Still ‘a Good Job for a Woman’? Women Teachers' Experiences of Modernization in England and Wales

Abstract

This article examines women teachers' experiences of modernization in schools in England andWales. The article explores the impact of modernization on their work and non-work lives and why, in some cases, modernization has made it impossible for them to remain in the occupation. The evidence presented suggests that modernization has resulted in the intensification and extensification of teaching to such an extent that it is increasingly difficult to combine a teaching career with primary family care responsibilities. Given that teaching is a female-dominated occupation, this has serious implications for government education policy. We argue that the modernization project in the UK has been a driving force for the adverse gender impact that is undermining equality of opportunity for women teachers.

Women and burnout in the context of a pandemic

“…The limited research that does explicitly account for gender differences when researching burnout reports contradictory findings whereby women experience higher levels of job demands compared to their male counterparts but similar levels of burnout (e.g., Friesen & Sarros, 1989;Pretty et al, 1992). This view of burnout as gender neutral is surprising given extensive evidence in the literature that emphasizes that women and men do not share the same work experience, that is women face more sex discrimination than men (Knights & Richards, 2003), are offered inequal opportunities in term of promotion and advancement (Moreau, Osgood, & Halsall, 2008), continue to battle with a gender pay gap (Smith, 2009), have difficulties accessing managerial positions (Liff & Ward, 2001), and lack support when trying to combine their career with family care responsibilities (Conley & Jenkins, 2011). All these documented experiences serve as indictors and manifestations of work stress (Barnett, Biener, & Baruch, 1987).…”

Lean and mean: how NPM facilitates the bullying of UK employees with long-term health conditions

“…There is an argument that the detrimental impact upon employees may disproportionately affect certain groups. Studies by Lee (2002) and Conley and Jenkins (2011)…”

Constructing identities

“…However, very few of the women in this study (apart from two Rebels) described such a state of balance in their own lives; rather they articulated a state of struggle. Descriptions of their working lives indicated that the modernisation agenda within education had worked against their attempts to balance home and professional workloads (Conley and Jenkins, 2011). The impact of the neoliberal agenda has resulted in school working cultures which are increasingly masculinised and which militate against a state of equilibrium with regard to women's personal and professional responsibilities (Bolton and Muzio, 2008).…”

“…Women's particular concerns regarding headship relate to the management of their professional lives together with family responsibilities (ICM, 2008). Additionally, there is an imbalance in relation to the numbers of male and female headteachers in that men at this level are disproportionately represented across all school phases (Conley and Jenkins, 2011;Bolton and Muzio, 2008). Within the UK, a man has a one in six chance of becoming a headteacher at primary level, 2 but a woman has only a one in 14 chance of achieving headship (DfE, 2011).…”