Teacher Stress

British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2000

Teacher Stress in the Low-Trust Society

GEOFF TROMAN, School of Education, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

ABSTRACT Stress is a widespread feature of work in teaching. Recent accounts of teacher emotions andcultures of teaching have noted that unsatisfactory social relationships with adults, e.g. colleagues,headteachers, parents and inspectors, elicit hostile emotions from teachers and appear to be a source ofstress in teaching. This article examines why this should be the case. Some commentators have used labourprocess theory to argue that the intensication of work and government policies promoting managerialismin schools are the roots of the problem. This article uses qualitative data from a study of primary teacherstress to examine staff relationships in the primary school. It argues that while intensication of teacherswork is certainly involved in eroding positive staff relationships, it is also the changing trust relations inhigh modernity that are shaping the social relations of low-trust schooling, and impacting negatively onteachers physical and emotional well-being and their collegial professional relations.

In modern societies the antithesis of trust is a state of mind which could bestbe summed up as existential angst and dread. (Anthony Giddens, The Conse-quences, of Modernity, 1990, p. 138.)

Introduction

Stress is a pervasive feature of contemporary life. The context of the escalation of stressis the globalization of capital and communications, the rapid growth of information andtechnological developments, changed modes of economic production, economic crisisand increasing moral and scienti c uncertainty (Woods et al., 1997, p.1). The extent ofoccupational stress and stress-related illness, particularly in Western societies, is now wellestablished by social research (Newton et al., 1995; Bartlett, 1998). In the UK, it isestimated that 270 000 people are absent from work with stress each working day andin 1996, sickness absence cost UK businesses 12 billion (Ameghino, 1998). Accompany-ing this trend has been a 90% rise in mental health insurance claims in the years since1994 (Ameghino, 1998). The annual cost of stress to the Education Service in 1998 hasbeen estimated at 230 million (Brown & Ralph, 1998). It is argued that while stress isa problem among the caring professionals, it is generally of particular concern in the

ISSN 0142-5692 (print)/ISSN 1465-3346 (online)/00/03033123 2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd

332 G. Troman

teaching profession (Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1979). For instance, a recent study of teachersjob satisfaction revealed unhappiness being experienced at a personal level (Gardner &Oswald, 1999). This research, conducted in the public and private sector (7000respondents tracked over each year of the 1990s; 40,000 face-to-face interviews conduc-ted), argues that while teachers are not quite the unhappiest workers in the UK, theyare very low by public sector standards compared, especially, to nurses (Gardner &Oswald, 1999). This large-scale survey data indicates that the dissatis ers of teachingmay be beginning to outweigh the satis ers (Nias, 1989). There is now a considerablebody of work that links teacher stress with the wholesale restructuring of nationaleducation systems that began in the 1980s (Dunham, 1984; Travers & Cooper, 1996;Dinham & Scott, 1996; Woods et al., 1997; Brown & Ralph, 1998).The nature of stress in teachers work was recently noted by Jennifer Nias (1996). In

her editorial introduction to a special edition of the Cambridge Journal of Education, devotedto the topic of teacher emotions, she stated:

in this edition teachers most extreme and negative feelings appear when theytalk about their colleagues, the structures of schooling or the effect of changingeducational policies upon them the most intensive, hostile and deeplydisturbing emotions described in these articles came not from encounters withpupils or students, but with other adults, particularly colleagues, parents, schoolgovernors and inspectors. It is not clear why this shift should have occurred,nor whether it simply re ects a change in research priorities. It does, however,open up a fresh area of discussion and re ection for practitioners andacademics alike. (Nias, 1996, p. 300)

This article is a contribution to the discussion Nias has initiated.Certainly, many complex macro, meso and micro factors are at work in the

production of stress in teaching (Woods, 1995a). Teaching work in the primary school,for example, has changed radically during the past decade. Classroom teaching nowconstitutes only part of the teachers work. Other tasks, extra but closely related toteaching, involve work in planning and administration with colleagues, and work withparents and the community (Campbell & Neill, 1994; Webb & Vulliamy, 1996). Thesefactors may well account for the changed research focus on teachers work beyond theclassroom. They might also indicate that, for some teachers, relationships are giving riseto emotional and psychological problems in their work and lives.The works of Woods (1995a), Jeffrey & Woods (1996), Menter et al. (1997), Troman

(1997) and Woods et al. (1997) clearly note the negative effects of the intensi cation ofwork and managerialism on primary teachers and collegial relations in the primaryschool. In the context of secondary schooling, Ball (1988) also uses labour process theoryto explain that intensi cation involving the separation of conception (managers) fromexecution (teachers) had fragmented staffs creating an us and them culture morecharacteristic of industrial contexts. Not only was collegiality affected by this process:Gewirtz (1996) and Reay (1996) found the teachers working in such conditions to beexperiencing high levels of stress; and Evans (1992), in a rare study of primary teachermorale and job satisfaction, found the situation-speci c variables of headteacher behav-iour and staff relationships to be key factors in uencing the teachers satisfaction/dissat-isfaction with teaching.I will argue in this article that while all the above social processes are undoubtedly

involved in teacher stress and the breakdown in staff relationships, labour process theorymay have a limited explanatory power (Hargreaves, 1993) in revealing all that is involved

Teacher Stress in the Low-Trust Society 333

in the stress process and changing cultures of teaching. Using a case study of primaryteachers who are experiencing stress and stress-related illness in their work, I look beyondlabour process arguments to consider changing trust relations in high modernity andrelate these to the meso (institutional) and micro (personal) levels of schooling. The paperfocuses on teacher experience of trust and distrust in their work, and the consequencesof this for individuals and staff relationships.First, I explain the methods used in the study.

Methods

Most research on teacher stress has adopted large-scale survey methods (for example,Travers & Cooper, 1996). By way of contrast, our research is qualitative in nature. Myapproach in the teacher stress research is ethnographic, and I agree with Seddon (1998,p. 1) when she argues that:

Ethnography is a key research strategy in such historic times of change. Itprovides a window into the practical realities of peoples work and lives. Itshows the constraints and contradictions that they face and reveals the waythey respond to large-scale social changes. Ethnography provides an importantcounter to theoretical extrapolations because it lets us glimpse the localmundane processes which constitute history in the making. It con rms again,that great reform dynamics and peoples responses to them must be analysedcontextually to show the localised effects of speci c histories, institutionalpractices and cultures.

