to experiences encountered in their first years on the job. Life history methodology permitted three teachers to tell their stories of professional induction. Data analysis revealed that the teachers’ thoughts and actions were influenced and sustained in three streams of consciousness: biography, role demands, and the school culture. Biography included experiences drawn upon by teachers in making their way in schools. Role demands pressed upon the teachers at two levels: classroom and institutional. Finally, the norms and expectations of school culture influenced the teachers’ professional perspectives and standards of practice. Of particular interest to the researchers were the teachers ‘perceptions of the power relationships in schools and the strategies used for appropriating the power and status necessary to become accepted and functioning school teachers.