Educational Research Vol. 43 No. 1 Spring 2001 33–46
Teaching young children: perceived satisfaction and stress Viv Moriarty, Suzanne Edmonds, Peter Blatchford and Clare Martin, Institute of Education, University of London, 24 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AA
Summary This paper explores how early years teachers feel about their work. Responses to an open-ended questionnaire indicated that teachers found working with young children both satisfying and rewarding. However, they felt they were being impeded by external factors, such as educational change and current curriculum initiatives, which caused them stress. More speci cally, teachers expressed frustration in implementing policies that they felt were contrary to their own pedagogical understandings and professional values. It is concluded that teachers need to be more actively involved with consultation processes that affect their work. Keywords: early education, perceived satisfaction and stress, policy changes, teachers’ views, key stage 1 teachers
Introduction This paper reports ndings from a questionnaire sent to reception and Year 1 class teachers in England during the summer term 1998. The aim of the questionnaire was to obtain from teachers their own feelings about their job, and speci cally, their views on what they found stressful about their job and what the main reasons were for feeling satis ed or dissatis ed with their job. The study focused on teachers of the youngest children in school at a time of rapid change in education. At the time the questionnaires were completed, teachers in schools in England and Wales were coping with the new demands of the National Literacy Strategy and preparing for the introduction of the National Numeracy Strategy. The literacy and numeracy frameworks were established as the result of anxieties expressed by the Government concerning standards of achievement in literacy and numeracy by children, especially in primary schools.
Address for correspondence: Viv Moriarty, Child Development and Learning, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL. Educational Research ISSN 0013-1881/print/ISSN 1469-5847 online © 2001 NFER http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/00131880010021276
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The National Literacy Strategy (implemented by schools from September 1998) sets out in some detail learning outcomes for literacy for each year group in the primary school and recommendations for the way literacy should be taught. From September 1999, similar procedures for numeracy were implemented in primary schools. Prior to these initiatives, early years teachers in reception classes had to implement the Desirable Outcomes for Children’s Learning (SCAA, 1996a), which described areas of learning to enable children to move on to the National Curriculum requirements at ve years of age. These were replaced in September 2000 by the Early Learning Goals (QCA, 1999). Additionally, from Autumn 1998, reception class teachers have had to carry out school-entry or Baseline Assessments (SCAA, 1996b) with children during their rst term in school. The National Curriculum itself was changed in 1995 and, following the introduction of the literacy and numeracy strategies, there have been many Government documents sent to teachers in schools to give guidance for delivering other subjects in the curriculum.Together with earlier reforms introduced by the previous Conservative Government, it can be seen that teachers have been subjected to a great deal of incremental change over a long period of time. Given the continuing changes teachers have been experiencing, it was considered important to nd out how teachers, who necessarily have to implement policy, feel about their job. Although there have been many representations on behalf of teachers, for example, by Teacher Associations, it is less clear what the ordinary class teacher feels about her job in the context of so much externally imposed reform. There are other recent changes. There has been concern expressed that teachers do not enjoy the prestige and respect they once did, and that this has led to more dissatisfaction with their careers. There is also concern about what is perceived to be an increase in dif cult behaviour among even very young children and the extra strains this has placed on teachers. This has not been helped by large classes at primary level (see Blatchford, Goldstein and Mortimore, 1998), though recent legislation has set a maximum of 30 on class sizes at key stage 1. A nal concern has been directed at the recent lowering of age of entry into school, that has resulted from many schools altering their policies on entry into reception classes. This has placed added burdens on reception teachers who, like others concerned with young children, may have worries about the appropriateness of the reception class and curriculum to such young children. The present study asked teachers to respond to an open-ended question with their comments and views regarding how they feel about their job. This was addressed in terms of what they nd most stressful and the main reasons for satisfaction/dissatisfaction with their current job. This is an important area of research as it highlights issues that concern teachers, and their perceived stress, which previous research has found to be positively related to subsequent experienced stress and mental ill-health (Pratt, 1978; Kyriacou, 1989). Previous studies that have identi ed causes of teacher stress have tended to focus on particular populations and there is a dearth of recent research in primary schools looking at these issues. Pratt (1978) revealed that primary teachers found the behaviour of pupils caused them the most stress. However, since that time there has been a general shift away from concentrating on issues surrounding children’s behaviour as the main causes of teacher stress towards a recognition that external pressures play a more dominant role in causing teacher stress in the 1990s. Travers and Cooper’s study for the National Association of School Masters and Union of Women Teachers (1996) found that,
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while pupil behaviour was the primary factor causing stress among teachers, changes in education was the fourth most cited factor of stress. These ndings are important as the survey indicated that a large proportion of teachers intended to leave their profession, with 66 per cent reporting that they had actively contemplated leaving over the previous ve years. While these ndings are useful in recognizing the consequences of perceived stress and the role of external processes as a cause of stress, Travers and Cooper’s study was limited in its scope as it only surveyed union members and was mostly concentrated in secondary schools.Additionally, these studies, and others, have tended to use predetermined options which teachers are required to rate. Where a more qualitative approach has been used (e.g. Evans, 1998), rich data have been obtained concerning teacher morale and attitudes to work, though such studies are reliant on a small number of cases. It was therefore felt timely to obtain a detailed but fairly largescale survey of primary teachers’ views about their job. This paper took advantage of results that came from an open-ended questionnaire sent to teachers as part of a large-scale study of class size differences in schools at key stage 1.
