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Teachers’ Meanings Regarding Educational Practice

University of Nijmegen

In this article, a number of scientific schools of thought and research results are reviewed and found to show the importance of identifying the existential attributions of teachers. Important points of anchor are existential phenomenology and symbolic interactionism, the approach to organizations as emotional arenas, social-psychological theories, concerns theory, and, finally, a number of different perspectives on the professional identities of teachers. Next, those policy developments responsible for the emergence of specific existential attributions are considered. At the same time, the results of some recent studies attempting to explain the emergence of certain existential attributions are discussed: studies of the professional development of teachers, analyses of the feelings of uncertainty and concerns that occur among teachers during innovations, and research on tolerance of uncertainty among teachers during the current intensification of their jobs. Finally, redesigning the innovation process is discussed with an eye to just how the existential attributions of teachers can best be handled.

Key Words: concerns • implementation • innovation • leadership • professional development • teachers’ meanings

Review of Educational Research, Vol. 72, No. 4, 577-625 (2002)
DOI: 10.3102/00346543072004577


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