Educational Change and the New Realities of Teachers’ Work Lives

Abstract

Abstract The perceptions were probed of 100 teachers from two Australian state education systems concerning educational change and its impact on their work lives. Educational changes were found to have affected these teachers in both the organisational and the caring professional domains of their work lives. The effects of these changes were felt most strongly when unfamiliar practices replaced existing work patterns, when there was external imposition, there were multiple simultaneous innovations or when there were abbreviated timelines. The teachers’ responses to educational changes are reported, and seven new realities of teachers’ work in the mid‐1990s are suggested. In the context of these new realities, teacher educators will need to demonstrate their understanding of the complex nature of contemporary teachers’ work and be able to both use and impart theories of action that are appropriate for teachers working in an intense educational‐change environment.