The principal method of the research is semi-structured and open-ended, in-depth, lifehistory interviewing. In order to contact headteachers and teachers who were experienc-ing or had experienced stress in their work, I collaborated with a local authorityOccupational Health Unit, which is currently engaged in counselling employees, whowere self-referred or referred by their General Practitioners, of the local authority (largelyteachers, social workers and re-service personnel) who are experiencing stress. All hadbeen diagnosed as suffering from anxiety, depression or stress-related illness. The Unitalso had knowledge of those teachers who had returned to school or who had retiredearly or otherwise left teaching for stress-related reasons. In terms of sampling, attend-ance at the Unit for counselling, receiving medical treatment for stress-related illness andhaving a prolonged period off work provided an operational de nition of stress for ourresearch. Teachers conforming with this de nition were identi ed by the Unit, whocirculated our letter to these teachers inviting them to take part in the research. As Iobviously was not in a position where I could anticipate, and therefore select, thoseindividuals who would want to co-operate in the research, I was reliant on anopportunity sample. Some of the respondents gave me further contacts with friends whowere receiving support from the Unit and this provided a small snowball sample.The eventual sample consisted of 20 teachers, 13 women and seven men. These

worked, or had worked, in schools representing a range of urban and rural locations. Thegender proportions and ages represent those found in the teaching profession generally,in that they are predominantly women and a large majority is 40 years of age or older(Wragg et al., 1998). A range of positions is represented although the majority areteachers (mostly subject co-ordinators) in mid to late career. There are three headteach-ers (two male, one female) and two newly quali ed teachers (female). A range ofadaptations was evident including teachers on sickness absence, those who had returned

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TABLE I. Characteristics of the illustrative group

Teacher Age (years) Position School Location

Mary 53 Class teacher KS 1 Urban(now left teaching)

Ben 39 Maths co-ordinator UrbanKS2 now leftteaching)

Elizabeth 45 Art co-ordinator Inner cityKS2

Susan 33 Probationary class Ruralteacher KS2 (nowpart-time)

Merryl 35 Headteacher (now Ruraldeputy headteacher

Ralph 39 Deputy headteacher Urban(now headteacher)

Judith 46 Class teacher UrbanJackie 50 English co-ordinator Inner city

KS2Olivia 59 SEN co-ordinator Urban

KS2Marion 51 Assessment co-ordinator Inner city

KS1 (early retirement)Anna 25 Class teacher KS1 Urban

KS 5 Key stage.

to work and some who had left teaching. This article is based on the analysis of datafrom the whole sample, but illustrative examples have been drawn from data providedby eleven of the respondents. Some characteristics of this group are shown in Table I.The teachers who participated were interviewed in their homes. Each interview was

normally of 1.52 h duration, with the length being determined by the interviewee. Ihave a had a minimum number of two and a maximum of ve interviews withrespondents over a 2-year period. This adds a longitudinal dimension to the research,something that is often missing in research on stress in teaching (Kelchtermans, 1995a)and enables me to chart the stress career. Analysis of transcripts, conducted in parallelwith ongoing comparisons with related research literature, feeds into future interviewsand data collection in order to facilitate progressive focusing (Glaser & Strauss, 1967)and an escalation of insights (Lacey, 1976).The quotations presented in this article provide insights into the teachers perspectives.

However, no attempt is made to claim that these perspectives are the only possibleinterpretation of events. Triangulation of accounts of individual institutions was onlypossible on very few occasions. The ethical considerations involved in researching sucha sensitive topic as teacher stress, however, ruled out this approach in a great many cases.Additionally, I have conducted an organisational study of two primary schools

involving observation and interview. This study was of two large urban primary schoolslocated in different Education Authorities. One is a self-de ned low stress school (staffedby a headteacher and 11 class teachers) that has recently received a highly favourableOFSTED report and has low teacher absence rates, low staff sickness rates, low staffturnover, and high teacher morale. The other, a self-de ned high stress school, is


currently under special measures, having been de ned by OFSTED as a failing school.It is experiencing high levels of teacher stress, high staff turnover and high absence rates.

Trust and Relationships

Trust between individuals and groups provides the basis for social order, it is the mortarof solidarity and integration (Durkheim, 1956). Elster (1989) argues that social order ischaracterised by the predictability of social life and is maintained by the existence ofhabitual rules and social norms. A normal and routine life would not be possible withoutan implicit and unconsidered trust that everyday life does not carry major threats (citedin Misztal, 1996, p. 68). Hence, trust facilitates stability, co-operation and cohesion.Educational relationships cannot be established and maintained without a strong bond

of trust existing between teacher and pupils. Hargreaves (1998a, p. 5) argues thatteaching is an emotional practice involving trustful relationships with others. Trust is ofprime importance in teaching, for the presence of trust ensures that creative individualsare allowed greater freedom and autonomy (Alexander, 1989, p. 142). Trust is apre-condition of co-operation (Gambetta, 1988). High levels of trust are required amongparticipants (teachers, children and critical others) in critical events for the developmentof communitas marked by a strong feeling of camaraderie, a sense of common destiny,mutual support, the absence of strati cation by age, ability, social class, gender or race,the transcendence of status and role as they apply in normal life, and great excitementand enthusiasm (Woods, 1995b, p. 93).Nias et al. (1989) view trust as a pre-requisite for effective and meaningful collaborative

working relationships, and argue that for trust to exist people must nd one another highlypredictable and share substantially the same aims (p. 81). Advocacy of collegiality inschooling is widespread. Little (1990) has advocated interdependence as the preferred andmost productive state of collegial relations among teachers (Hargreaves, 1998a,p. 9). Elias (1987) describes interdependence as the ideal state of human relationships(cited in Hargreaves, 1998a). Restructured organisations and cultures require collaborative, exible and differentiated teachers to work in them (Lawn, 1995). They need to be able towork on their own, but also, increasingly, to work together. In the school improvement(Caldwell & Spinks, 1988; Hargreaves & Hopkins, 1991; Hargreaves, D., 1994) andteacher development literature (Nias et al., 1989; Fullan, 1991; Biott & Nias, 1992;Hargreaves, A., 1994), there is a pronounced emphasis on collaboration through whichteachers develop new skills by sharing professional knowledge. D. Hargreaves (1994)describes a new professionalism in which teacher isolationism is broken down and aculture of collaboration arises. These views are supported by a number of of cial policydocuments (Department of Education and Science (DES), 1992; OFSTED, 1994) and inthe OFSTED criteria for inspection (OFSTED, 1995). Caldwell & Spinks (1988) argue thatdeveloped budgets and school self-management systems invest trust in schools to stimulateeffectiveness and improvement initiatives. Trust in management to organize restructuringof the institution, to devise technically based solutions and to implement radical reformshas been central to many of the recent changes (Walker & Barton, 1987; Inglis, 1989).Trust is required for solid parentteacher relationships, which enhance childrens

learning (Bastiani, 1987). Since the 1950s, there has been a marked change in therelations between the education state and parents. David (1992) argues that in the eraof meritocracy parents were held at arms length from schools and seen to play no partin their childs education. There then followed a period of participation, in which theywere viewed as co-educators. We are now experiencing the third wave of parentocracy

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(Brown, 1990). While there is not necessarily any reduction in levels of parent partici-pation in schools, in the ideology of parentocracy there is a groundswell of popularsupport for ideas concerning parents having a greater control over, and choice in, theeducation of their children. Parents as consumers are seeking the best buy in education.Parent power is in the ascendent (Dale, 1989).

