the effects of educational change on morale, job satisfaction and motivation

LINDA EVANS

THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE ON MORALE, JOBSATISFACTION AND MOTIVATION

ABSTRACT. In the UK the morale of schoolteachers and academics is the subject ofconcern, and negative job-related attitudes amongst these two groups of education profes-sionals is attributed, in the main, to low salary, low status and, in particular, the impact ofgovernment reforms. This article draws upon the findings of the author’s research intojob satisfaction, morale and motivation amongst teachers in the compulsory schoolingand higher education sectors. It focuses upon one specific issue that was revealed to be asignificant factor in determining morale levels amongst education professionals: attitudesto change. The author outlines her interpretations and definitions of morale, job satisfactionand motivation before examining the ways in which individuals’ different responses to theimpact of change on their working lives influenced these three job-related attitudes.

INTRODUCTION

Teacher morale has been the focus of considerable attention in the UK overthe last decade. Several factors have been attributed as underlying causesof what has been interpreted as endemic low morale within the profession.These include low salaries and low status, changes effected by the 1988Education Reform Act (ERA), threatened deprofessionalisation resultingfrom school-based teacher training, growing class sizes, and changesto pensions regulations. Widespread job-related stress, a steady exodus,teacher shortages and problems of recruitment have all been reported asprevalent in recent years (see, for example, Andain, 1990; Blackbourne,1990; Garner, 1985; Gold, 1990; Hofkins, 1990; Rafferty and Dore, 1993),and have been collectively identified as symptoms of demoralisation. Infact, in January 1997, the Times Educational Supplement gave extensivecoverage to teacher morale and satisfaction which began with publica-tion of a survey of teachers’ attitudes that it had conducted in 1996. Thesurvey revealed that ‘Morale in Britain’s staffrooms has hit rock bottom’(Sutcliffe, 1997). This was attributed, in the main, to Government reformsand conditions of service.

Morale amongst academics in the UK has also given rise to concern.The gradual erosion of academics’ privileged professional lifestyles is

Journal of Educational Change1: 173–192, 2000.© 2000Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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described and examined by Halsey (1995), who attributes low moraleand dissatisfaction to the proletarianization of the profession and thediminution of professional standing, status and privilege:

. . . senior common room morale is low. In1989 as many as 37 per cent of universityteachers and 39 per cent of their polytechnic colleagues had seriously considered leavingacademic life permanently: the comparable percentage among university staff in 1964 hadbeen 23. The underlying explanation was, I believe, anticipated by the Weber and Veblenforebodings of 1918: the key word is a long and alien one – proletarianization. (p. 124)

But discontent for the academic profession as a whole is linked to loss of status anddeterioration of working conditions. . . . The vast majority of university and polytechnicstaff are convinced that public respect as well as appreciation from politicians and civilservants has sharply declined over the past decade. (p. 134)

The reforms of higher education imposed during the 1990s have alsoinfluenced morale. These removed the binary divide that separated univer-sities from polytechnics, increased student numbers and, more signifi-cantly, effectively increased student:staff ratios. Considering the impactof these reforms, McCann (1996) suggests that ‘there are many dispiritedacademics in today’s universities’.

In summary, common sense reasoning and assumption have identifiedthree main factors – salary, status and reforms – as influencing the moraleof these two groups of education professionals. Yet, accounting for andtackling the problem of lowered morale amongst any professional group isby no means as simple and straightforward as identifying what seem to bethe most likely influential factors. If anything is to be done about raisingmorale amongst teachers and academics, then morale and job satisfaction,which are complex concepts, need to be properly analysed and understood.Underlying factors and the complexity of issues need to be uncovered andexamined.

This article draws upon the findings of my own studies that havecontributed towards uncovering the complexities of issues related tomorale and job satisfaction. It focuses upon one significant determinantof morale levels amongst education professionals: attitudes to change.

MY RESEARCH: AN OVERVIEW

The research upon which this article draws represents four separate studies.Each has yielded findings that further our understanding of what influ-ences morale, job satisfaction and motivation among those who teach inthe compulsory schooling sector and in higher education.

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A composite study of teachers’ attitudes to their work

This involved four separate, but related, studies that examined influenceson three work-related attitudes: morale, job satisfaction and motivation.It also encompassed a study of teacher professionality, which emerged asa morale- and job satisfaction-influencing factor. The research was carriedout over a five-year period, from 1989 to 1993, with a sample of 19 Englishprimary school teachers, employed in four schools. The main methodsof data collection were semi-structured interviews and a form of partic-ipant observation, involving my acting as teacher-researcher in three of thesample schools, where I undertook part-time teaching duties. In one of thestudies, post-interview self-completion questionnaires were also used.1

Teaching as work project

This project examined the impact on teachers’ working lives of the intro-duction of the English and Welsh national curriculum. The part of theTeaching as Work project (TAWP) in which I was involved used semi-structured interviews with 26 Key Stage 1 teachers. Data were collected in1991.2

