Understanding teachers through their life journey, their ambitions and their practices

Abstract

This study explores how Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and habitus shed light on secondary teachers’ self-image, their professional expectations, their identity and its stability during the socioeconomic crisis in Greece. It also explains how Goffman’s concept of secondary adjustments unveils teachers’ escape mechanism from the anticipated ‘hysteresis effect’ in a socioeconomic and educational context under transformation. The research questions were addressed in the context of adopting the grounded theory and data from 20 interviews were handled using caricatures. One of the four caricatures emerged is discussed in this paper. By looking at teachers’ life journey it is possible to understand how it influences their coping with a crisis situation as diverse aspects of their profession are suddenly challenged. The study showed that a sociological approach that reveals trajectories of life brings a broader understanding of teachers’ practices, which thus are easier to address. The study also suggests that it is not only the socio-educational changes per se that affect teachers’ attitudes towards educational changes, but also teachers’ life stories.