More than caring: Caring, teachers
’ gender and
the primary school
Hsiao-jung Li
145Abstract
This article is based on an ethnographic exploration into the deconstruction of the gendered associations of caring in primary teaching as motherliness by demonstrating that the notion of caring is complex. Data presented was from a case study conducted in a Taiwanese primary school between 2008 and 2009. The research methods used were non-participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews.Through an examination of the teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and activities towards caring, the research suggests that it is hard to characterise caring in primary teaching as gender-specific, given that caring cannot exclusively be explained by teachers’ gender. Three sets of non-gender specific approaches involving the influence of personal attributes, the emphasis of professional skills and the discourse of humanism has been argued for the complexity of caring.
Keywords: caring, motherliness, teachers’ gender, primary teaching
Introduction
A large body of literature from the west, mainly from the UK, has addressed the relationship between caring and primary teaching. Caring must be central in teaching professionalism because ‘good teachers care, and good teaching is inextricably linked to specific acts of caring’ (Rogers and Webb 1991: 174). Vogt’s (2002) findings after interviewing English primary teachers also support the importance of caring. The commitment to care is posited as one of four specific paths of determination and motivation in teachers’ work (Hargreaves 1994). Succinctly, Nias (1999: 66) equates primary teaching with a ‘culture of care’.
There is a close association between caring in primary teaching and sex role
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stereotyping that women are more suited to teaching the young. Acker (1999) and others (James 2010; Thornton 1999; Vogt 2002) note that teaching and caring for young children is regularly regarded as a natural sphere for women because of the continuity between women’s nurturing and caring roles as mothers in families and as female teachers in schools. Caring in teaching involves offering ‘natural, quasi-maternal caring’ as a natural extension of motherly roles (Acker 1999: 19); teachers are thus occupied with issues similar to those found in family child-rearing. In other words, female teachers in primary teaching environments are regarded as natural nurturers, care providers, and as surrogate, substitute, or quasi- mothers. Such a view is confirmed in the findings provided by Taiwanese local research. In a large-scale investigation, approximately 38 per cent of teachers responded that they felt themselves like ‘nannies’ when asked about their role in schools (Chuang 1998). Moreover, female primary teachers reported that being considered ‘nannies of high quality’, coupled with the feeling of stress and powerlessness, contributed to their decision of leaving the profession (Chang, Hwang, and Yang 2000, 97).
To deconstruct the stereotypical linking between caring in primary teaching and motherly roles ascribed to female teachers, this article seeks to demonstrate that the notion of caring is complex. This will be achieved through an exploration of teachers’ gender perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards caring. This article begins with outlining the case-study school and the research methods to contextualise the research. Then, the major findings of this study will be presented: an examination on how teachers perceived caring in their teaching practices. In line with Vogt’s (2002) view of caring as a continuum between femininity and a less gendered identity, here I will attempt to demonstrate the over-simplification of the idea that caring is reviewed as motherly work by arguing that caring can also be interpreted by non-gender specific values.
Research methods
This article draws upon data collected as part of an ethnographic case study exploring the gendering of primary teaching conducted in a primary school located in southwest Taiwan. This school, like all the other primary schools in Taiwan, has both male and female pupils aged between six and twelve (Year 1 to Year 6146). This school is highly-feminised as 28 out of 40 teachers (not including the principal) were females.
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Pseudonyms are used thoroughly to protect the anonymity of the informants. The fieldwork was carried out between 2008 and 2009. The research methods used were non-participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Non-participant observation included shadowing six different class teachers, four females and two males. These teachers were mainly selected for the age range of pupils whom they taught.
As Lichtman (2006) remarks, the answers derived from personal interviews can help identify more invisible levels, such as personal thoughts and motivations hidden behind public behaviours. At the end of the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with eight teachers, including the six teachers shadowed, one male class teacher of Year 6 (Mr Johnny), one female subject teacher (Mrs Angel) and the principal for a gender balance. All the interviews were recorded and fully transcribed into English later. Combining field notes and interview data in the study, empirical findings will be discussed below.