A comparative study of two models of initial teacher education

In the UK, initial teacher education (ITE) was the focus of much changein the early 1990s when Government reforms centred around transferringcontrol from higher education and into schools. Circular 9/92 (DFE, 1992),stipulated that Post-Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) secondarystudents be trained in higher education/school partnerships and that theyspend a minimum of 66% of their courses in schools. The following year,in The Government’s Proposals for the Reform of Initial Teacher Training,the so-called Blue Paper (DFE, 1993), a scheme was announced for estab-lishing school-administered, rather than higher education-administered,ITE which, at the discretion of the training schools, need not have anyhigher education involvement at all. In September 1993, then, a dualsystem of PGCE secondary ITE existed, with five separate consortia ofschools having the responsibility for the one-year training of a total of 250student teachers alongside the mainstream, but newly-reformed, highereducation-school partnership provision.

The study was carried out between 1993 and 1995. Its main aim wasto assess the relative effectiveness of secondary PGCE training in newlyestablished school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) consortia ofschools, compared with courses which represented partnerships betweenschools and higher education. Data collection involved five stages and used

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self-completion questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. For each ofthe two ITE models, the research sample comprised all students registeredin September 1993 (a total of 87 students spread across four PGCE tech-nology programmes: two SCITT and two partnership programmes) anda sample of teacher mentors and, in the case of the partnership model, asample of higher education tutors.3

Teaching and learning in higher education

This was a study of the effectiveness of teaching and learning in highereducation. The main aim was to acquire greater understanding of howteaching in higher education may be effective in meeting the needs ofstudents and tutors. The sample included student and tutor participants offour first degree courses at a research-focused university. Data collectioninvolved semi-structured interviews, carried out between 1993 and 1994.4

KEY FINDINGS: UNDERSTANDING MORALE, JOB SATISFACTION AND

MOTIVATION

Across the four samples, the heterogeneity among education professionalswas reflected in how, and to what extent, morale, job satisfaction and moti-vation were affected by specific circumstances and situations. The extentof this diversity varied from sample to sample depending on the quantityand the range of circumstances and issues that were the main aim, objec-tives and research questions of each study. Diversity was most pronouncedin the sample of teachers involved in the composite study of morale, jobsatisfaction and motivation, and least pronounced in the sample of teachermentors involved in the comparative study of two models of ITE, but itwas nevertheless evident throughout.

What underpinned this diversity was individual needs’ fulfilment. Thisis the most basic determinant of levels of morale, job satisfaction and moti-vation (see also Schaffer, 1953; Sergiovanni, 1968). Reflecting biograph-ical differences, individuals’ needs are diverse. There is therefore diversityin the extent to which situations and circumstances that individuals exper-ience facilitate the fulfilment of their needs. By extension, there is alsodiversity among individuals in the manner in and extent to which levels ofmorale, job satisfaction and motivation are affected by specific situations,circumstances and experiences that arise from them. Individuals’ needsdetermine their values and ideologies – which, in turn, through an iterativeprocess, determine their needs – and these combine to shape individuals’conceptions of, their ‘ideal’ job. Levels of job satisfaction and morale are


determined by proximity to what is, at any given time, this ‘ideal’ job.Individuals may not always be able to identify and describe their ‘ideal’since they may not be conscious of having formulated it. Nevertheless,the ‘ideal’ is implicitly recognisable through the processes of identifyingpreferences and, making choices. A preference for teaching in an innercity, multi-racial school, for example, rather than one located in a middleclass leafy suburb, provides obvious clues about a teacher’s ‘ideal’ job.

Analyses revealed that three inter-related factors accounted for thediversity: relative perspective, realistic expectations, and profession-ality orientation (Evans, 1997a). Relative perspective is the individual’sperspective on her/his situation in relation to comparable ones. In thecontext of work situations, for example, relative perspectives may incor-porate consideration of previous jobs – in whole or in part – or of otherinstitutions, or of colleagues’ situations. The current job-related situationis perceived and evaluated in relation to other jobs or occupations, formerjobs, or knowledge of colleagues’ situations in other institutions or depart-ments. Relative perspective also includes consideration of the work-relatedsituation in relation to the rest of one’s life. This includes the relativeprioritisation of work and personal life.

Realistic expectations are influenced by relative perspective. They donot necessarily reflect individuals’ ideals; rather, they reflect what theindividual realistically expects from her/his work-related situation.

Professionality orientation both influences and is influenced by real-istic expectations and relative perspective. Professionality is not the sameas professionalism. The concept of professionality was introduced byHoyle (1975), who presented a continuum of teachers’ professionalityranging from ‘extended’ to ‘restricted’. Professionality refers to the knowl-edge, skills and procedures which teachers use in their work, whereasprofessionalism refers to status-related elements of an occupation (Hoyle,1975). Professionality essentially combines professional ideology, job-related values and vision. It reflects what the individual believes educationand teaching should involve. It incorporates individuals’ predispositionstowards, and levels of, reflectiveness, rationality and, to some extent,intellectual curiosity. It influences people’s perspectives. While profes-sionalism principally relates to ways, or even codes, of behaviour, profes-sionality fundamentally relates more to ways, and levels, of thinking thatunderpin behaviour. I have defined professionality as: an ideologically-,attitudinally-, intellectually-, and epistemologically-based stance, on thepart of an individual, in relation to the practice of the profession to whichs/he belongs, and which influences her/his professional practice (Evans,1999).