Method Questionnaires were completed in the summer term 1998 by 151 reception teachers and 208 Year 1 teachers (see Blatchford et al., 1998, for more information on the background to the project). The project followed two large cohorts of pupils throughout key stage 1 comprising approximately 10,500 children in total, and data were collected at the levels of the child, teacher, class and school. The teachers came from 350 schools in 14 local authorities (LEAs) throughout England. The end-of-year questionnaire asked class teachers about their attitudes, quali cations and working experiences, as well as a number of factual questions about their class. Forms were completed by teachers and returned directly to the project (to ensure their con dentiality), and it is from this questionnaire that the present paper draws its data.
Analysis of responses The responses to the questionnaires yielded a huge amount of information, but in this paper we concentrate on just two questions which are conceptually linked: ‘What do you nd most stressful about your job?’ and ‘What are the main reasons for being satis ed/dissatis ed with your current job?’. The questions invited an open-ended response and answers were conceived to be teachers’ most salient views. The prevalence of teachers’ views were quanti ed: a coding frame was developed on the basis of an initial analysis of 50 questionnaires (within each teaching age group). Answers were read through, and categories were devised to capture recurrent themes. The remainder of the questionnaires were then read through, categorized and tallied with this framework in mind. For individual categories, results are presented in terms of numbers and percentages of teachers who gave that response. However, because of the open-ended nature of the question, responses could be given to more than one category; the categories were, in other words, not mutually exclusive. This can present dif culties when seeking to add together related categories in order to arrive at a collective category. Individual categories cannot be added to give a percentage of teachers because the
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same teacher may be represented more than once. In this case, it is preferable to express each category in terms of the number of responses, irrespective of the teachers involved and then calculate frequencies and percentages from these data. In the case of the collective categories, this gives a measure of the extent to which responses were mentioned. Thus results are expressed quantitatively. Selections of verbatim quotes have been used in order to illustrate the nature of teachers’ views that are captured in the response categories.
Results Full results for individual categories used to code answers to the question ‘What do you nd most stressful about your job?’ are given in Table 1. It can be seen that a great variety of reasons are given for job-related stress, by both reception and Year 1 teachers. A picture of the main responses can be gauged by listing those responses that were given by more than 10 per cent of teachers. These were: Excessive paperwork (43 per cent of reception teachers, 49 per cent of Year 1 teachers). General comments referring to changes in education coupled with the introduction of new initiatives (expressed by one-quarter of all reception and Year 1 teachers). Time restraints/Never enough time (22 per cent of reception teachers, 25 per cent of Year 1 teachers). OFSTED inspections (20 per cent of reception teachers, 11 per cent of Year 1 teachers). National Curriculum, rigidity and changes (17 per cent of reception teachers, 7 per cent of Year 1 teachers). Having a large class (17 per cent of reception teachers, 6 per cent of Year 1 teachers). Combining responsibilities (13 per cent of reception teachers, 6 per cent of Year 1 teachers). Having a mixed class (12 per cent of reception teachers, 7 per cent of Year 1 teachers). Meeting individual needs (10 per cent of reception teachers, 10 per cent of Year 1 teachers). Planning work (10 per cent of reception teachers, 7 per cent of Year 1 teachers). National Literacy/National Numeracy projects (10 per cent of reception teachers, 6 per cent of Year 1 teachers). Dealing with parents (10 per cent of reception teachers, 5 per cent of Year1 teachers). The single most frequently cited factor seen by teachers as stressful concerns a perception of excessive paperwork, followed by the stress generated from educational changes and the perception of too little time to do the job well. Of ce for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections and the rigidity and changes in the National Curriculum are also a concern, particularly for reception teachers. As described above, responses in each of the categories in Table 1, were collated into the ve collective categories to which, on conceptual grounds, it was judged they belonged. Percentages of the responses are presented in Table 2.