Trust and Society

Previous psychological research on stress has adopted the orthodox categorisation of theperson as a psychological entity distinct from the social milieau, though in uenced by it(Handy, 1990, p. 5). It is important to complement the existing body of stress researchwith a perspective that embraces the social aspects of stress and stress-related illness(Fineman, 1995) and addresses the relationship between the (current) social environmentand individual subjective experience (Handy, 1995, p. 8). This relationship was demon-strated consummately by Durkheim (1897), showing that the most individual of acts,suicide, has a social basis. This current stress research engages with the core sociologicalissues of the relationship of the individual to society, of agency and constraint, controland order (Pollard, 1992, p. 119).It is necessary here to seek inter-relationships between the micro, meso and macro

levels of analysis rather than treating them as discrete (Kelchtermans, 1995a). AsHargreaves (1998b, p. 422) argues, these levels are not tightly insulated from oneanother and structure and agency are relationally connected. In work on the socialconstruction of teacher stress, we must avoid analyses that force a false separation of self,structure and situation into different sites of experience (Hargreaves, 1998b). What isreally important, Hargreaves argues, is that we seek to understand how structures exerttheir effects and with what consequences and implications for the self, in different placesand times.Giddens work on the dialectical relationship between the individual and the globali-

sation of capital, information and human relationships is of importance here. Hisextensive conceptual development of the nature of trust relations in high modernity, forexample, draws recursive links between changes in society and individual dispositions(Misztal, 1996).Trust cannot be understood without making reference to the allied concept of risk.

Giddens (1990, p. 31) argues that:

where trust is involved, in Luhmanns view, alternatives are consciously bornein mind by the individual in deciding to follow a particular course of action.Someone who buys a used car, instead of a new one, risks purchasing a dud.He or she places trust in the salesperson or the reputation of the rm to try toavoid this occurrence. Thus an individual who does not consider alternativesis in a situation of con dence, whereas someone who does recognise thosealternatives and tries to counter the risks thus acknowledged, engages in trust.

While risk and danger certainly were features of life in pre-modern times:

In simple societies, risk was associated with permanent danger; with threats ofwild beasts, marauding raiders, famines and oods. Personal trust in family,friends and community helped people cope with these persistent risks. Risk insimple societies was something to be minimized or avoided. In modern, massorganizations and societies, risk and trust took on different qualities. (Harg-reaves, A., 1994, p. 252)


Trust operates in environments of risk, in which varying levels of security (protectionagainst dangers) can be achieved.Giddens (1990, p. 34) de nes trust as,

con dence in the reliability of a person or system, regarding a given set ofoutcomes or events, where that con dence expresses a faith in the probity orlove of another, or in the correctness of abstract principles.

For Giddens, trust in pre-modern societies was based on personal trust (trust inpersonsfacework commitment) secured by kinship, community, religion and traditions(Misztal, 1996, p. 90). However, trust in late modernity (owing to the decline/fragmen-tation of traditional institutions, and the increased division of labour and specialisationwhich means we must be lay persons in most matters) is based also on the abstractsystems (faceless commitments) of symbolic tokens (media of interchange, such as money)and expert systemsthat is systems of technical and professional knowledge where trust isbased in a body of knowledge (Misztal, 1996, p. 90). However, Giddens argues that ina period of high modernity, where social relations have become disembedded from localcontexts and recombined across timespace distances (Giddens, 1990, p. 53), there isa renewed re-embedding and growing importance of personalised trust, based on deliber-ately cultivated face-to-face relationships because they are more psychologically reward-ing than trust in abstract systems (p. 88).Giddens also uses the concepts basic or elementary trust, often using them interchange-

ably. Basic trust is connected with the genesis of our ontological security, i.e. our con dencein the continuity of personal identity. Elementary trust is connected with the predictabilityof daily encounters (Misztal, 1996, p. 91). Without the development of basic trust (initiallywith parents, family, friends) people may experience existential anxiety, and lack ofcon dence in the continuity of their self-identity and the constancy of their environment.With the breakdown of kinship, community, religion and tradition, trust needs to be

negotiated:

Trust in persons is not focused by personalised connections within the localcommunity and kinship networks. Trust on a personal level becomes a project,to be worked at by the parties involved, and demands the opening out of theindividual to the other. Where it cannot be controlled by xed normative codes,trust has to be won, and the means of doing this is demonstrable warmth andopenness. (Giddens, 1990, p. 121)

However, Giddens argues that in the high-risk society (Beck, 1992), the consequencesof the antithesis of trust are anxiety and dread. These are the debilitating effects ofmodern institutions on self-experience and the emotions and are brought about throughthe absence or fracturing of trust (Giddens, 1990, p. 100).

The High-Risk Low-Trust Society

We live in a risk culture (Giddens, 1990, 1991); consequently, there is a crisis of trust insociety involving the breakdown of trusting relationships and the growth of distrust notonly within intimate and personal relationships, but also towards institutions (Castells,1997). In globalisation, the social and geographical mobility of modern societies tendsto erode trust and credibility by undermining the bonds of solidarity (Misztal, 1996, p.96). The plurality of views and values leads to uncertainty and distrust of experts. Deepdistrust of out groups makes discrimination such as racism an endemic feature of sociallife. Suspicion and surveillance is evident in the proliferation of electronic equipment,

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which overtly and covertly monitors behaviour in public spaces. There is public distrust ofthe unethical operations of some expert systems, e.g. transnational corporations. Fraud andbank collapse has fuelled the growth of regulatory bodies who monitor and attempt tocontrol expert systems. For instance, the practice of auditing is so pervasive that mostinstitutions ( nancial or not) are now subject to economic scrutiny and control of organisa-tional proceduresthis practice is so deeply embedded in the culture that the UK has beenreferred to as the audit society (Power, 1994). There is currently a collapse of con dencein institutions in the Further Education sector in the UK as a number are beinginvestigated for managerial impropriety and nancial mismanagement. Distrust is evidentin the low-trust management styles in Western societies (particularly the UK and the US).The presence of con ict and a lack of mutual loyalty and responsibility between workersand bosses are features of low-trust workplaces (Fox, 1974; Kramer & Tyler, 1996).Distrust of professionals is widespread; particularly politicians (would you buy a used

car?). Misztal (1996, p. 201) explains that:

Many surveys have found open distrust of political parties, a clear trend ofdeclining public con dence in the democratic process and the growing alien-ation among many Westerners towards the bureaucratized political system.