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Hoyle (1975) describes two extremes of teacher profesionality: the‘restricted’ and ‘extended’ professional. ‘Restricted’ professionality isdescribed as relying upon experience and intuition and as guided by anarrow, classroom-based perspective which values that which is related tothe day-to-day practicalities of teaching. ‘Extended’ professionality, at theother end of the continuum, carries a much wider vision of what educationinvolves, values the theory underpinning pedagogy and generally adoptsa much more reasoned and analytical approach to the job. I use the term‘professionality orientation’ to relate to individuals’ orientation towardseither of these two extremes.5

INTERPRETATIONS AND DEFINITIONS

Although they are often used interchangeably, morale and job satisfac-tion are not the same thing. My interpretation is that job satisfaction ispresent-oriented, while morale is future-oriented. Both are states of mind,but satisfaction is a response to a situation whereas morale is anticipatory.Morale is a state of mind which is determined by reference to anticipatedfuture events; by the anticipated form they will take and their anticip-ated effect upon satisfaction. It is dependent upon, and guided by, pastevents which provide a basis for anticipation. For example, the teacherwho believes that the appointment of a new headteacher or principal to herschool will improve the quality of her working life, is manifesting highmorale. The teacher who, on the other hand, is dissatisfied with his currentheadteacher is manifesting low job satisfaction. Thus, high morale mayexist alongside dissatisfaction. Evaluations of the present constitute jobsatisfaction-related issues, whereas anticipation of the future constitutesmorale. My own definition of morale, a modification of Guion’s (1958),is that: Morale is a state of mind encompassing all of the feelings deter-mined by the individual’s anticipation of the extent of satisfaction of thoseneeds which s/he perceives as significantly affecting his/her total (work)situation.

I identify two components of job satisfaction, which I refer to as jobfulfilment and job comfort. ‘Satisfaction’ is an ambiguous term. We cantalk about customer satisfaction, for example, and also about the satisfac-tion of conquering Everest. The two are quite distinct. The first concernshow satisfactory something is, while the second concerns how satisfyingit is. With this distinction in mind, I define job satisfaction as: a state ofmind encompassing all those feelings determined by the extent to whichthe individual perceives her/his job-related needs to be being met. Morenarrowly, job fulfilment is: a state of mind encompassing all those feelings


determined by the extent of the sense of personal achievement which theindividual attributes to his/her performance of those components of his/herjob which she/he values.

I define motivation as: a condition, or the creation of a condition, thatencompasses all of those factors that determine the degree of inclinationtowards engagement in an activity. This incorporates recognition that moti-vation does not necessarily determine whether or not activity occurs, onlythe extent to which individuals feel inclined towards activity.

The diversity in morale, motivation and job satisfaction amongeducators manifested itself in people’s attitudinal responses to specificevents, situations and circumstances within any one sample. This did notsimply reflect multiple perspectives. It occurred in relation to events, situ-ations and circumstances that were described very similarly by most, or all,of those who experienced them. What was almost a resignation issue forone individual may have been only a minor irritant to another. What demor-alised and demotivated some may have caused little concern to others. Thiswas the case in relation to all events, situations and circumstances that werethe foci of the studies – including experiences of change.

EXPERIENCES OF ANDATTITUDES TO CHANGE

The experience of change impacted upon the working lives of all foursamples. Table I provides an outline of the range of key changes exper-ienced by individuals within each sample, and of the nature of the impactof the change(s) upon their working lives.6

While many of the key changes identified in column 2 seem specific tothe UK, they are, nevertheless, typical of the kinds of changes that havebeen imposed upon education professionals in recent years throughout thedeveloped world.

Within each of the four samples, individuals’ responses to specificchanges that potentially affected their working lives were diverse. Indi-viduals’ responses to change in general were also diverse across thesamples. The nature of this diversity, and the extent of its range, can beillustrated through two individuals, Ted and Rosemary.7

TED AND ROSEMARY: DINOSAUR AND DYNAMO ?

When they are faced with change, people respond in different ways.Sikes (1992, p. 45) identifies seven specific ‘strategies and adaptations’:‘carrying on as before’, ‘forming cliques, factions and enclaves’, ‘leaving’,

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TABLE I

Outline illustration of the nature of the impact of change upon the working lives of education professionals.

