Beacons of Hope

Figures

Figure 1. Contrasting selves using Lauriala and Kukkonen (2005).

Figure 2. Resilience continuum.

Figure 3. Alsup’s borderland teacher identity discourse.

Figure 4. Table with inferences.

Foreword – Dr Jonathan Doherty

I am delighted to write the foreward for this important and thoroughly engaging book. I have known Andrew as a friend and a colleague over a number of years working together on professional programmes at Leeds Trinity University. In all of this time Andrew’s passion for teacher development, his gift of working naturally with teachers and trainee teachers and his professionalism have shone through in all aspects of his work. This book, arising from his doctoral thesis, discusses the critical theme of teacher resilience. It is written at a time when figures show high levels of teacher exodus from the profession they entered into, bringing energy and their dreams of impacting positively upon the lives of young people. Sadly, the demands of teaching have taken their toll on many excellent teachers with empirical evidence from abroad and across the four UK jurisdictions revealing that retaining teachers is an international challenge and one that continues to escalate. Essential for the success and sustainability of all schools, teacher retention is one of the key challenges currently facing schools today (Doherty, 2020).

The book fills an important gap in the literature from the outset. It flips the deficit picture of teacher attrition and provides a compelling narrative on a key factor of teacher retention: that of resilience. This is unique since most other literature has focussed on the former and in particular early career teachers leaving (e.g. Shields & Mullen, 2020) at the expense of teachers with a longer records of service. Readers will immediately connect with the author who begins with his own story and this provides an honesty and candour throughout the book. The stance taken in writing is through the exploration of the personal narratives of four secondary teachers. By doing this, Andrew will empower and inspire readers with his reflections of his own experiences, before going on to unpack the narratives of these long service teachers. This has immediate appeal to teachers in the early stages of their careers, benefitting from his wisdom and the messages contained in the narratives act as a support for more experienced teachers whose own resilience may be at risk after many years of teaching. The ‘voices’ which emerge from the narrative interviews with the four participants, provides an easy structure to the book that is both captivating and informing.

Preface

The aim of this book on teacher resilience is to explore why some secondary school teachers in England choose to remain in teaching when a significant number decide to leave (Burghes et al., 2009). A similar attrition rate for both the USA (Yost, 2006) and other OECD countries has been evidenced (DfE, 2015; OECD, 2005b; 2011; 2016). There is considerable research on why some teachers may leave the teaching profession, but there is much less literature on why other teachers choose to remain, especially from teachers with long service. My book aims to explore, through the personal narratives of four resilient long service teachers, why this might be, and it has implications for school leaders, pupil attainment, policy makers, and of course, both pre-service and in-service teachers. The book goes on to critically analyse four themes which overlap with the author’s own experience as a former teacher, as well as with literature. The penultimate chapter makes a number of recommendations which may benefit a range of stakeholders, not the least of which are teachers themselves. Throughout this book the concept of teacher professional identity emerges as a framework which offers considerable promise to those investigating the resilience of teachers, and it is suggested that the manifestation of a professional identity which enables teachers to construct, reconstruct and manage multiple identities over time will be crucial to their ongoing resilience if they are to continue to function effectively in the future.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to my supervisors, Dr Caroline Bligh and Dr Samantha Davis. Thank you for your optimism, kindness and encouragement as well as for helping me to overcome barriers and obstacles along the way. Dr David Matheson also helped supervise at an earlier stage in my research.

I would also like to thank the four participants who kindly agreed to take part in this study. Without them this research simply would not have been possible. I hope this study does justice to their willingness to share their individual stories with me and that their voices will be heard.

Dr Jonathan Doherty kindly agreed to write the forward for my book and I would like to thank him personally, for his friendship, guidance, wisdom and support in wishing to see this book come to fruition.

Last but not least, a special thanks to my family for all their support during the course of this book. I would particularly like to express my immense appreciation to my wife, Kathleen, my daughter, Yvonne, my son, Mark, and daughter-in-law, Susie, for their love and support, continued interest in my work, and for their kindness and encouragement which enabled me to complete this book.

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