General comments referring to changes in education/new initiatives Speci ed changes/initiatives OFSTED National Curriculum National Literacy/Numeracy Projects SATs Baseline assessments SEN policies Lack of respect/negative portrayal Time restraints/never enough time Combining responsibilities Planning work Dealing with parents Infringement into personal life Working weekends/evenings Extra-curricular work Lack of support: school/staff Adjusting to a new school Feel incompetent Playground duty Excessive paperwork Number of meetings Insuf cient non-contact time
External pressures
Administrative duties
Workload and duties
Response category
Collective category
25 20 17 10 2 2 1 4 22 13 10 10 8 8 4 2 1 – – 43 4 2
25 20 17 10 2 2 1 4 22 13 10 10 8 8 4 2 1 – – 43 4 2
9 7 6 3 1 1 .3 1 8 4 3 3 3 3 1 1 .3 – – 15 1 1
Reception teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R 39 17 11 10 6 – – 8 40 9 11 8 3 – 9 7 – 1 1 78 5 3
25 11 7 6 4 – – 5 25 6 7 5 2 – 6 4 – .6 .6 49 3 2
11 5 3 3 2 – – 2 11 2 3 2 1 – 2 2 – .3 .3 21 1 1
Year 1 teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R
TA B LE 1 Frequency (Freq.), percentage of teachers (%T) and percentage of overall responses (%R) by reception and Year 1 teachers, as reasons for being stressed with their job
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Having a large class Mixed age/year class Meeting individual needs Reduced reading opportunities Discipline/behaviour management Children with SEN (catering for children; lack of support) Children with EBD Maintaining an attractive and tidy classroom Demands of young children Teaching social skills Lack of adequate classroom support Inadequate classroom/resources Tight budget Bad pay/pension/promotion
Classroom teaching/ children
Finances and resources
Response category
Continued
Collective category
TA B L E 1
17 12 10 7 6 5 3 – 2 1 9 7 2 –
17 12 10 7 6 5 3 – 2 1 9 7 2 –
6 4 3 2 2 2 1 – 1 .3 3 2 1 –
Reception teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R 10 11 16 5 11 13 2 6 – 1 6 4 – 2
6 7 10 4 7 8 1 4 – .6 4 3 – 1
3 3 4 1 3 4 .5 2 – .3 2 1 – .5
Year 1 teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R
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TAB LE 2 Frequency and percentage of overall responses by reception and Year 1 teachers to collective categories, as reasons for being stressed with teaching Collective category
External pressures Workload and duties Administrative duties Classroom teaching/children Finances and resources
Reception teachers –––––––––––––––––––––– Frequency % Responses 81 78 49 63 18
28 27 17 22 6
Year 1 teachers –––––––––––––––––––––– Frequency % Responses 91 99 86 81 12
25 27 23 22 3
Before these results are expanded on, responses to the allied question: ‘What are the main reasons for being dissatis ed with your current job?’, are presented. Individual responses are presented in Table 3, and the collective categories in Table 4. A similar picture emerges from answers to both questions. It can be seen that the prevalent reason of stress and dissatisfaction concerns external pressures (particularly reception teachers), closely followed by workload and duties. Issues connected to classroom teaching and children and administrative duties are also important reasons for stress and dissatisfaction. A high percentage of the teachers (both reception and Year 1) therefore feel that the external pressures of changes in education, coupled with new initiatives such as the National Literacy Project and National Numeracy Project, caused them stress. General comments referring to these pressures identify the frustrations felt by teachers in response to the continual changes in policy and the subsequent adaptation that they require: ‘Trying to do the job as it should be done but being bombarded with continual change, so whatever you achieve can’t be used again because the next time the requirements are different.’ (Year 1 teacher) Furthermore, teachers felt that they detracted valuable time away from classroom teaching and some considered they were unjusti ed, having had inadequate trial or consultation: ‘Constant interference with lack of knowledge and understanding by government.’ (Reception teacher) Where speci c changes or initiatives were mentioned, the stress generated from OFSTED inspections was the most frequently expressed, closely followed by the changing nature and rigidity of the National Curriculum. This indicates that the stress and dissatisfaction being experienced by the teachers is due partly to the fact that they do not value recent initiatives and feel negatively disposed towards the changes that are taking place in early years education. This can be seen as re ecting a rst main dif culty for teachers: they are having to implement policies that some, at least, do not believe are valuable for children. Whatever the intrinsic merits or not of recent policy, many of the teachers articulated a belief that the new initiatives are unjusti ed and untested. Importantly, teachers are also necessarily instrumental in implementing these changes. This seems bound to have consequences for the way the innovations are interpreted and carried out by teachers, and we return to this point below.