Study Key changes potentially affecting sample Nature of potential impact of changeupon working lives of sample

Composite study of • LEA (district) policy • Change of role and way of workingteachers’ attitudes to • School-based & performance-based • Reduction of influence ontheir work management decision and policy-making

• School managerial policy • Change of way of working• Job change • Change of role and way of working• Introduction of directed hours • Reduction of autonomy; increase of

accountability; personal inconveniences• Introduction of the national curriculum • Change of way of working; increased

workload; increase of accountability

TAWP • Introduction of the national curriculum • Change of way of working;increased workload; increase ofaccountability

Comparative study of • Increased proportion of time that trainee • Change of role and way of working;two models of ITE secondary teachers must spend in school increased workload

• Introduction of School-Centred • Change of role and way of working;Teacher Training increased workload

Teaching and learning in • Introduction of expansion model in • Change of way of working;higher education higher education increased workload

• Increase in accountability of • Reduction of professionalhigher education institutions autonomy


‘becoming career entrepreneurs’, ‘general resistance and sabotage’,‘shifting the balance’, and ‘grasping the opportunity’. My own researchfindings point to three basic attitudinal responses to imposed change:resentment, resignation, and receptivity. Receptivity ranges from passive,ambivalent acceptance to wholehearted, enthusiastic support. Theseresponses differ from Sikes’ because they are attitudinal rather than beha-vioural. They underpinned more general job-related attitudes: morale, jobsatisfaction and motivation.

Ted’s response to the changes forced upon him was one of resentment.He was an academic – a physics tutor – who had worked for over twenty-five years at the same university. During this time he had experiencedmany changes to his working life. One change was the gradual proletari-anisation of the profession and the erosion of what may be described asa ‘golden age’ of academic freedom and privilege. Most recently, in the1990s, Ted’s working life was affected by government reforms that wereaimed at expanding the higher education system, which included wideningaccess, and the abolition of the binary divide that distinguished universitiesfrom the less prestigious polytechnics. Ted’s resentment of these changesmanifested itself through lowered morale, dissatisfaction and a diminutionof job fulfilment:

You shouldn’t have to do the amount of – you know. . . timetables! All the stuff I do for the2nd year course, really, it’s a waste of academic expertise. I’m not trained as a secretary,or a book-keeper. . . it’s just a waste of my own brain power . . . a waste of expertise!. . . there’s an awful waste ofacademic expertise and energy. . . by them being expectedto do. . . administrative and secretarial matters which could bedone by other people lesshighly qualified. I’m not being snobbish, but, you know, not everybody wants a Ph.D. intheoretical physics, you know. There are jobs for the people with different skills. . . er. . . andit just seems a waste – you know – why employ somebody at our level if. . . our level isn’tbeing exploited to the full?

Interviewer: What would improve your job?

Well, in the first instance, improving the . . . the quality of in-take . . . you know . . . thesepeople can hardly read, you know. They certainly can’t write! They can’t spell, they can’tpunctuate, they can’t write reports, they can’t write decent essays.. . . They can’t even fillin, correctly, an exam registration form! . . . If you look at the first year course now, and thefirst year course I taught when I came. . . the first year course in1968 was more like thefinal year now! (laughs) – that’s exaggerating, but you know what I mean. (Ted, physicstutor)

Rosemary was a primary school teacher who was only two yearsyounger than Ted. She had taught at the same school, Rockville CountyPrimary, throughout her entire career; though, since she was a matureentrant to the profession, her career was not quite as long as Ted’s. Like

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Ted, Rosemary had experienced many changes to her working life, someof which she outlines in the quotations below. What distinguished thesetwo individuals, though, were their attitudes to the changes imposed uponthem. Rosemary’s receptivity is evident in her comments:

Interviewer: Do you find the job satisfying enough? Does it stimulate you?

Well, yes, because, I think the way things are done at Rockville, I mean, having differentyear groups every two years, it certainly keeps you on your toes. And the changes thatthere’ve been while I’ve been there . . . Imean, when I went there at first we’d a fewPakistani children, but there were no Bangladeshis, so there have been changes there. . . and, Imean, there are changes that have come about in education itself. . . er. . . andchanges in year groups and the children’s different needs, and so on, I think keep youon your toes. . . whereas, in a lot of other schools, in, perhaps, more affluent areas, witha good catchment area. . . er. . . the children’s needs are not the same . . . and Idon’t thinkthere are the same changes within the school, and perhaps they don’t even change classes.I mean, I know some teachers who’ve been taking the same year group and the same typeof ability for most of their careers. Now, to me, you get in a rut, and I think that’s wherea lot of the dissatisfaction creeps in. I think they tend to look outward for the root of theproblems, rather than looking inward.

. . . And now this new LEA policy of admitting four-year-olds has been thrown at us. . . and,again, you think, ‘Oh, my goodness, why are they doing this?’ But, here again, it’s some-thing else to keep you on your toes. . . to getyour teeth into. . . and then, at the end of thisyear, you know . . . we, sort of, had a re-think . . . we’d made mistakes and we’re changingthose and we’re looking at different things.

