Transcript An Examination of Beginning Teachers’ Self

An Examination of Beginning
Teachers’ Self-Presentation
Styles and Strategies
Hayuta Yinon
Faculty of Education, University of Haifa
Israel
• Goffman claims that we
always act in front of others
in order to make sure that
they will get a desirable
impression about us.
Image source: http://sha3teely.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/cartoon-mahjoob.png
• impression management or
self-presentation strategies
=
• the ways by which we attempt
to control the impressions of
others about us
Schütz’s taxonomy of selfpresentation styles
• Four styles of self-presentation:
Assertive
Offensive
Protective
defensive
The assertive style
• people try to look good by
presenting a favorable image of
themselves.
• Common strategies: ingratiation,
exemplification and self-promotion.
Video: Hillary Clinton “I’m your girl”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V9JBItfTZI
The offensive style
• people try to look good by
making others look bad.
• Common strategies: criticizing
and making ironic statements.
Video: Michell Obama takes a shot at Hillary Clinton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN1qZMBE9Gc
The protective style
• people try not to look bad by avoiding
the conveyance of negative
impressions.
• Common strategies: avoiding public
attention, minimal self-disclosure and a
passive interaction.
Video: Sarkozy walks out…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkapbaK32PM
The defensive style
• people try not to look bad by
fighting off negative typifications.
• Common strategies: denial,
justification and making excuses.
Video: Bill Clinton “That Woman”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5GDrYiK02U
Uniqueness of the
research
• Filling a gap in the literature: impression
management styles and strategies have only
few applications in educational research and in
teacher education.
• It is important to examine how teachers
operate impression management mechanism.
• Opening a window into their inner cognitive
world, to which research has only a limited
access.
Research questions
1) What impressions interns
make through their selfreported cases?
2) How do interns construct
those impressions?
Research context
Internship period in Israel
At school
Mentor
At the university
Group workshop
X 51
Participants
Workshop 1:
17 interns
Beginning teachers
Workshop 2:
17 interns
Workshop 3:
17 interns
Background details
• Gender - 37 women, 14 men.
• Sector – 26 Arabs, 25 Jewish.
• Teaching level – 21 high-school teachers, 14
elementary school teachers, 7 middle-school
teachers, 7 middle & high-school teachers, 2
other.
• Subject-matter – 19 language teachers, 9
special education teachers, 7 humanistic studies
teachers, 6 environmental studies teachers, 4
exact sciences teachers, 6 other.
Data collection
• Written detailed description of an event or
a dilemma, which the interns were
concerned about, and for which they
needed the group’s support.
• Running of a virtual forum regarding the
case throughout the year.
9 cases
6 cases
8 cases
11 cases
3 cases
2 cases
9 cases
2 cases
Data analysis
Qualitative content analysis in stages:
• Stage 1: Identifying what kinds of impressions the
interns made through their case descriptions.
• Stage 2: Sorting the descriptions of the cases into
Schütz's four self-presentation styles, and to their
sub-categories .
• Stage 3: determining the frequency of each style
and strategy, and examining the relationships
between styles and strategies.
Initial findings
• Interns used all Schütz's four selfpresentation styles, with the protective style
being used less dominantly.
• Interns usually used a combination of a few
self-presentation styles.
• Interns used the cases to present themselves
as competent and serious teachers, as well as
to encourage the group to support them.
Illustration: Shiraz’s case
(pseudonym)
A competent and serious
teacher
• Offensive self-presentation: making the class
look bad (in general)
Background details: a major subject, a final
exam is coming up this year, not a very strong
class.
Favorable conditions for learning: only 17 pupils
in the class, a private school.
Explicit Statement: unawareness of the need to
invest a lot in the major subject.
Strengthening the statement by giving
examples: constant complains about
homework, about the amount of material
required to study, and about lack of time.
• Offensive self-presentation: making the
class look bad (the exam)
Complains about scheduling an exam.
Trying to avoid the exam by approaching the
homeroom teacher.
The pupils actions while handing out the
exam: only two pupils took the exam.
The pupils actions the day before: planning
not to take the exam by phone calls and
MSN.
• Assertive self-presentation: building a
favorable image of Shiraz
Mentioning that she has no serious discipline
problems with the class.
Shiraz’s actions in response to the pupils'
complaint: narrowing down the material to
only two chapters; rescheduling the exam.
Shiraz’s response to the homeroom request:
no apologies and giving in, standing up for
herself and explaining the situation.
Consultation with the subject-matter
coordinator.
Shiraz’s actions while realizing most of the
pupils didn’t take the exam: investigation of
the case and coming back with results.
• Defensive self-presentation: everyone is
backing me up
The subject-matter coordinator perceives
the same problem concerning this class.
The homeroom teacher left the decision
whether to postpone the exam or not to her
and also informed the pupils of it.
The subject-matter coordinator's response
for the situation: asking Shiraz not to
postpone the exam.
In sum
Shiraz succeeds in establishing the
impression that she is competent and
serious by using offensive, assertive
and defensive self-presentations.
Discussion
• Interns made an impression of
competence through their selfpresentations.
• This impression is well associated
with a novice state, which is
characterized by a tendency to be
concerned about how other people
see them as teachers.
• The study exhibits the potential of
using self-presentation styles and
strategies for beginning teachers’
research:
A possible explanation for the almost
50% attrition rate of beginning
teachers from the profession
throughout the first five years of
teaching.
• The study also exhibits the potential of
using self-presentation styles and
strategies for improving beginning
teachers’ practice:
Introducing self-presentation styles and
strategies to teachers as an interpretive
lens for analyzing their own practice --->
teachers can learn to manage the
impressions they make, and perform
accordingly.
References
• Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of
Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday Anchor
Books, New York.
• Schütz, A. (1998). Assertive, Offensive,
Protective, and Defensive Styles of SelfPresentation: A Taxonomy. The Journal of
Psychology, Vol. 132, No. 6, pp. 611-628.