In the medical sphere, doctors are increasingly the targets of litigation in widelypublicised cases of negligence involving the injury and death of patients. In education,reforms were introduced in the context of a public discourse of derision and were basedon a profound distrust of teachers (Grace, 1991; Ball, 1994; Helsby, 1999). The moralpanic concerning falling educational standards has continued to encourage the publicsdistrust of teachers. The recently introduced regulatory body of OFSTED inspectionsand league tables, whose aim is to restore con dence and trust in education andminimise the risk of failure, by the regulation and control of teachers work and processesof schooling, have themselves become the object of distrust by some teachers, education-ists and education researchers (see, for example, OFSTIN, 1997).It is possible to argue, of course, that there are potentially positive effects resulting

from the increased agency of citizens in their interactions with institutions. For instance,increased parental involvement in education is not necessarily oppressive to teachers. Itmay be, for example, that some schools function in such a way that they expectautomatic deference to professionals, thus excluding the voices of parents who areexpected to be a passive and trusting group. In these circumstances, and denied theopportunity of dialogue, parental complaint might be thought to be the only optionavailable.

The Nature of Trust Relations in Schooling

Hargreaves (1998a, p. 1) argues that teaching is a profoundly emotional form ofworkteaching activates, colours and otherwise affects the feelings and actions ofothers with whom teachers work and form relationships. And like Hargreaves, thisarticle:

treats the emotional lives of educators not only as matters of personaldisposition or commitment, as psychological qualities that emerge amongindividuals, but also as phenomena that are shaped by how the work ofteaching is organised, structured and led. (Hargreaves, 1998, p. 2)


TABLE II. Trustdistrust categories

Trust Distrust

Intimacy AlienationTogetherness AntagonismSupportive UnderminingMutuality IsolationSecurity InsecurityAcceptance Suspicion

The following section of the article examines the nature of face-work (Goffman, 1959)and trust negotiations within an expert system, primary schooling, and in access points whereexperts (teachers), lay people and regulatory bodies meet and engage in trust bargaining.The organisation of the section is dictated by the analysis of interview data. Like

Nicole, a teacher in Kelchtermans (1996) case study, experiencing vulnerability andgiving trust and wanting to be trusted were key themes running through respondentstestimonies in the stress research. The focus here, therefore, is on categories oftrustdistrust and the negative impact on the individual physical and emotionalwell-being of individual teachers and their personal and collegial relations. The sectionis arranged as shown in Table II.

IntimacyAlienation

Some of the teachers experienced a breakdown in close and intimate personal relation-ships leading to alienation at home and at work. Traditional family structure and lifestyleare changing rapidly in high modernity (Castells, 1997). The patriarchal nuclear familyis no longer the norm owing to the breakdown of trusting relationships and new formsof intimate relationships arising (Giddens, 1990, 1991). The majority of the teachersappeared to enjoy trusting and supportive intimate relationships that enabled them tocope with their illness. But for some chronic strains (Pearlin, 1989) in the life-world,Kelchtermans (1995b) involved dif culties in or a break up of a personal relationship.Two of the teachers had severely disabled children to raise. This caused tension in theirrelationships with their partners and contributed to an already stressful situation at work.One divorce resulted from this situation. In some cases, stressful domestic events wereparalleled with stressful circumstances at work. Mary thought she was untypical of otherstressed teachers in that she viewed her domestic situation as the prime factor in herstress illness. She was untypical in the sense that her intimate relationship had ended inextremely violent and acrimonious circumstances. However, her case shows graphicallythe negative impact of an inter-relation of in uencing factors arising in both professionaland personal lives. Stress from school would spill over into the home and exacerbate thestress being experienced by her partner. Stress from home would spill into her workplace.This emotional interplay is evident in the following:

Mary: The rst three years we were together things were all right. But thenI knew that he was very fond of drinking and it became increasinglyobvious to me that he was an alcoholic. And this is why I said I maynot be typical for your research because Id been under tremendouspressure at school with this OFSTED inspection coming up. And alsotremendous pressure at home because of him being an alcoholic. Whatused to frequently happen was that he would go up the pub of an

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evening. Hed come back stupidly drunk and he would harangue meabout my shortcomings for as long as he could. And he said Id got lotsso he would do a different selection every single night.

Geoff: What sort of things were they?

Mary: Oh. Hed probably say that I was a rotten teacher, that I was a rottencook, that I was Irish, and I thought originally that my appeal to himwas the fact that I was Irish. He said he loved Ireland. Oh all sorts ofdifferent things, you know. Anything that came into his head he wouldharangue me about and

Geoff: Was he a teacher as well?

Mary: No he wasnt. I think this was part of the problem, he didnt realise thepressures that teachers had, that you had to work in the evening.Although I did try to stay at school as late as I could and do as muchas I could at work. He was a boat builder, of course the recessionaffected that industry very badly and in fact its only getting out of itnow. And hes an excellent worker, people spoke very highly of hiswork, but there was less and less work around. So of course nanciallyhe was also becoming more and more dependent on me. And I had totake over the mortgage which was quite large because wed bought abig house. And after hed harangued me, which didnt do wonders formy self-esteem, he would play music very loudly underneath the roomin which I slept where there was a chimney breast. So of course thenoise would come right up to the room. And hed play it till 2, 3, 4oclock in the morning which devastating when I had to get up and bebright eyed and bushy tailed at school at half past eight. My self-esteemhas been shattered by him.

Following the type of experience described here and the resulting illness, loss ofself-esteem and con dence, Marys performance as an infant teacher plummetted and,following a long period off work, she eventually returned to face competency proceedingsinvolving the breakdown of trust at school (see AcceptanceSuspicion section).

TogethernessAntagonism

All of the respondents were quite clear of the importance of close staff relationshipstogetherness. Human exchanges in genuinely collaborative teacher cultures made workmore pleasant and served to reduce stress. Pressures of intensi cation led to antagonisticrelationships between teachers and pupils. Susan, a newly quali ed teacher who recentlyresigned her post in a stressful school owing to poor staff relationships and a breakdownin trust of the headteacher, re ects on her very different experiences and warmth ofrelationships in her teaching practice schools:

Without a shadow of a doubt I would say that the school that Ive just left ispopulated by very grey, very knackered looking people. And I just dontunderstand why it just seems like theres a culture of overwork and a cultureof over-bureaucracy. Both my practice schools were terri c. They had a senseof togetherness. They had a sense of fun. They had a sense of humour that youcould go and have a laugh with somebody about a problem. And they couldsupport you and perhaps suggest some things and then ask you how they were


going. But all in a very, very non-threatening, helpful way. I went to see oneof them on the way back from University last week when I was trying to decidewhat to do. I thought Ill just drop in and see one of my practice schools. AndI went in there and it was after the children had gone. And the rst twomembers of staff I saw just ran out and gave me a big hug.