I interviewed Rosemary twice. At the beginning of her follow-up inter-view in 1992, I reminded her of some of the things she had said in her 1989interview. I asked her if she felt that, considering the centrally-imposedchanges which the Education Reform Act had imposed upon teachers’working lives, as well as school-specific changes, her attitude to her jobhad altered. She replied:

Er . . . I think, from my point of view, I’m still getting great satisfactionbecause. . . er. . . everything that comes along, I look at it. . . like. . . well, there’s nogoodsinking down into the depths. These things come along, and they’re here to stay. . . for howlong, we don’t know. . . but. . .you’ve just got to make the best of it. It’s no good thinking,‘Oh, I can’t cope with this’, because I think that starts you on this spiral downwards. I thinkyou’ve got to think, ‘Well, it’s here. What can we do. . . you know. . . to make the best of it?’

. . . I think. . . er. . . it’s an attitude of mind. You either get stuck in and make the best of it, oryou. . . you know. . . have a change of career and finish altogether.

Particularly striking was Rosemary’s evident capacity, illustratedclearly in several of the quotes presented above, to turn into a welcomechallenge imposed change of the kind that many teachers might considerto be an overwhelming set-back and to represent an impoverishment of


their working lives. Her response to change was consistently to adopt apositive attitude and optimistic outlook which allowed her high moraleand job satisfaction to be sustained.

Since the distinction between Ted’s and Rosemary’s attitudinalresponses to change in their working lives may be interpreted as attrib-utable to the distinction between the nature and the magnitude of thechange experienced by each, it is worth making comparisons withintheir respective samples. Amongst the academics involved in the studyof teaching and learning in higher education, Ted stood out as the mostdisapproving and resentful of those features of academic life that reflectthe changes that have crept up on academics over the years, as well asthose effected by the government reforms of the 1990s. His attitude touniversity teaching in a post-expansion system was much more contemp-tuous than any of his colleagues’. This post-expansion system reflectsthe structure and ideologies of a market economy, has become increas-ingly client-focused and is more accountable to its consumers. Ted clearlyadhered to a belief that the tutor’s teaching role involved being a repositoryof knowledge, of which students should be passive and grateful recipients:

Really, I think the students go away with an idea that we’re a marketable commodity, andthey must be satisfied with what they find, and if they’re not, they’re entitled to complain.. . . And the very . . . it’s the attitude that underlies it, to feel that we. . . er . . . we must allowthem to comment – what do they know about the subject? They’re here to learn, you know,that’s why they’re here, because they’re not experts. We’re the experts. . . and yet, we’recompromising ourselves . . . by inviting this criticism and attacks on our academic integrityalong these lines! It’s totally unnecessary. (Ted, physics tutor)

This attitude contrasted with those of the rest of the sample, and mostsharply with the view of Stephanie, an education tutor, that students shouldplay a more active role in their own learning and that the function of thetutor was to act as a facilitator to develop a range of skills:

Ideally, I would want to work with students who want to develop themselves as learners.. . . For example, if I’m doing work on women’s autobiography . . . I would want to, perhaps,take a paper I was preparing to a seminar with students, for their input, and actually askthem to contribute to the process and to use my work as a basis for going off to do theirwork. Not to be perceived as the expert, but more as someone who is further along the pathand is helping them follow. (Stephanie, education tutor)

Similarly, Ted’s resentment of what he identified as the proletarian-isation of the profession and the loss of academic freedom alongsideincreasing interference and direction from administrators and externalagencies distinguished him from many of his colleagues who evidentlysaw things in a different light. He was scathing in his criticism of hisuniversity’s administration:

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I don’t ask them to give my lectures in physics, so the people in the ‘Kremlin’ over thereshouldn’t expect me to do their book work. . . it’s as simple as that. . . . Now, those peopleare paid to do nothing other than administration. . . . Now, in the first instance – you canimagine – academics might have gathered together to set up a university, and they mighthave said, ‘Well, we need somebody to help us to keep track of things. . . and administer abit for us . . . let’s take on some people.’ . . . It’s now the other way round!. . . They now, sortof, act as managers, and dictate, and say, you know, ‘You should be doing this, and. . . blah,blah, blah, blah’. And, every year, there’s more and more. . . er. . . load being passed and –God knows what they do most of the time! I honestly do not know.