General comments referring to changes in education/new initiatives Speci ed changes/initiatives National Curriculum National Literacy/Numeracy Projects OFSTED Baseline assessments SATs Lack of respect/negative portrayal Lack of support: school/staff Infringement into personal life Combining responsibilities Time restraints/never enough time Extra-curricular work/activities No fun any more Planning work Temporary position Displays/mounting Heavy workload Stressed/shattered Want a change in age range/school Dealing with parents Disillusioned by teaching Infringement into personal life Feel incompetent
External pressures
Workload and duties
Response category
Collective category
25 7 5 3 2 – 11 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 – – – –
25 7 5 3 2 – 11 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 – – – –
17 5 3 2 1 – 7 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 .6 – – – –
Reception teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R 28 5 5 4 – 4 10 7 1 5 17 2 – 2 1 – 5 3 3 4 3 1 1
18 3 3 3 – 3 6 4 .6 3 11 1 – 1 .6 – 3 2 2 3 2 .6 .6
15 3 3 2 – 2 6 4 .6 3 9 1 – 1 .6 – 3 2 2 2 2 .6 .6
Year 1 teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R
TA B LE 3 Frequency (Freq.), percentage of teachers (%T) and percentage of overall responses (%R) by reception and Year 1 teachers, as reasons for being dissatis ed with their job
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Excessive paperwork Insuf cient courses Number of meetings Insuf cient non-contact time Having a large class Mixed age/year class Children with SEN (catering for children; lack of support) Children with social problems Discipline/behaviour management Failure to meet individual needs Formal teaching inappropriate Children with EBD Demands of young children Children’s lack of interest in learning Bad pay/pension/promotion Lack of adequate classroom support Inadequate classroom/resources Tight budget
Administrative duties
Note: %R indicates the percentage of overall responses expressing reasons for being dissatis ed with teaching.
Finances and resources
Classroom teaching/ children
Response category
Continued
Collective category
TA B LE 3
15 2 1 1 7 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 – 7 7 3 2
15 2 1 1 7 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 – 7 7 3 2
10 1 .6 .6 5 2 1 1 1 1 1 .6 .6 – 5 5 2 1
Reception teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R 15 1 3 4 7 5 5 – 5 5 – 3 – 1 5 4 5 2
9 .6 2 3 4 3 3 – 3 3 – 2 – .6 3 3 3 1
8 .6 2 2 4 3 3 – 3 3 – 2 – .6 3 2 3 1
Year 1 teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R
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TAB L E 4 Frequency and percentage of overall responses by reception and Year 1 teachers to collective categories, as reasons for being dissatis ed with teaching Collective category
External pressures Workload and duties Administrative duties Classroom teaching/children Finances and resources
Reception teachers –––––––––––––––––––––– Frequency % Responses 53 37 19 22 19
35 25 13 15 13
Year 1 teachers –––––––––––––––––––––– Frequency % Responses 56 54 23 32 16
31 30 13 18 9
Linked to the new initiatives is the amount of paperwork associated with them, which teachers also cited as a stressful aspect of their work. It is apparent that large volumes of paperwork are viewed as an unnecessary burden, not always facilitative to classroom teaching and learning: ‘Increasing amounts of paperwork, and checking other colleagues’ paperwork with dates, precise times, without necessarily increasing the effectiveness of teaching.’ (Reception teacher) ‘Meetings and paperwork do not usually bene t me as a teacher or have any bene t for the children.’ (Year 1 teacher) An allied reason for stress is that teachers feel that they do not have enough time to devote to achieving the standards of teaching and learning they want in the classroom (see ‘Time restraints/Never enough time’ in Table 1): ‘Finding that there are not enough hours in the day to do the best for each child, knowing that each child could do so much more if only you could give the time.’ (Reception teacher) ‘Not enough time to ful l all roles all to the standard I would like to achieve. Inadequate time to re ect and nd fresh ideas.’ (Year 1 teacher) These responses therefore indicate the second main dif culty that teachers feel. That is, they believe they are spending too much time and energy dealing with the bureaucracy associated with the demands of the school curriculum and new initiatives and not enough time on the needs of the children they are teaching: ‘Demands of the curriculum against needs of children.’ (Year 1 teacher) ‘Trying to balance the requirements of a formal curriculum with the clear experiences, abilities and needs of each child.’ (Reception teacher) In this context, it is interesting to contrast the reasons for stress and dissatisfaction which we have just presented with the reasons given for being satis ed with their current job (see Tables 5 and 6). In contrast to what we have seen so far, the most frequently cited individual responses are a perception that teaching is a rewarding job, where personal