Findings
Caring, teachers’ gender and perceptions
When asked about caring in their teaching practices, the teachers’ responses varied. Some teachers supported the similarity between caring and motherliness, as is the case of Mrs Elisa (a class teacher of Year 3), who identified that ‘in primary teaching, I feel, sort of, like the continuity, the extension of family parents’ caring. Certainly, it is impossible for teachers to completely replace parents’. In our interview, Mrs Maggie (a class teacher of Year 1) discussed the importance of motherly caring for young children prior to my question:
The time spent caring for children is massive owing to the differences and particular conditions among children. The work resembles that of moms. Take diet and dressing problems for example, some children have bias in dietary, and some get confused about hot or cold weather, particularly for those who are raised by or live with grandparents instead of their dads and moms. They are not aware of how to handle these sorts of life problems.
In contrast, some teachers argued against the gendered associations of teaching jobs with motherly caring. Two sets of reasons were proposed: class size and the influence of sex-stereotyping.
To begin with, class size is one of the arguments in explaining why teachers do not accept the notion equating teaching with motherly caring. Mrs Yvonne (a class teacher of Year 6) refers to large classes in primary schools:
It can’t be that case. We have to see how many pupils there are in a class. A mother having 30 children is different from a mother having one or two kids. And love and caring varies and differs.
Her final remark was that: ‘There is no possibility for teachers to substitute mothers’. Furthermore, the influence of stereotyping was also suggested. Miss Fiona, another class teacher of Year 1, raised her straightforward doubts about sex-stereotyping like this:
It can’t be that case. We have to see how many pupils there are in a class. A mother having 30 children is different from a mother having one or two kids. And love and caring varies and differs.
By my observation, Miss Fiona, who despite being a class teacher of Year 1, did not seem to embrace her role as a care giver.
Crossing the gendered boundaries
Vogt (2002: 262) suggests that caring in primary teaching can be viewed as a continuum that is ‘highly linked with femininity at one end and with a less gendered identity at the other end’. Drawing on Vogt’s argument of ‘less gendered identity’, this article attempts next to identify three different perspectives: the influence of personal attributes, the emphasis of professionalism, and the humanist approach discernible beneath the surface of gendered caring. That is, rather than being merely a nurturing job or an extension of motherhood, caring, at least for the teachers in my case-study school, is complex.
Mrs Yvonne stated that in her nearly fifteen years of teaching there was only one time that she worked as the class teacher of Year 1. She described the job as being ‘a hen leading 12 chicks. It was lovely and fun’. Nonetheless, she disliked either getting close to pupils or having intimate contact with them, and she explained that by saying ‘it is my personality’. The male teacher, Mr Jason (a class teacher of Year 4), summed it up well: ‘I just can’t teach young children of Year 1.’
During this study, I was able to observe that Miss Fiona rarely acted as a care giver. It went noticed that she rarely had physical contact with her pupils. For instance, when discussing how she would deal with ill children and the medicine they have to take, she bluntly said, ‘I just leave these matters to pupils’. In fact, on some occasions Miss Fiona, with some pride, revealed her personal predilections by asking me:
Did you notice? Apart from academic learning, I offer pupils plenty of opportunities to practice, to solve problems and do things on their own.
It is clear that Miss Fiona was not keen to provide assistance, nor to label herself as a care giver. In that vein, it is not convincing to position caring as an in-born attribute that is characteristic of women.
The second perspective featuring my study is professionalism. Woods and Jeffery (2002: 95) refer to the changes in the role of the teacher:
From a notion of the ‘good teacher’ based on ‘personal qualities’, the emphasis is now on teacher competencies, such as subject expertise, coordination, collaboration, management and supervision.
Resonating with this argument, the teachers in my study put much emphasis on teaching skills, along with a considerable amount of knowledge and expertise abilities, which were all valued as requisites in their profession:
Teaching needs some skills. They are necessary, indispensable. (Mr Jason) I don’t think that teaching the young is an easy job. For such younger children, you need more advanced skills. Otherwise, children will not be able to understand what you are trying to teach them, or the warnings you are giving. (Miss Fiona)
geography and history, to make such young children understand things. These are real skills. (Mrs Maggie)
If it’s an easy job, children ought to be educated at home by their parents or, like in some films, by teachers who only received a secondary educational qualification but are qualified to teach in primary schools in remote areas. (Mrs Yvonne)
I think it’s very difficult. I don’t agree with the idea that equates teaching to jobs performed by mothers… Teaching professionalism is important, but professionalism is difficult to quantify… I’ll say, the importance of professionalism constitutes a 40 per cent, whereas 60 per cent is experience…And, you have to be passionate about this job. So, that’s why I disagree with teaching resembling motherliness. Teachers’ attitudes and professionalism are crucial. (Mr Gary, a class teacher of Year 5)
Notwithstanding their endorsement of the importance of caring, the quotes above reveal how strongly teachers prioritised, valued and stressed learned and professional skills and knowledge, rather than in-born or natural qualities.