Among those who saw things in a different light were two young lawtutors:

Probably, for me, the great privilege of being an academic is being able to read what youwant and think what you like, and someone gives you money for it. . . . Imean, that’s whatI really see as, I suppose, the strength of it. (Brian, law tutor)The freedom inspires me and that is something you would not find in a university ofthe Continent. I am a junior person . . . er . . . and I can do what I want, basically. On theContinent I would be told by my professor, ‘This is what you’re going to do. This is yourdesk. This is the research we’re going to do, and good luck!’ (Otto, law tutor)

Compared with the other primary school teachers who made up thesamples in the composite study of teachers’ attitudes to their work and theTAWP study, Rosemary manifested an atypically positive attitude towardsimposed change. She was not quite as distinct as Ted within the samplethat he represented, because other teachers also manifested varying degreesof receptivity to specific changes. In particular, the TAWP study revealedthe majority of the sample to be in favour, in principle, of the introduc-tion of a national curriculum (Campbell et al., 1991; Evans et al., 1994).Nonetheless, her attitude towards change in general was indeed atypical.Her Rockville colleague, Joanne, for example – a teacher who had spenther entire career of over 25 years in the same school – was demoralised bythe changes to education she had experienced:

I’m still happy at Rockville, as a school. . . er. . . but Idon’t like the way education’sgoing. . . Idon’t like the pressures that are being put on us. . . and the. . . er. . . way that we’rebeing told that we’re not doing our job properly. Er. . . Idon’t like any of that. . . and I findit very discouraging, really . . . you know . . . you feel . . . like ‘Why should I bother?’. . . Iwent through a stage where I really wanted to get out. . . quite desperately . . . er . . . becauseI was so unhappy. (Joanne, Rockville teacher)

ACCOUNTING FOR THEDIVERSITY: UNDERSTANDING ATTITUDES TO

CHANGE

What is it that makes Rosemary receptive to precisely the same changesthat are resented by her colleagues, or that makes Stephanie embrace


the kinds of innovations that demoralise and demotivate Ted? Clearly,the heterogeneity amongst education professionals that reflects biograph-ical factors underpins this diversity (Bullough et al., 1991; Butt et al.,1986; Sikes, 1992, pp. 39–41). In order to make sense of how indi-vidual differences affect responses to change, though, it is essential toexamine the interaction between individuals and change, in order to under-stand the reaction. This involves understanding the meaning of change toindividuals.

The key point is that the assimilation of change is an individualphenomenon. Change means different things to different people. Themeaning of change is, therefore, highly individualised. As Stoll andFink (1996, p. 45) point out: ‘there is not only one version of what. . . change should be. . . Change is a personal experience . . . ’ Sikes (1992,p. 41) explains the individuality of the meaning of change as an issue ofprofessional ideological congruence:

teachers’ aims and purposes are important influences on their perceptions and experiencesof their jobs . . . Although perfect match is rare, teachers ideally find jobs in schools whichmatch their ideologies and philosophies and where they can be the sort of teacher they wantto be and be seen as being . . . imposed changes which affect the things they value most canmean that teachers can no longer find a match between their aims and purposes and thoseprevailing in schools. . . This is not to say that teachers’ values are necessarily ‘right’ orfor the greatest number of people. Nevertheless, whatever the case, their perceptions andexperiences will be influenced by the extent to which there is congruence between theiraims, purposes and values and those pertaining in the systems where they are employed.

She sums up her explanation:

Much depends on what the change means for teachers’ ideologies and philosophies, forthe kind of teacher they want to be and be seen as being, for their objective and subjectivecareer aspirations, and for what they are required to do in their job. (Sikes, 1992, p. 49)

Similarly, Nias (1989, p. 62) highlights the importance of beliefsand values: ‘Modifications in professional practice often require indi-viduals to alter deep-rooted, self-defining attitudes, values and beliefs; thepersonal redefinition which this involves is likely to be slow, stressful andsometimes traumatic.’

The evidence from my research is that individuals’ attitudinal responsesto change are determined by the extent of compatibility between theirown ideologies, values and beliefs and those reflected in the changes theyencountered. Another important factor was pragmatism: the evaluation ofthe practical implications of the change. Pragmatic considerations involveindividuals’ assessing the impact of specific changes upon: the efficiencyof the education system as a whole, or of a particular part of it; the qualityof education provision within the whole country, their own LEA, institu-tion, department or classroom; and, ultimately, their own working lives.

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Vested interests often play an important part in influencing pragmaticconsiderations, and self-interested conservatism frequently prevails overmore altruistic, ideological considerations. Tensions may surface in indi-viduals’ attitudinal responses to change as they try to reconcile ideologicaland pragmatic considerations.

The importance to vested micro-political interests for attitudes tochange is highlighted by Ball (1987, p. 32):

The introduction of, or proposal to introduce, changes in structure or working practicesmust be viewed in terms of its relationship to the immediate interests and concerns ofthose members likely to be affected, directly or indirectly. Innovations are rarely neutral.They tend to advance or enhance the position of certain groups and disadvantage ordamage the position of others. Innovations can threaten the self-interests of participants byundermining established identities, by deskilling and therefore reducing job satisfaction.By introducing new working practices which replace established and cherished ways ofworking, they threaten individual self-concepts. Vested interests may also be under threat:innovations not infrequently involve the redistribution of resources, the restructuring of joballocations and redirection of lines of information flow. The career prospects of individualsor groups may be curtailed or fundamentally diverted.

Fullan (1991, p. 35) sums up the issue: ‘teachers are often more concernedabout how the change will affect them personally, in terms of their in-classroom and extra-clasroom work, than about a description of the goalsand supposed benefits of the program.’

