The Impact of Teachers' Personal Lives on Professional Role Enactment: A Qualitative Analysis

The Impact of Teachers' Personal Lives on Professional Role Enactment: A Qualitative AnalysisAuthor(s): Edward Pajak and Joseph J. BlaseSource: American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Summer, 1989), pp. 283-310Published by: American Educational Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1163034 .

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American Educational Research Journal Summer 1989, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 283-310

The Impact of Teachers' Personal Lives on Professional Role Enactment: A Qualitative Analysis

Edward Pajak and Joseph J. Blase University of Georgia

This article reports data that provide insight into teachers' perspectives regarding the impact of personal-life factors on their work lives. Open- ended questionnaires were used to collect data from 200 teachers. The data were analyzed according to qualitative methods for grounded theory research. Thirteen categories reflecting positive and negative effects were identified in the data. These categories are discussed in terms of three general classifications: interpersonal, personal, and socioeconomic. Fi- nally, conclusions and implications are drawn regarding gender as well as personal and professional development issues.

Much attention has been focused recently on the perceived need to improve the quality of teaching in the public schools. National, state, and local agencies and governing bodies have sponsored many different plans for addressing the need. The policy debate has centered on questions such as how best to attract more highly qualified college students to careers in education, how to motivate already practicing teachers to a higher level of performance, and how to retain in the occupation those teachers who are most successful. Several policy changes aimed at addressing these issues have been proposed that would essentially alter the extrinsic reward system for teachers. Additional work-related responsibilities are often linked to proposals for increasing monetary incentives and raising the status of teaching in society. Implicit in these proposals is the assumption that performance in the classroom is somehow related to rewards (money,

The authors thank Dr. Ray Bruce, Dr. Helen Hazi, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions concerning this manuscript.

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social status) that have real meaning and can be fully enjoyed only outside the context of the school.

The perceptions and voices of teachers have been noticeably absent from the debate concerning the restructuring of rewards and working conditions in schools. Furthermore, surprisingly few in-depth or large-scale studies have closely examined the relationship between personal and professional life factors for teachers, although an identifiable body of literature has begun to emerge. The data reported in this article are from a broader study that investigated, from a qualitative research perspective, teachers' perceptions of how their personal and professional lives intersect. This article focuses specifically upon how personal life factors are perceived by teachers as affecting professional role enactment.

Researchers have often defined the relationship between teachers' personal and professional lives in terms of role conflict (Burden, 1982; Getzels & Guba, 1955). For example, an interview-based study of adult development issues encountered by 15 teachers in their 5th year concluded that occupational and personal life demands, such as taking care of children, frequently conflict (Hange, 1982). Spencer (1985) provides numerous illustrations of how family responsibilities for female teachers clash with professional role expectations. However, whether this conflict is primarily due to increased demands in the work setting (Freedman, Jackson, & Boles, 1983) or to unreasonable demands on the home front (Grambs, 1987) is disputed.

Others have suggested, in contrast, that personal and professional roles of teachers can coexist quite comfortably, though not necessarily contributing to good teaching or professional commitment (Geer, 1966). Along this line, Zimmerman, Skinner, and Birner (1980), reported a significant positive correlation between job satisfaction and marital satisfaction in a study of home economics teachers and their spouses.

Age and gender have received considerable attention as variables that influence how teachers experience and reconcile personal and professional role responsibilities. One study that focused on the relationship between teacher work experiences and wider life experiences concluded that teachers' work satisfaction is an important determinant of life satisfaction (Lowther, Gill, Coppard, & Tank, 1983). Older teachers tended to be generally more satisfied with teaching than their younger colleagues (Lowther, Gill, & Coppard, 1985).

