DEDICATION
6.4 EXTENDED DISCUSSION OF THEME TWO
Department of Education, when they are asked to teach subjects which they have very little or no content knowledge in. The need for the teachers’ major subjects to match the subjects they are employed to teach by the Department of Education as proposed by Zenith would perhaps mean that due to the shortage of teachers in certain fields / subject departments, teachers may find themselves teaching subjects that are outside of their field.
The rhetoric of expertise was strongly linked to the rhetoric of a good teacher which, together, provided positive experiences for the learners. Teachers who were deemed to be experts in their work were seen by the parent participants as having the ability to use their advanced knowledge and skills for the betterment of all learners in their classrooms.
purposes improved the teacher’s performance and the learners’ learning experience so that there would be no learners left out, as stated by Zenith.
Sharon’s suggestion (SP31) assumed that good qualifications equalled good teaching and therefore, quality education. Her suggestion coincided with Miller’s (2012) idea of a good teacher who is supposed to be well grounded in academic knowledge and be able to challenge learners to think critically.
The aspect of good teaching is often linked to caring which is regarded as an emotion (Darby, 2008; Zembylas, 2003). Therefore, it was not surprising that the parents talked about good teachers in a gendered way which positioned female teachers as good teachers because, as women or mothers, they were usually associated with the ethic of care (Chikoko, 2015).
It was apparent that the parent participants saw teachers’ work as difficult and stressful but also recognised that there were teachers who rose above all the difficulties and stressors in their work. Both Sharon’s and Barbara’s views about teachers using their personal times to do the teaching work were in agreement with observations about the interconnectedness of the teachers’ professional and personal lives (Alsup, 2006; Bukor, 2013; Crosswell & Elliot, 2004). Being passionate about the work that they do, teachers drew from their personal reserves or resources in order to achieve the professional expectations. What Sharon and Barbara foregrounded was the time that was invested by teachers at school in doing their work. This rhetoric was silent about the time that was invested by teachers outside of school hours or site (Crosswell & Elliot, 2004). Perhaps this silence was due to the fact that, not all parents were aware about all the nuances of teachers’ work.
Sharon used the metaphor of a ‘calling’ to explain the kind of commitment that some teachers display towards their work. A ‘calling’ is closely linked to a vocation which, in the opinion of Hackett and Lavery (2010), implies the work that is done to provide service to others (learners) whilst the service providers (teachers) remain personally fulfilled. It can then be argued that Sharon and Barbara found the dedicated, committed or passionate teachers to be intrinsically motivated to do their work irrespective of the external circumstances (Chikoko, 2015). The ultimate goal for such teachers was the best interest
of the child. Whether teachers were teaching beyond school hours or they attended to learners’ individual needs, the focus was on the betterment of the child. For such teachers, Day (2004) observes, “passion is not an option [but] it is essential to high-quality teaching” (p. 2).
Zenith’s idea (ZP26) of dedication was in line with the notion of teaching which prioritises moral practice over technical proficiencies (Day, 2004), or teaching that shows emotional attachment (in a positive way) to the work (Crosswell & Elliott, 2004). Zenith understood that teachers who had strong commitment to their work were often driven by good personal imperatives (O’Connor, 2008; Zembylas, 2003), and by their political interests (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002). For Zenith, teachers were passionate or dedicated when they taught book knowledge as well as when they taught learners about patriotism.
Both Sharon (SP6) and Zenith (ZP32) highlighted the need for expert teachers in the education of children. Their view was congruent with ideas of other education researchers who justified the necessity for expert teachers in the schooling system. Expertise is defined to mean ‘principled knowledge’ (Alexander, 2003); ‘exceptional knowledge’
(Hattie, 2003); ‘sound knowledge base’ (Huntly, 2008). By a teacher having principled knowledge, Alexander (2003) means that the teacher has well-integrated and relevant knowledge which when disseminated in a captivating manner is highly likely to promote high learner achievement. Similarly, Hattie’s (2003) exceptional knowledge refers to a teacher who uses his/ her integrated knowledge to organise, combine or modify aspects of a lesson to suit the needs of the learners and thereby influence positive achievement.
For Huntly (2008), expert teachers are those who use their sound knowledge base of the curriculum, the pedagogy and the learners, to provide favourable learning experiences for high learner achievement.
When teachers excel, the assumption is that they are doing quality work, therefore learners are getting quality education. Perhaps, Zenith was speaking from her own experiences whilst in school under the apartheid regime, where in most Black schools, teachers were either under-qualified or unqualified (Douglas, 2005), and therefore not much excellence displayed, with mostly negative experiences for learners.