In view of these tensions between ideological and pragmatic consid-erations, I have identified two levels of attitudinal response to change:ideological and participative. These refer respectively to how far indi-viduals consider specific changes to be ideologically or pragmaticallyacceptable. In particular, many of the teacher mentors in the study of twomodels of ITE manifested attitudinal responses to change that reflectedtension between ideological and pragmatic acceptance. Whether they wereinvolved in school-centred or partnership-based provision, mentors invari-ably found the principles upon which their ITE programme was builtacceptable, but they questioned the pragmatic implications of the changesinvolved. The following comment on the newly-introduced partnershipITE programme is illustrative:

It’s all idealistically superb! But, in the real world, if anybody believes it can happenwithout many, many freebie hours being given, then they’re just on cloud cuckoo land.. . . But, inevitably, for a year, or two years, everybody will be burning the midnight oil,doing something they know will have to change, because it’s too unwieldy.. . . What I needis time, and that, I haven’t got, to spend with students, ’cos you need to talk with students. . . There are only twenty-fourhours in a day, and there’s only so much that you can do.(Jack, teacher mentor, partnership ITE programme)

Similarly, the TAWP study revealed that teachers were generally suppor-tive of the national curriculum in principle, even though many of the


specific changes connected with its implementation were less acceptableto them:

I think the national curriculum in a way is a good thing, but I think they’ve tried to pusheverything through too fast. (Patrick, Key Stage 18 teacher)In theory it’s a good idea. . . but it’s putting it into practice. . . (Christine, Key Stage 1teacher)

Yet, on balance, the key factor in determining responses to change is,as Marris (1974) points out, the extent to which loss is felt. Marris (1974,pp. 21–22) distinguishes between incremental changes, which representgrowth, and substitutional changes, which represent loss. Whether aspecific change is perceived as incremental or substitutional is entirelysubjective. People’s relative perspectives (comparisons with prior exper-ience) provide the yardstick against which such subjective perceptionsare made. Differences in relative perspective accounted for most of thediversity within the four samples in relation to attitudinal responses tochange, although realistic expectations and professionality orientationwere also influential. It was relative perspective that generally underpinnedindividuals’ assessments of whether specific changes in their working liveshad taken, or promised to take, them nearer to or further from their ‘ideal’jobs. This, for example, is the source of the distinction between Ted’sattitudinal responses and those of his colleagues. Ted’s relative perspectivewas influenced by his experience, over twenty-five years of teaching atthe same university, of a ‘golden age’ of academic freedom and privilege.His realistic expectations, in turn, were determined by this experience, andhis more ‘restricted’ professionality orientation, compared to Stephanie,interacted with these to produce his somewhat jaundiced view of univer-sity teaching today. Stephanie’s relative perspective, on the other hand,was shaped by her experience of teaching in the compulsory secondaryeducation sector before being appointed to a university lectureship fouryears before the time of her research interview. She had no experience ofa ‘golden age’ for academia. Her current post compared very favourablyto her previous ones. As a tutor, the only higher education system thatshe had really known was the reformed one that was being shaped in theearly years of her appointment. This experience, together with what may bedescribed as the more ‘extended’ professionality which it encouraged, gaveher realistic expectations that were realisable within the system and theinstitutional ethos in which she worked. Stephanie’s relative perspective,realistic expectations and professionality orientation made her experienceof change within her current post considerably less extensive than Ted’s.This was a significant factor in encouraging her to embrace, and work inaccordance with, the changes imposed on the system.

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The importance of relative perspective as an influence on realisticexpectations is also illustrated by the comments, presented above, of twolaw tutors. Brian was a newly-appointed lecturer in his first academic post.Since the change that had brought him into academia was, in his view,an incremental change for the better, his perception of academic life wasconsiderably more positive than Ted’s. Unlike Ted, he experienced noloss of academic freedom, nor any deterioration of working conditions.Similarly, Otto, who had previously worked as a research assistant on theContinent, considered himself to have gained, rather than lost, from thechange of taking up his appointment.

IMPLICATIONS FOR MORALE, JOB SATISFACTION AND MOTIVATION

Clearly, individuals’ assessments of what change means for them – whatFullan (1991, pp. 32–36) refers to as the subjective meaning of educationalchange – underpin their levels of job satisfaction, morale and motiva-tion. Change that allows valued aspects of the work to be introduced orincreased potentially increases job satisfaction, which, in turn, has thecapacity to raise morale and motivate people.

Often, though, imposed change engenders negative job-related attitudesbecause it reduces or removes aspects of the work that are satisfactoryand/or satisfying, or it introduces unsatisfactory elements (Southworth,1996, 1999; Woods et al., 1997). If all educational professionals sharedRosemary’s sanguine attitude, educational change would be a potentiallypowerful source of job satisfaction, motivation and morale. In reality,though, as Marris (1974, p. 9) points out, ‘we are all profoundly conser-vative’. The impulse to defend the predictability of life is a fundamentaland universal principle of human psychology, with the result that changemay actually create a sense of loss for many people that is comparableto the grief effected by bereavement. Change agents therefore find theirtask doubly difficult. Educational change is hard to implement effectivelybecause it is often resented and resisted, and because it often createsdissatisfaction, lowered morale and demotivation.