Several studies have suggested that as teachers mature in their personal lives and encounter new experiences outside of teaching, they begin to view professional issues differently. Peterson (1964) observed that as sec- ondary teachers aged, their relationships with students and colleagues changed. More specifically, Krupp (1986) found that becoming a parent made teachers more concerned with meeting students' personal adjustment

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needs and less preoccupied with assigning grades. Teachers who had children of their own also tended to be more understanding and tolerant of parental concerns. Sullivan (1987) recently suggested that the boundary between family and work roles becomes less distinct as teachers age, especially for teachers who have older children or become grandparents. He concluded that personal and professional identities of teachers interact in determining the career perspectives of teachers.

Gender-related constraints on the personal and professional lives of teachers, especially from the perspective of female teachers, have also been a focus of attention. Lightfoot (1983) offers the view that female teachers typically seek to integrate their domestic and professional responsibilities and identities. This tendency to merge personal and professional issues is often interpreted incorrectly by researchers and policy makers as a sign of weak commitment and attachment to work. Our images of teachers, Lightfoot argues, continue to be static and unidimensional. As a result, we fail to recognize and understand how teachers integrate and fulfill the multiple roles they enact both within and outside of school. Biklen (1986) supports this view, reporting that the female teachers she studied do not consider their work lives and family lives to be opposed to one another. Interrupting their careers in order to concentrate on family responsibilities neither disrupted nor undermined commitment to teaching. In fact, these teachers perceived themselves as more dedicated to the profession than colleagues who had opted for "advancement" into administration. Biklen suggests that a model of professional development that emphasizes career advancement while excluding family concerns is inappropriate.

Lightfoot (1983) suggests further that images of teachers that reflect the complex reality of teachers' lives are needed to replace prevailing stereo- types of the occupation that either denigrate or idealize the teaching role. Social scientists and policy makers need to recognize the richness and complexity of teachers as human beings who have lives both inside and outside the school. Lightfoot (1983) recommends further that changes within teachers, within schools, and in society should be considered si- multaneously and in relation to each other instead of being treated as separate issues.

The authors who come closest to following Lightfoot's recommendations are Apple (1986) and Spencer (1985). Both take the position that because females comprise the majority of teachers and because teaching has tradi- tionally been considered "women's work," the occupation is especially susceptible to hierarchical control and rationalization of its processes. Apple, in particular, notes that the social control once exercised over teachers' private lives has been transformed into bureaucratic and technical control over their professional practice. The outcome is that teachers, as a group, have been, and continue to be, systematically deskilled, depowered, and deprofessionalized.

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The Research Procedures

Qualitative data were collected for the purpose of generating categories and data-based theoretical ideas that would describe in detail the interaction between the personal and professional life domains of teachers. We developed the Teacher Personal-Professional Life Inventory (TPPLI) to solicit subjective data from teachers in a way that promoted free expression of meanings associated with the impact of their personal lives on their professional lives. A questionnaire of this nature is considered an important personal document in qualitative research that addresses the subjective perceptions of people (Allport, 1942).

Consistent with grounded, inductive research methodologies, two ver- sions of the questionnaire were employed with different samples of teachers. To maximize variation of responses (Lofland, 1971), the first version of the TPPLI was quite unstructured. It asked teachers to describe the effect of work-related factors on their personal lives and the effect of personal life factors on their professional lives. The questionnaire required about 1 hour to complete. In this initial study, we obtained responses from teachers (n = 55) enrolled in graduate coursework at two major universities, one in Iowa and another in Georgia.

An analysis of the preliminary data suggested that a slightly more structured version of the questionnaire could be used to organize the research participants' responses without undue control. We therefore de- signed a second version of the instrument to reflect categories analyzed from data generated by the first version of the instrument (Glaser, 1979; Glaser & Strauss, 1967).

On the second version of the TPPLI (see the appendix), we asked teachers to describe specifically and to illustrate in detail personal life factors that significantly influenced their professional lives. We also requested them to describe feelings associated with each personal life factor. Finally, teachers described the effect of each personal life factor on their relationships with students, colleagues, and school principals. A section of the questionnaire allowed teachers to identify and describe the effect of personal factors on dimensions of work not mentioned above.