Elizabeth found the work of integrating children with emotional and behaviouraldif culties (EBD) and catering for the full range of pupil achievement in a context of nancial cuts and large classes very stressful. In these circumstances, she was clearly nding it dif cult to form warm and trusting relationships with many of the pupils.Talking of her class, she said:

we have a lot of special needs. Weve only got a part time special needscoordinator. And not enough LSAs to go round really. So theres one class forexample that I havea year ve classwhich has six children in it with EBDneeds and I dont have any help. So its me, thirty ordinary children, six ofwhom have EBD problems and theres paint everywhere and Im expected torun an interesting and creative practical class with children who can be reallydif cult to manage. Which means that a lot of children are neglected. BecauseI just cannot be everywhere at once. And it also limits the work you can do.So you really have to slow down and take things in easy steps. So then itsreally dif cult to challenge the brighter ones because youre spending so muchtime inputting for these other children to keep them on task and keep themcheerful and working along in a positive way. I just nd it really really wearingto keep meaningful activities going as opposed to control. So thats a realproblem.

Some of the teachers were locked into a stress cycle where exhaustion contributed toworsening teacher/pupil relationships, which in turn induced further exhaustion andimpacted on teacher ef cacy:

Susan: Im exhausted and being exhausted is actually affecting myperformance in the classroom. Because Id started to noticethat certainly by the end of the week I was getting to a stagewhere I just was not functioning as I would be running lowon fuel. Things were getting to me that wouldnt have gotto me on a Monday. And I was noticing that at the end ofthe week I was just getting a little bit tetchier. Childrensbehaviour that I would have dealt with in one way perhapson a Monday or whatever. I was just getting so tired by aFriday that the kids would wind me up more.

A gradual wearing away is evident in Susans account. While providing interesting dataon teacher sense of self-ef cacy and stress, it raises interesting questions concerning thepupils reactions to their teachers stressed behaviour. It is possible that the teachers levelof tolerence is lowered as exhaustion sets in. Equally, the pupils may read the signs (forexample, teacher body language, linguistic tetchiness) and suss out (Beynon, 1984) theteacher is not operating as effectively as usual, and try and maximise their own interestsat hand (Pollard, 1985) in escalating misbehaviour. An outcome of this process is theerosion of warm teacher/pupil relationships.Some of the teachers of my research had good reasons to distrust some of their pupils.

Unlike Nias (1996) teachers, mine reported many incidents in which the hostilebehaviour of pupils had been the source of stress and impacted negatively on school

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collegiality. Only one respondent reported being physically assaulted by a pupil(Year 3 boy) but others told of colleagues who had been threatened with violence,sometimes by quite young children. Judith, the teacher who had been physicallyattacked, said that she had started teaching as a mature entrant with an extremelydisruptive group of children who she described as the class from hell (see Lawrence &Steed, 1986).Many writers have argued that teachers derive their job satisfaction from the psychic

rewards of teaching (Lortie, 1975; Rosenholtz, 1989; Hargreaves, 1998a). Central amongthese is the development of close relationships and emotional understanding (Harg-reaves, 1998a). In the examples we have seen here, there seems little space for this typeof emotional work.

SupportiveUndermining

All the teachers recognised the importance of trusting relationships and human andprofessional support from colleagues. They particularly valued a supportive and encour-aging attitude from the headteacher. Support for the teachers professionality wassometimes perceived to be not forthcoming. Indeed, some headteachers were felt toundermine the teachers sense of ef cacy and professionalism. For example, even thoughthe probationary year is known to be particularly stressful (Nias, 1989; Huberman, 1993;Cains & Brown, 1998), Anna actually found subsequent years in what she felt was a lessemotionally supportive teacher culture more dif cult:

At rst it didnt actually. I mean I found it very, very hard. But looking backon it now my rst year was my easiest year I think. And Ive found that its gotharder each year. Which is on the head to toe of what I thought it would belike. I thought the rst year would be very hard. My rst year I had a verygood mentor who supported me, kind of helped me and supported me throughit.

All the teachers stated that they could not work effectively without the support of theirheadteachers. However, this was seen as often being denied them. Susan, for example,requested support in dealing with an incident in her class and wanted her headteacherto discipline a pupil who was involved:

And before I know it Im having it turned round. She said, You must not leadother people to think ill of the children and you must be very careful what yousay. And Im thinking, I came in here with a child that another LSA[Learning Support Assistant] has seen do something to another child, and notonly had she seen him do it once but seen him do it twice. And hes sitting outthere and Im expecting you to tear him off a strip and Im the one whos beingtorn off a strip. And I went out extremely confused and extremely unhappy.And basically resolving never ever to go in there with a problem again becauseas far as Im concerned I have not been supported at all. In fact as far as Imconcerned every problem that Ive gone in with the spotlights been turned onme much as to say, Well, what are you doing wrong?What are you doingto cause this?

Hargreaves (1998a, p. 10) argues that when a teacher asks a colleague for help they placetheir con dence and perceived competence on the line. Their professional persona and


sense of self is put at risk (Dadds, 1993). A consequence of this kind of interactionexperienced by Susan is what Giddens (1990, p. 98) argues is:

a suspension of trust in the other as a reliable, competent agent, and a oodingin of existential anxiety that takes the form of hurt, puzzlement and betrayaltogether with suspicion and hostility.

Elizabeths headteacher was seen not to support staff and evaded major problems in theschool. She appeared more trusting of pupils than teachers but rather than implyingunprofessionality in the teachers, as Susans head had done, she used the strategy ofconfrontation avoidance:

I think any child who threatens a member of staff like that somethings got tohappen. Its not condoned but its sort of glossed over. Shes (headteacher) agreat one for glossing over things and not tackling them. So children get toopowerful in that situation. As I said before weve got a lot of children who areleading sort of fairly disordered lives and they need a velvet glove with an iron st in it. But shes got the velvet glove and inside is more velvet and its justnot effective. She doesnttheres lots of things wrong like theres no presencearound the school; she hides in the of ce.

This headteacher was later accused of incompetence by her staff and, following a voteof no con dence by staff and governors, she resigned her post.Jackie supported the National Curriculum and, like others in the study, felt let down

by a headteacher who was not committed to its implementation. She was seeking topromote academic values that were opposed to what she viewed as the impressionmanagement, marketing strategies and anti-National Curriculum stance of the head:

Jackie: That was one of the things where I didnt agree with the head. I feltI was there to teach the subject and that all the other niceties werethere to support the teaching of the subject.

Geoff: What do you mean by other niceties?