On the other hand, since much educational change is potentiallybeneficial, and since educational professionals cannot develop unlessthey embrace change, there is much to be gained from fostering morepositive attitudes towards it. Rosemary’s example provides a useful startingpoint for trying to achieve this. The occupational cultures of educationalprofessionals need to incorporate recognition of change as a potentialprofessional challenge, rather than a threat.


It is attitudinal development that needs to be achieved if educationalprofessionals are to perceive change as a welcome challenge and source ofjob satisfaction. This will be difficult though, as Nias et al. (1989, p. 16)acknowledge, in relation to teachers: ‘We suggest. . . that change in schoolsoccurs and is experienced at different levels, the deepest and most difficultto reach being that of beliefs and values.’

Perhaps one of the problems is that education professionals are ill-prepared for change. Teacher training typically fails to highlight theprecariousness of the status quo in teachers’ working lives and workingconditions, and the academic community has tended to be similarly obli-vious to the likelihood that the job will not always remain the same.Whereas some professionals, such as those who work at the forefront oftechnological advancement, accept that constant change is part and parcelof their work, it often takes educators by surprise. Again, this points to theimportance of realistic expectations. If people are better prepared for thedisruption to their lives that change brings, and if they are encouraged toexpect it rather than allow it to catch them off-guard, they are less likely toresent it when it occurs. If it is to be a source of job satisfaction rather thandissatisfaction and demotivation, imposed change must be anticipated.

When fostering professional cultures that are receptive to change andthat promote change as a challenge, we need to focus not only on people’sreceptivity to imposed change but also on their orientation to initiatingchange (Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998; Hargreaves, 1994). This is compatiblewith the development of a ‘new professionalism’ that aims to attain higherstatus through greater autonomy. Introducing and successfully imple-menting beneficial change that has a rational basis needs to be presented toeducation professionals as a high status, valuable professional activity thatbrings intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. At institutional and departmentallevels, cultures of receptivity to and initiation of the ‘right’ kind of changecould be developed through policies of recognition and rewards. Managerscould highlight the potentially challenging nature of change, rather thanpresent it as a pill they are trying to sugar. The emergence of a new style ofdepartmental or institutional leadership – exemplified by ‘the challengingleader’ – could contribute much to raising morale among education profes-sionals, providing it did not degenerate into promoting change for the sakeof it, and without a rational basis.

Educational change has much to answer for in relation to morale, jobsatisfaction and motivation. It has caused great damage. In the interests ofraising standards in education and striving for excellence through profes-sional development and institutional improvement, however, much changeis essential. Yet the effectiveness of educational change is weakened by the

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dissatisfaction, demotivation and demoralisation that it creates. To combatthis deficiency, more positive attitudes to change need to be encouraged.Changing the image of change, by presenting it as a challenge, rather thana threat, would be a step towards achieving these more positive attitudes.

NOTES

1 See Evans, 1998, pp. 46–56, for full details of the research design of this study.2 Full details of the research design of this project are presented in Evans, Packwood,Campbell and Neill (1994).3 For further details of the research design see Evans, 1997b; Evans, Abbott, Goodyearand Pritchard, 1995.4 The research design is presented in full in Evans and Abbott, 1998, pp. 19–27.5 Day (1999, pp. 5–7) has questioned whether Hoyle’s (1975) ‘restricted’-‘extended’continuum applies to today’s teaching profession since the gradual erosion of teachers’professional autonomy over the last 25 years has introduced a more uniform profession-alism that no longer offers teachers ‘extended’ or ‘restricted’ options, yet my own researchin the late 1980s and early 1990s suggests that, though the gulf between ‘extended’ and‘restricted’ professionals may have narrowed, disparities in professionality orientationamongst teachers persist (also Nixon, et al., 1997).6 This information is illustrative; some examples of change are omitted and those that areincluded do not necessarily apply to the entire sample.7 Fictitious names are used in all references to my sample.8 Key Stage 1 includes pupils aged 5–7.

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AUTHOR’ S BIO

Linda Evans spent 15 years as a primary teacher working in socially disadvant-aged areas before being appointed lecturer in education at Warwick University’sInstitute of Education. She is codirector of the Institute’s Teacher DevelopmentResearch and Dissemination Unit. She has researched and published widely in thefields of: teacher morale and job satisfaction; teacher development and profession-ality; teaching and learning in higher education; and school-based initial teachereducation.

Teacher Development Research andDissemination Unit Institute of EducationUniversity of WarwickCoventryCV4 7ALEmail: [email protected]

the effects of educational change on morale, job satisfaction and motivation

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