Teacher alienation in Hong Kong

Bibliographic Data

ID2918110
AuthorsKwok Kuen Tsang (0000-0001-7238-9156, Saint Francis University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume39
Issue3
Pages335-346
Publication date2018-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596306.2016.1261084
OpenAlexW2551460840
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited35

Teachers’ negative emotions began to receive attention in the Hong Kong context in the mid-1990s. As negative emotions may affect both teachers’ well-being and the quality of their teaching, Hong Kong education policy-makers and educators have used psychological approaches to determine the reasons why teachers experience negative feelings. However, these approaches fail to accommodate the social causes of negative emotions. Therefore, this study investigates the possible social causes of teachers’ negative emotions from the perspective of alienation theory. In-depth interviews with 21 teachers in Hong Kong reveal that Hong Kong teachers may be suffering from alienation (characterised by a sense of powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation, and self-estrangement) due to their experiences of teaching, their employment status, and their structural position in schools, which are related to the occupational and organisational structure of teaching. The findings also indicate that patterns of alienation may differ between more and less experienced teachers

Alienation · Feeling · Pedagogy · Political science · Psychotherapist · Social isolation · Sociology · Early Childhood Education and Development · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Psychology · Social Psychology · Teacher Professional Development and Motivation

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