Jackie: Having links with the community, having an anti bullying policy. Itdidnt actually function that well but it looked good on paper. We hadall these pictures in the paper of the teachers and kids doing weird andwacky things. The skeleton of the curriculum was just not at all there.I mean he didnt believe in the National Curriculum, he didnt thinkthat it was necessary. I dont know what he did believe in. But he usedto ridicule staff who were very serious about their jobs which made mewonder if he felt inadequate himself. I dont think people do thatunless theyve got some chip on their shoulder. I mean hed do itpublicly. I just wonder whether he had enough of a background inacademic subjects to realise what we were trying to do. And if he didrealise what we were trying to do I dont know what he was playingat. Because he did try to undermine the teaching and disciplining thechildren.

Such headteachers were viewed by their staff as incompetent and provoked negativeemotions (Blase & Anderson, 1995). They did not value positive human relationships inor outside work. As Judith explained:

We were treated badly. It didnt matter that we had any lives.These headteachers were perceived as not giving support by providing positive feedbackon the work of their staff. Elizabeth felt af rmed by a glowing report from OFSTED on

344 G. Troman

her work. She had never previously received praise from her headteacher, who wouldnot know what a good job I was doing, but even if she did wouldnt say anything nice.

MutualityIsolation

In some of the study schools, there was genuine mutuality in the sense that the teacherswere mutually dependent on each other in dealing with dif culties in their work andlives. In other, study schools individuals were becoming socially isolated from theircolleagues and positive social relationships. In some schools, collaboration had becomecompulsory in order to aid restructuring. But, in practice, this form of collaborationsometimes took the form of contrived collegiality (Hargreaves, 1994). Some of theschools in the stress research had adopted what on the face of it was collegialarrangements for planning and decision-making. However, the trust invested in theteachers was, in some cases, heavily bounded. It was a circumscribed trust. For example,in Susans school, collegial decision-making was expected by management but the issuesinvolved were rather trivial:

Susan: I think its bureaucracy gone mad. Personally. I mean having workedin a completely different environment I do not understand why I haveto be in a meeting which discusses the kitchen staffdiscusses thingsthat I as an ordinary class teacher do not need to know about. I meanfor goodness sake theres a senior management in the school, seniormanagement in schools are the people who need to know about thesethings. I am a normal class teacher. I do not need to know about thesethings. I need to be sent a memo about them, but I dont need to sitthere when I could be doing other things.

Geoff: Why have you had to discuss kitchen staff?

Susan: Well it just comes up. And Im sitting there thinking Im going toexplode in a minute. Im going to tell them. But we all sit there. Andthose kind of things possibly come up in morning meetings or what-ever. But there just seems to bethere seems to be a need to involveevery member of staff in every decision and Im going through policiesand theyll be talking about whether there should be an and there oran and also. And whether that full stop should be there or whetherthat comma should be there. And I did actually say at one point, itreally doesnt make any difference. It really does not make anydifference. But there seems to be an over obsession with involvingeverybody with everythingwell to the point where every singlemember of staff has to look over every single policy and change thewords about. Not change the policies but just change the words about,very slightly; tinkering. This is just a ridiculous waste of peoples timewhen people are very, very busy.

Other studies (Evans, 1992; Brown & Ralph, 1998) have shown that a source of stressin teaching was that teachers were not included in decision-making in their schools.Attendance at meetings involving the type of experience already described was onesource of Susans stress. She argued that management organised what to her weremeaningless meetings in order to satisfy OFSTED that collective decision-making tookplace in the school. Thus, they were of symbolic rather than practical value.


Financial cuts that involved the removal of non-contact time for staff had broughtabout emotional turbulence in staff relationships and a breakdown in trust betweenteachers and managers in the school where Ralph was deputy head:

We had at the time a full time member of staff giving non-contact time to allthe staff throughout the school. And if she was ill or her daughter was illinmy job we have diaries on each of the staffroom notice boards to go and writeup, Lorraine (cover teacher) wont be in. Cover your own classes for the day.And there were staff who on the one hand would be coming emotional in tears,but also would stand there and scream and shout: I need my non-contacttime. This isnt right. I mean shouting. And it would be at me. As if its myfault because Im the message bearer. But at quarter to nine in the morningif that happens on enough occasions youre beginning to twitch every timeyoure writing something up on the noticeboard. Youre waiting for it tohappen. And for all the, its not my fault; theres nothing I can do about it thisis unreasonable, I nd being shouted at by staff stressful. I know its part of myrole as deputy to handle staff who are feeling stressed and whatever. And attimes Im tempted to turn round and say: Oh shut up. But you cant do that.

Duties, pastoral work and planning for teaching stressed Ben:

What really got me more than anything else I think is not being able to takea break during the day. I mean the morning break was about fteen minutes.By the time youd sort of got the kids out and shushed the stragglers out thecorridor, you were lucky if you had time to drink your coffee before it was timeto start again. And at lunchtimethe so called hours breakyou were usuallygetting things ready for the afternoon or looking after a child. You got aboutten minutes to gobble down your sandwiches.

With the intensi cation of work, teachers have less time in back regions (Goffman,1959) such as staffrooms in which to socialise with colleagues. There is, therefore, lessinformal personal interaction of the kind that induces personal trust. Social relationshipsin primary schooling, as a result, are becoming more formalised through such organisa-tional structures as contrived collegiality (Hargreaves, 1994).

SecurityInsecurity

Security refers to feelings of con dence in the face of risks or danger. Some of theteachers experienced threats to their physical and psychological security.Teaching was once seen as a secure occupationa job for life (Lortie, 1975; Woods,

et al., 1997). However, this is increasingly not the case as short-term contracts andpart-time working arrangements proliferate (Lawn, 1995).Some heads, in their business manager roles, and faced with new forms of governance

and unfamiliar aspects of management such as personnel matters in the context of nancial cuts, have brought about a separation of managers and teachers in someschools. In some cases, existing micro-political tensions had been exacerbated by therestructuring of education.Judith, for example, was made redundant in the following circumstances:

In 1990 they had to lose somebody so I actually received a redundancy noticein May which wasit wasnt done correctly either because the governors hadnever done it before and they didnt know how to do it. So there was a lot ofhassle about it and the unions became involved and it was also very dif cult

346 G. Troman

and caused a lot of ill feeling and mistrust. Everybody was kind of closing inand keeping things to themselves because everybody was anxious thinking, Isit going to be LSAs or is it going to be me? Is someone else going to take earlyretirement? It was that kind of thing.