When research is exploratory and the goal is to generate descriptive categories and data-based theoretical ideas, data should be gathered from a range of groups (Bogdan & Taylor, 1975; Glaser, 1979; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Therefore, we administered the TPPLI to 200 teachers, male (n = 67) and female (n = 133), from elementary (n = 70), middle/junior (n = 81), and high school (n = 49) levels. Multiple blank pages and additional copies of the instrument were available to participants who wished to elaborate or describe the influence of more than one personal life factor. We thus obtained 277 detailed accounts relating specifically to the impact of teachers' personal lives on their professional lives.

Our research sample was taken from teachers enrolled in education

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courses at three large universities in the midwestern, southeastern, and northeastern regions of the United States. In the sample, 52% of the high school teachers were female, as were 68% of the middle school teachers, and 76% of the elementary teachers. The mean and median number of years in teaching was 9. The sample included single (n = 34), married (n= 148), and divorced (n= 18) teachers. Of the teachers, 65% were parents, with a mean of 2.1 children each.

We each analyzed the data independently and then met to resolve questions and problems related to data analysis. Interrater reliability yielded 93% agreement. As a validity check (Denzin, 1978), the questionnaire data were compared with data from an independent case study of teachers that was conducted in an urban high school. The case study focused, in part, on the interaction between the personal and professional lives of teachers (Blase, 1985). This procedure indicated that both data sets were consistent.

The influence of professional life factors on teachers' personal lives is reported elsewhere (Blase & Pajak, 1986). That report suggested that work factors tended to affect teachers' personal life domains adversely: approx- imately two thirds of the data indicated a negative influence arising from occupational factors such as excessive work demands, emotional overload, unsatisfactory relationships with colleagues, and low salary. The focus of this article, in contrast, is on the impact of personal life factors on teachers' professional lives.

The Effects of Personal Life Factors on Teachers' Work Lives

Analysis of the data led to the identification of 13 personal life factors- being a parent, marriage, personal traits and interests, and spiritual beliefs, among others-that teachers viewed as affecting their professional performance. Generally, teachers perceived aspects of their personal lives as influencing professional role enactment positively (71%), though in some cases they viewed personal life dimensions as having a negative impact. The positive effects of personal life factors on teachers' work lives are summa- rized in Table 1, the negative effects in Table 2.

In interpreting the tables, it will be helpful to note that for each personal life factor the respondents made comments concerning the same targets of relationships-self, students, colleagues, principal. For example, each of 40 respondents declared being a parent (Table 1) to be a positive factor in the teachers's relationship with self, with students, with colleagues, and with principal. In a further example, 32 respondents report that marriage (Table 1) has affected positively their relationships with self, students, and colleagues, but has had no discernible effect (NDE) on their relationship with the principal.

Teachers had little difficulty identifying ways in which their personal

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t'O

00

TABLE I

Positive impact of personal life factors on dimensions of teachers'professional lives

Personal life factor n Self Students Colleagues Principal

Being a parent 40 Feelings of caring, compassion, & dedication

Increased insight, understanding, & sensitivity

Decreased tolerance of harshness and insensitivity toward children

Increased feelings of being supported & respected

32 Feelings of stability & Increased calmness & re- Improved quality of re- confidence spect lationships

Personal traits

Personal interests

Spiritual beliefs

Personal experiences

30 Feelings of content ment, satisfaction, & efficiency

26 Feelings of being a better teacher, pride, & fulfillment

23 Feelings of love, joy, peace, & persistence

16 Feelings of satisfaction, morality, & caring

Higher expectations & sense of enjoyment

Expansion of students' experiences, & closer bond- ing

Increased caring, accepting, patience, & trusting relationships

Increased caring, understanding, tolerance, & persistence

Increased mutual confidence and cooperation

Improved informal & professional interactions

Increased helping, sharing, accepting, & giving

Improved ability to help colleagues work as a team

NDE

Increased confidence in personal abilities & judgments

NDE

Increased feelings of loyalty, commitment, & trust toward principal

Increased preference for autonomy

Marriage



Single status

Extended family & friends

Finances

10 More time & feelings of esteem & independence

8 Feelings of being loved & having greater insight into people

Increased feelings of closeness to students & pride in their accomplishments

Increased feelings of flexi- bility, closeness, & love toward students

6 Feelings of security & NDE high motivation

Increased feelings of Positive closeness

Increased openness & mutual understanding

Increased desire to demonstrate hard work & dedication

Increased willingness to be frank & increased feelings of being respected & supported