Among the teachers’ explanations, the view highlighting teaching skills offered by Miss Fiona impressed me most. When asked about the importance of caring, she replied:
For me, a good number of years of teaching experience; it’s skills, our practical teaching. We need skills that accumulate with time. Then we make adjustments after teaching so many children. When questioned, teaching experience is hardly interpreted by words.
I reminded her that she had completely forgotten to comment on the topic- caring. Miss Fiona hastened to answer: ’Love is needed, of course’. After such a brief response, she again turned to the significance of skills: ‘When you teach children, skills are needed. Providing lots of love, and not teaching them, is not enough’. In short, the essence of teaching is to teach, not just depending on love and caring.
mothers in the classroom.These humanistic values and attitudes were held by some of the teachers in my study. For example, Mr Gary held the position of subsection leader, which helped him to become aware of a wider range of information relevant to the application of governmental subsidies and benefits. He made good use of these resources to assist pupils in need. It was normal to see him spending his spare time filling in forms or seeking useful information online, which he did even before parents asked for help.
Another example occurred in my shadowing with Mrs Maggie. A boy seemed to be too quiet in the classroom, so Mrs Maggie engaged in getting medical assessments and official records essential for the boy and his treatment. One day, she told me, with a sigh, that she could not help but postpone the appointment with her hairdresser. She needed time to drive the boy and his grandfather along with the dean of the Counselling Office to the hospital for the assessments. Several times it was she who took the boy to the hospital and had him go through the medical examinations, instead of the boy’s family or the dean, who should deal with these affairs. This is an excerpt from my fieldnotes recording her dedication:
I glimpsed Mrs Maggie engaged in preparing a passport-size photo and other things for the boy’s examination. She said: ‘I’ve paid these fees for him. His grandfather always repeats that he knows nothing about matters such as taking a passport photo. What I’ll do is to apply for state benefits for him because of his intelligence retardation. The boy’s family have no idea of social benefits at all. The money will help to alleviate his condition and that of his family’. Moreover, she revealed: ‘I’m making an effort, by contacting the social network at my local church, to apply for an appropriate hospital for the boy’s father who also needs mental treatment’, although she concluded: ‘I’m not sure how much I can do’.
When shadowing other teachers, I noticed that the boy always stayed with Mrs Maggie, who made efforts to teach him a few words or something in many afternoons after other children had left school.
Discussion and conclusion
gender as well as their perceptions, attitudes and experiences towards caring. The importance of caring has been acknowledged by the case-study school’s teachers. Nonetheless, different viewpoints towards caring were heard: some teachers supported the link between caring in primary teaching and motherliness, while class sizes and the influence of stereotyping were endorsed by some teachers to dissociate their teaching work from motherly caring.
I have also argued that, resonant with the findings of Skelton’s (2003) and Vogt’s (2002) findings, caring in primary teaching did not exclusively relate to teachers’ gender by suggesting that the attitudes, behaviours and ideas of individual teachers about caring may involve a complex mix of three sets of non-gender specific approaches: the influence of personal attributes, the emphasis of professional skills and the discourse of humanism. These approaches do not include gendered associations. More importantly, those approaches and beliefs on caring implied that, as suggested in Vogt’s (ibid) study, teachers crossed over the boundaries of patriarchal stereotypes, thus limiting the image of the teacher as a mother and a motherly care giver.
This article contributes to the theorisation of the relationships between caring, primary teaching and teachers by arguing for the complexity of caring. This study has its limitations both in terms of the approaches adopted and the context studied. For example, the data is drawn out from a single-setting case. In addition, future examinations regarding parents’ expectations and influences are also suggested to gain more insights into the relations between caring and the social context in Taiwan. What needs to be stressed here is that, regardless of teachers’ gender and the significance of caring in primary teaching, the views and values that teachers possess could be a significant resource contributing to the blurring of patriarchal boundaries still linked to the construction of caring with motherliness.
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