The atmosphere of distrust undermines collegiality. The described situation sets teacheragainst teacher as they attempt to calculate their utility value to the school (Menter et al.,1997). Heterogeneity is increasingly evident in the workforce of primary schools with acore of permanent teachers and a periphery of part-time and temporary contractteachers (Lawn, 1995). The impact of this arrangement is divisive rather than integrative.Olivias head had formerly been a friendly colleague but was now responding to

pressures for her to be more managerial in her approach, and was creating a climate ofcriticism and using a range of what Olivia described as bullying strategies:

So the original team work had long since gone by now. Because originally thekids would try and get at us saying, Oh well you two are friends, you obviouslysupport one another. It was very obvious to the kids that that was therelationship we had. It was only friendship within the school situation. Wedidnt meet outside of school. But it was obvious to everybody that we got onwell. But that all changed. Now shes undermining my status, shes setting mean impossible workload, shes not acknowledging any value in the work that Ido (which didnt worry me really because I worked to my own standards),creating a critical atmosphere. I mean, I hated any meeting with her becauseI knew it was going to be a catalogue of what I hadnt done. And yet they weresupposed to be supervision meetings. And senior management meetings. Howyou can have a senior management meeting with just two staff?I dont know.Suddenly changinggoal posts changing like nobodys business. Suddenlychanging her position which created insecurity. You suddenly realised thatwhat you thought was the unwritten rule of procedure she would suddenlychange and we were doing something else.

Here, Judith and Olivia have a lack of elementary trust in the possible intentions ofothers (Giddens, 1990, p. 82). For an individual to feel psychologically secure, they needcontinuity and reliability in personal relationships (Giddens, 1990, 1991).

AcceptanceSuspicion

The professionalism of the teachers was not accepted, assumed or taken on faith by somegroups. Thus, the teachers were under suspicion and under surveillance on a partial oruncon rmed belief that something is wrong or someone is guilty (Concise OxfordDictionary, 1976).The of cial distrust of teachers embodied in the new accountability systems was a

source of stress in Marions work and life. Before experiencing stress, and later burnout,Marion seems to have had a moral commitment to her pupils, parents and colleagues.With the impending OFSTED inspection, legal accountability took over and theopposing values of OFSTED looked certain to provide a head-on-collision withMarions values. Accountability took on a life of its own just doing things for someoneelse to read. Accountability was the source of a great deal of compulsion in her workIhad to do it. In the early stages of illness (at home), she tried to catch up withaccountability paperwork for the inspection. She also wrote lists of household tasks shehad completed in order to be accountable to her husband. Now retirement is seen by heras an escape from legal to self-accountability: And there is still a great need to justify my


existence. But its only to me. No one is expecting me to say what Ive been doing andaccount for my day, minute by minute.Mistrust of teachers professionality meant they experienced multiple accountability

pressures:

And then it came to the inspection. We heard about the inspection andthenI mean the amount of paperwork that one has to do then is just crazy.And Id said that I needed more time to do this. And again it just wasntpossible really to fund it. And I could feel it all happening again. I could seeall the signs; the irritability, the crying.

A number of the teachers had become ill prior to the inspection and were absent fromschool when it took place. Mary explained that:

In the week just before I had the breakdown, the OFSTED inspection waslooming, also appraisals, SATs and parents evenings. It was unfortunate butall those came at one point. So it was just overwhelming, I just couldnt copewith it and woke up in the middle of the night sobbing uncontrollably.

The teachers felt they needed to produce much documentary evidence to provide proofof their professionalism. Ben and his school received an excellent OFSTED report butfound the build up to it contributed to intensi cation and was extremely stressful:

It was just hell really. And I felt that all the staff were very stressed, particularlyat the time we had the inspection in January. The amount of preparation forthatand we were a school who were well prepared for it I think. But it wasstill planning. Yes you have to plan. You have to plan things carefully. Butyouve got daily plans, weekly plans, medium term plans, long term plans.There were plans coming out of our ears. Files and les to give to theinspectors with all these plans in. And I know damned well other schools thatIve taught in werent anywhere near as geared up for it. And we came out ofit very well. But the amount of work involved in preparing for the visit wasenormous. So we did all this extra work on top of the normal work which wastaking up our evenings and our weekends.

Good parentteacher relationships require high levels of trust. However, in the stressresearch, the parents were sometimes distrustful of the teachers. For instance, Merryl, ashead of a small school, experienced stressful conditions involving changed powers ofgovernors and parent power (Merryl fearing the withdrawal of pupils, with the inevitableimpact on the budget of a small school):

The governing body were very much people who would come and talk, wouldsay things had to be done, and then go away and leave me to do it. There wasone governor who was supportive and helped me draft policies but the otherswere not supportive. And there was one particular governorIve never evermet a woman like her before and I never want to again. I understand she wasactually invited onto the governing body before I started because she wasregarded to be safer in the system than outside criticising. It was thought thatif she had some responsibility for the school she couldnt do as much damage.

One day, Merryl became involved when the son of this governor had a tantrum in acolleagues class and ran out of school:

Then I had to go and nd him and try and calm him down, try and sort himout and keep coming back to looking after my own class all the time knowing

348 G. Troman

that I would have to confront the mother at the end of the day. She was notvery supportive of the school at all. I think it was because perhaps she felt itwas criticism of her as a parent. She basically didnt want to know. It was theschools problem. The school had to sort it out.

Teachers are now more directly accountable to parents. Mary (mentioned earlier), ateacher of 25 years experience, returned to school after a terms absence and was toldby her headteacher that:

There were letters from parentsthat theyI dont know whether they werecomplaints but they were letters from parents and they felt that this was whythey wanted to see me. And my union of cial and I were only given a very,very brief glance at these letters and they were from a group of middle classparents. Now, I didnt think I was under-functioning but I obviously must havebeen. My doctor said I probably was as I was suffering from angina symp-tomssevere chest pains. But they were a group of middle class parents whowere very friendly in church and the union rep thought that theyd probablyrubbed each other up. Now they said that I was being kind and consideratewith the children and all this sort of thing. But I hadnt stretched themsuf ciently intellectually.

Mary is now facing the recently introduced competency procedures, which includeprocedures known as a the fast-track dismissal system (Wragg et al., 1998). This involvedhaving her planning supervised and teaching monitored in classroom observations bydeputy headteacher, headteacher and local authority inspector in individual visits phasedover a term.Ralph had experienced the joint impact of pupils manipulation and parent power,

and felt that teachers were increasingly distrusted by pupils:.

I have seen a difference in parents interactions with staff in recent years.Parents are much more prepared to be critical. Much more prepared to comein if they feel that something unfair or unjust or inappropriate has happened.Often based on either misinformation or partial information. There was a time,and Im aware that I was on the tail end of it, but previously if you were introuble at school and the chances were if you went home and told your parentsyoud be in trouble at home as well. Thats not the case now. There are manymore, if youre in trouble at school, Oh thats not fair! Ive had severalinstances recently where children have been dealt with, Im quite convincedfairly, within the school, but for quite severe issues. And Ive heard the childrenat home at the end of the day screaming and ranting and raving at theirparents and because of that their parents are coming back to me and saying,This isnt right, I want this changed. I want something done about it. Parentsare to an extent being blackmailed and pressured by children. Children arentallowed to go home crying and upset because theyre being told off in school.You know, all children think its not fair because they came off worse. And Im nding that much more common.