NDE

Sound health

Visibility

4 Feelings of wellness, ex- Increased receptivity & re- NDE citement, & renewal sponsiveness

3 Feelings of acceptance, Increased feelings of close- Greater cooperation well-being, & integra- ness tion with community

TOTAL 198

Note. NDE = no discernible effect.

to IOC

NDE

NDE



TABLE 2 Negative impact of personal life factors on dimensions of teachers'professional lives

Personal Personal n Self Students Colleagues Principal life factor

Marriage 18 Feelings of stress, shame, frus- Increased distance, formality, Decreased communi- Increased distance & tration, & weariness

Being a parent

Personal interests

Extended family & friends

Single status

Visibility

11 Feelings of frustration, tiredness, & guilt

11 Feelings of guilt, conflict, & frustration

6 Feelings of anxiety, guilt, & anger

6 Feelings of isolation & uncon- nectedness

inconsistency, & abrupt ness

Decreased time & energy for instruction

Decreased attention to instruction, increased demands, & autocratic behavior in classroom

Decreased attention to students & increase in seat- work

Lack of understanding of students & their parents

cation & involvement

NDE

NDE

Increased dependency on others for emotional support

Decreased communication with colleagues

avoidance of extra duties

NDE

NDE

Increased emotional dependency

Increased feeling of being suspect

6 Feelings of self-consciousness, Decreased contact with stu- Less openness & Less openness & constriction, & outrage dents spontaneity spontaneity



Poor health

Spiritual beliefs

Finances

Social status

Miscellaneous problems

5 Feelings of guilt, inadequacy, Decreased tolerance & atten- Inconsistent energy NDE & depression tion to students investment

4 Feelings of anger, guilt, & con- Decreased tolerance for stu- Increased strain flict dent misbehavior

4 Feelings of being drained, de- Decreased attention due to NDE pressed, upset, sad, inse- preoccupation with unpaid cure, & discouraged bills

4 Feelings of defensiveness, Increased perception of stu- Increased critici, depression, & frustration dents as unresponsive & colleagues wh

lacking respect

4 Feelings of frustration, depres- Decreased sympathy and tol- sion, & loneliness erance for students & less

preparation for class

sm of o fail

Increased strain

NDE

NDE

to maintain high standards

Increased distance or NDE dependency on colleagues for emotional support

TOTAL 79

Note. NDE = no discernible effect.



Pajak and Blase

lives influenced their professional lives. For the most part, they described affective responses to situations and events in their personal lives that were perceived as mediating behavioral outcomes. Teachers viewed these affective responses as translating into specific behaviors that impacted directly and profoundly on the quality of their professional role enactment. Inter- estingly, teachers identified many dimensions of personal life as having both positive and negative consequences for the professional role. Being a parent, for example, was viewed by some teachers as increasing feelings of caring, compassion, and dedication (Table 1); in other cases it was viewed as increasing feelings of frustration, tiredness, and guilt (Table 2).

The 13 dimensions of personal life that impact on the professional lives of teachers fall into three broader classifications: interpersonal relationships, personal characteristics, and socioeconomic factors. Being a parent, marriage, single status, and being a member of an extended family or network of friends, for example, relate to the teachers' relationships with others. Teachers perceived interpersonal relationships as having a major impact on their professional lives. Being a parent and marriage appear to be especially salient in this regard. Together, these two personal life categories accounted for over one third of the data set. Both male and female teachers perceived a stable and loving home environment as well as positive relationships with extended family and friends as important to their emotional well-being in school.

