7 - Inconsequentiality – The Key to Understanding Teacher Burnout

Summary

A Hypothetical Experiment

Imagine an experiment. The subjects are a group of professionals, mostly female. They are subject to the following conditions: They receive limited pay; have limited contact with other adults during a six-hour workday; have no access to phones and almost no privacy; and are responsible for the emotional, social, and intellectual welfare of large groups of children. They are regarded by society as necessary but also only marginally competent. They are expected to engender considerable growth in virtually every child they work with, even those whose parents have failed them. Individuals with no training in their field routinely review and critique their work.

The experimental manipulation: Society begins to grant these individuals somewhat better pay; there is a serious movement toward affording these individuals a greater voice in decisions that affect their work; and government as well as industry begins supporting efforts to create alternative means to do the work more creatively and efficiently. However, the experimental manipulation includes several other conditions as well: The public's expectations for success rises dramatically, and the criteria used for judging success also become more stringent with a greater emphasis placed on standardized tests; in fact, the public begins to believe that these individuals are not performing adequately unless every child in their charge is performing at an average level or higher.