Supportive teamwork Good school/working environment Positive relationship with parents Successful job share Rewarding job Enjoy working with young children Challenging/freedom in teaching Content with position and responsibilities Motivated/enthusiastic Feel professionally competent Enjoy planning Enjoy extra-curricular activities/events Enjoy new initiatives Fits in well with personal life Excellent classroom assistance Manageable class size Adequate classroom Personal/career development opportunities Good in-service training Intake procedures
Supportive school environment
Note: %R indicates the percentage of overall responses expressing reasons for being satis ed with teaching.
Finances/resources and school arrangements
Job satisfaction
Response categories
Collective category
18 18 7 – 33 32 6 3 4 2 1 – – – 5 4 3 2 – 1
18 18 7 – 33 32 6 3 4 2 1 – – – 5 4 3 2 – 1
13 13 5 – 24 23 4 2 3 1 .7 – – – 4 3 2 1 – .7
Reception teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R 39 22 10 4 41 58 11 9 – 2 3 3 2 1 4 3 – 1 1 –
25 14 6 3 26 37 7 6 – 1 2 2 1 1 3 2 – 1 1 –
18 10 5 2 19 27 5 4 – 1 1 1 1 .4 2 1 – .4 .4 –
Year 1 teachers ––––––––––––––––––––– Freq. %T %R
TA B L E 5 Frequency (Freq.), percentage of teachers (%T) and percentage of overall responses by reception and Year 1 teachers, as reasons for being satis ed with their job
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TAB LE 6 Frequency and percentage of overall responses by reception and Year 1 teachers to collective categories, as reasons for being satis ed with teaching Collective category
Supportive school environment Job satisfaction Finances/resources and school arrangements
Reception teachers –––––––––––––––––––––– Frequency % Responses 43 81 15
31 58 11
Year 1 teachers –––––––––––––––––––––– Frequency % Responses 75 130 9
35 61 4
ful lment is gained through watching children develop and achieve, and that teachers enjoy working with young and enthusiastic children. Supportive colleagues and contentment with school/working atmosphere (with particular reference to appreciative school management) were also given as reasons for being satis ed with teaching. These answers therefore show starkly the dilemma felt by teachers – a perception that teaching is a satisfying and rewarding job, yet a perception too that there are external factors that impede the job, take up time and energy, and cause dissatisfaction and stress. These answers also demonstrate a third main dif culty experienced by teachers in the study; that is, a perception that the external pressures generated from aspects of the National Curriculum and other policy initiatives are educationally inappropriate for young children: ‘Pressure to deliver an inappropriate curriculum in an appropriate manner to very young children.’ (Reception teacher) ‘I feel that I am being expected to implement a system which I no longer believe is in the best interests of many of the children and this goes against all my principles as a teacher and a human being!’ (Year 1 teacher) Of particular concern to reception class teachers in the survey is the marked contrast between a curriculum that is perceived as too formal and prescriptive, and their pedagogical understandings. Many of the teachers expressed a belief that young children need to learn through practical experiences and activities, which they nd dif cult to implement within the policies and initiatives. Indeed, 11 per cent of reception teachers and 7 per cent of Year 1 teachers wrote in response to another question: ‘If you have had support from non-teaching staff, what differences do you think this has made to the effectiveness of teaching and learning in this class?’, that they used extra adult help in the classroom to facilitate more practical activities for the children. This signi es the importance that is placed upon children being active in the learning process: ‘Without my classroom assistant, some of our more ambitious, enjoyable and creative activities would have to be modi ed or not done at all.’ (Reception teacher) ‘[Classroom assistance] enables all children at intervals to work on activities which need to be supervised by an adult – e.g. art/craft activities, water capacity activities.’ (Year 1 teacher)