Following recent exposures of abuse in schools and childrens homes, there is abreakdown in trust in public institutions that are intended to perform a caring role withchildren (Castells, 1998). Some respondents reported incidents where colleagues hadbeen accused of physical or sexual abuse of children at school. While the accusationswere later found to lack any substance, and the teachers were cleared, the breach of trust


in them as teachers and people had resulted in the termination of their career in teachingand a breakdown in physical and mental health. It is this aspect of teaching work andthe risks involved that Johnston et al. (1999) and Thornton (1999) argue is deterringyoung men from entering primary teaching.

Conclusion

Giddens (1990, 1991) theoretical framework is useful for viewing the nature of trustnegotiations in schools. However, it requires empirical underpinning and development.The theory, by con ating agency with structure, takes us away from dualist conceptionsof society to enable accounts of the social world in which:

The self is not a passive entity, determined by external in uences; in forgingtheir self identities, no matter how local their speci c contexts of action,individuals contribute to and directly promote social in uences that are globalin their consequences and implications.

Not all of the teachers in this study worked at schools in which distrust had becomephysically and emotionally damaging. Some enjoyed positive personal and collegialrelationships in their work. However, the majority did not. There were also examples ofteachers resistances to oppressive work regimes leading to changes being made to thesystem at school level, which brought about improvements in the psychic lives of theteachers. All this is consistent with Giddens (1990, 1991). For viewing events not asdeterministic outcomes of social forces, but as a dialectical process between agency andstructure, change is an ever present possibility (Shilling, 1992, p. 80). However, in latemodernity, there is no certainty or inevitability; closure is dif cult.Giddens (1990, p. 6) recognises that modern institutions hold out the possibility of

emancipation but at the same time create mechanisms of suppression, rather thanactualisation, of self. However, the evidence from this study can be used to question thetheory. For instance, it does not, in my view, fully consider the contexts within which thetrust negotiations between individuals and groups are taking place, or the extent ofexistential anxiety and dread that is generated in these interactions. Giddens does not,it seems, fully engage with issue of the degrees of freedom that differentially-placedagents have within a concrete structural situation (Willmott, 1999). Actors in this casestudy, although not always devoid of agency, were heavily constrained and in situationswhere the educational system contextually limits what can be done, by whom andwhere (Willmott, 1999). Manifestations of power and authority that are strongly evidentin the empirical account do not seem adequately explained by the theoretical account.In terms of education policy, it is always possible that problems experienced at the

implementation stage may react back on the context of in uence thus leading to policyreformulation. Recent examples of this process would be the national boycott on standardassessment tasks (SATs), and knowledge of teacher work overload leading to policy reviewand amendment (Dearing, 1994). The micro-politics of policy can force policy adjustmentsat the centre (Fitz et al., 1994, p. 60). However, the current study does not offer unbridledoptimism concerning the recursive nature of the policy cycle (Fitz et al., 1994). Ratherthan policy-makers listening to teachers views on their changed work, there now seems tobe a consensus and political will among the two major political parties that schoolimprovement is to be sought by further tightening the control of teachers work.Apart from the personal (emotional and physical) and economic costs to the system

resulting from the breakdown of personal relationships described in this article, there is

350 G. Troman

a further consequence. The participants in primary education are now engaged in themutual surveillance and documenting of each others activities as the social relations ofthe primary school become more formalised. Management monitor and appraiseteachers and keep les on teachers behaviour and performance. Attempts to gainsecurity are sought in legal and quasi-legal ways. The bullied teachers of this researchkeep dossiers that record bullying incidents and they attend all meetings (not justdisciplinary) with management accompanied by a professional friend to act as a witnessand note taker. Evidence compiled in this way can later be produced at an industrialtribunal. Security seeking can also be seen in the proliferation of contracts. Managementtightly specify the tasks to be accomplished in employment contracts and job descrip-tions. Whether or not this work is being produced and its quality is then established bymonitoring, appraisal and teacher competency schemes and inspection by OFSTED,parentteacher relations are formalised through the introduction of home/school con-tracts. The unions and teachers involved in this study seek regulations and legislation onHealth and Safety in the workplace that addresses such issues as occupational stress andworkplace harassment.Sennett argues that the low-trust corporate culture is counterproductive, in that it

lowers workforce morale, thus ultimately reducing productivity and pro ts (Macnicol,1999, p. 30). However, Kramer & Tyler (1996) argue that high-performance economiesneed high-trust institutions in order to cope with high risks. Fukuyama (1995), forinstance, argues that in terms of international economic competitiveness, the mosteffective economies, such as Japan, have high-trust institutions and societies. And weknow from the teacher development literature that school improvement is only likely inschools where risk-taking is encouraged within an atmosphere of basic trust and support(Goodlad, 1984) and where teachers are given the basic security of being trusted andvalued (Hargreaves, 1998a, p. 10).

Yet the picture of the work cultures of low-trust schooling presented in my analysis,like Helsbys (1999, p. 65), is:

clearly the antithesis of the vision of the new work order which promises tomotivate staff and to unleash their capacity to be innovative and entrepreneu-rial in responding to customer needs.

In the context of some states in the US, trust in teachers to implement reform has beenretained. There has been a resurgence in and respect for the dignity, quality andsophistication of teachers practical knowledge and judgement (Hargreaves & Dawe,1989, pp. 45). Restructuring of schools as recommended by groups such as the USCarnegie Forum on Education and the Economy would respect and support theprofessionalism of teachers to make decisions in their own classrooms that best met localand state goals while holding teachers accountable for how they did that (Hargreaves,1994, p. 241). Murphy & Evertson (1991) suggest components of restructuring thatinclude: school-based management; increased consumer choice; teacher empowerment;and teaching for understanding. The National Governors Association (1989) rec-ommend that curriculum and instruction be redesigned to promote higher orderthinking skills and the decentralization of authority and decision-making to site level,more diverse and differentiated roles for teachers and broader systems of accountability(cited in Hargreaves, 1994, p. 241).This is not the shape that reform is taking in the UK. The recently proposed measures

in the Green Paper intended to increase teacher motivation, job satisfaction and morale,and to make teaching a more attractive and modern profession by the introduction of


rmer appraisal and performance-related pay are, if the analysis in this paper is correct,likely to bring about the opposite effects. The proposals, if introduced into schools, seemset to increase divisiveness and lead to further erosion of trust between the participantsin primary schooling.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Peter Woods, Bob Jeffrey and Denise Carlyle for reading andcommenting on earlier drafts of this article. He would also like to thank two anonymousreferees for their helpful comments. The research on which this article is based, TheSocial Construction of Teacher Stress (R000237166), is funded by the ESRC and theCentre for Sociology and Social Research at the Open University, whose support is alsogratefully acknowledged.

Correspondence: Dr. Geoff Troman, School of Education, The Open University, WaltonHall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.

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Teacher Stress