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Discussion The answers that were given to the two questions indicated that a large amount of stress and dissatisfaction felt by the teachers was caused by dif culties or compromises they believed they were making in their professional lives. Three main dif culties appeared to be experienced by the teachers: 1 Having to implement policies that they do not believe are of value to the children. 2 Spending more time on bureaucratic, external tasks and therefore less time attending to the individual needs of each child in their classes. 3 Being instrumental in delivering innovations that are contrary to their own pedagogical understandings. These dif culties result in professional compromises that cause teachers stress and dissatisfaction in their professional lives. This is likely to have serious implications for the implementation of future policy initiatives and may affect the quality of teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom. This may be especially signi cant because the teachers expressing these feelings of frustration are teachers of the youngest children in schools in England. It is argued here that teachers who feel they are compromising their own principles and who experience pressure in their professional lives will not feel satis ed in their work and will be resistant to change generally, and to policy changes in particular. The ndings described here, concerning compromises experienced by teachers in their work with young children, are congruent with other studies documenting teachers’ responses to change and innovation, where formulation and implementation of policy are viewed as separate events. However, other responses are possible. For example, Bowe and Ball’s (1992) assertion that there exists an interactive relationship between teachers and policy-makers via the policy documentation which ‘[carries] both possibilities and constraints, contradictions and spaces’ (p. 15). In this formulation, the generation and implementation of policy are no longer viewed as separate processes, but part of a continuum.What is being asserted here is that policy is being rewritten by teachers as they engage and respond to the text itself. The subsequent interpretation and enactment will depend on practitioners’ understandings of the changes that are taking place and on the teachers’ personal histories and the local conditions in which they work. This argument indicates the potentially powerful position that teachers occupy in relation to policy formulation. However, in the present study, teachers do not express feelings of power. Rather, they responded in ways that suggest feelings of disempowerment, caused by what they view as the imposition of inappropriate innovations. This re ects Hargreaves’s assertion (1994), that seemingly small, incremental changes taking place in the education system are actually part of deeper transformations that affect how education is organized and how teaching is de ned. In a study by Helsby and McCulloch (1996), secondary school teachers responded to questionnaires and were interviewed about their views of changes to the curriculum. It was found that many of these teachers felt disempowered and expressed understandings about pedagogy that they believed were at odds with those implied by the National Curriculum and ‘were actually undermining what they saw as existing good practice’ (p. 63). These ndings agree with the feelings expressed by the early years teachers in the present study.
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The compromises that have been identi ed from the questionnaire data may relate to what has been called the ‘intensi cation’ of professional life (Apple, 1986). The concept of ‘intensi cation’ is taken from labour theory where work privileges are eroded (Larson, 1980) and could be applied to the experiences of the teachers who responded to the questionnaire. In Apple’s formulation of intensi cation (1986), reduction in professional status and an increase in workload, especially administrative tasks, results in teachers having less time and opportunity to develop the social and emotional bonds they feel are so important to the teaching process. Hargreaves (1994), in his study of secondary school teachers, demonstrates how intensi cation results in a reduction of the quality of teaching through persistent overload, reduced relaxation time, lack of time for professional development and enforced diversi cation of expertise. Perhaps more seriously, intensi cation leads to feelings of disempowerment resulting in an inability to engage with decision-making. This causes teachers to compromise their own principles and philosophies of teaching and learning, and to feel dissatis ed and stressed in their professional work and also in their personal lives. The discussion here is separate from a discussion about the intrinsic merits of recent policy initiatives. The policies may or may not be sound, and may or may not be merited; the concern here is with teachers’ perceptions of their effects and the causes of stress and dissatisfaction. This discussion is also not directed at any one policy, or, still broader, one political party. But the negative reaction from teachers has to be a cause of concern to those wishing to implement meaningful change. It would seem necessary, at the very least, to involve teachers more fully in consultation processes that affect their work with young children.
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