A second broad classification refers to the condition of the teacher independent of his or her relationships with others and includes personal interests, personal traits, spiritual beliefs, personal experiences, and health. The teachers' responses overwhelmingly portrayed these personal characteristics as having a beneficial influence on the professional role. Teachers viewed interactions with students and colleagues at school as opportunities for giving expression to positive personal qualities. No negative consequences of personal traits or experiences were reported. Personal interests and spiritual beliefs were perceived as having negative outcomes only when these conflicted with professional obligations or competed for time and energy.

The third identifiable classification has to do with issues relating to the teachers' social and economic status. Categories of response in this area include finances, visibility, social status, and miscellaneous problems. The number of responses in this classification was comparatively small, yet the responses were clearly distinct from those in the areas having to do with interpersonal relationships and personal characteristics. The responses also tended to be more negative in terms of their reported impact on teachers' professional lives.

In the classifications that follow-interpersonal relationships; personal traits, interests, beliefs, and experiences; and socioeconomic factors-we

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have described the meanings teachers themselves attributed to personal life factors that affected their professional lives.

Interpersonal Relationships Teacher identified parenthood or becoming a parent as having a positive

influence on their professional lives more often than any other category of response. Female teachers referred to parenthood more often than males and sometimes more specifically to motherhood or being a mother, suggesting greater personal investment on their part. Both female and male teachers reported that being a parent made them feel more caring, compassionate, empathic, dedicated, insightful, competent, and calm. Parent- hood, teachers believed, made them more sympathetic and understanding toward students and parents. Teachers reported that they gained insight into children and family life upon becoming parents themselves, and suggested that they began reaching their classes and treating students as they would like their own children to be treated. Two teachers commented:

Becoming a mother made me more compassionate, feeling, caring for my students. It made me see things more from the child's point of view.

Being a parent, I now better understand how parents feel when they deal with schools. I try to look at things the way I would want to be treated as a parent.

Female teachers whose own children had disabilities or handicaps reported that they became especially sensitive to students with special needs and that their child's condition led directly to their interest and involvement in special education. This suggests a most clear and direct extension of the role of mother to the role of teacher.

Teachers viewed being a parent as having little impact on relations with colleagues except in becoming more critical of other teachers' lack of sympathy and harshness toward children, and less tolerant of incompetence among them. Relations with principals seemed to improve after becoming a parent. Principals were seen as supporting, respecting, and having greater confidence in teachers who became parents.

Some female teachers reported that being a parent impacted on their teaching negatively, mainly in terms of having less time and energy to commit to their jobs. The problem became exacerbated at certain times, as when a child of their own became ill and needed close attention:

My concern for what is happening in the lives of my children sometimes affects my concentration during the school day. I might have to call to check on a sick child at home, or set up a doctor's appointment.

These teachers said that they felt frustrated, tired, and guilty as a result of trying to be both a parent and a teacher. When things became too difficult, the role of parent usually predominated and their own children's needs took priority over students. The fact that none of the male teachers

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Pajak and Blase

reported that parenthood had a negative impact on their teaching is probably an indication of the disproportionately greater responsibility for raising children that is assigned to women in our culture.

Teachers identified marriage as primarily a positive influence on their professional lives, as a source of stability, support, security, and positive attitude. Female teachers mentioned marriage as important twice as often as males, again perhaps reflecting differences in cultural expectations for the two sexes. Feelings of being regenerated, confident, and appreciated were noted in the data:

My husband gives me 100% support with household or community responsibilities. I feel as though I am on-task and don't feel pressured by my job.

My wife lets me know that I am appreciated and doing worthwhile work. She supports my being a teacher and reassures me that we can make do on the money. (Of course it helps that she earns more than I do!) When I leave the house feeling happy, it gives me a positive attitude the whole day-which carries over to the children at school.

Teachers reported that they were able to relate to students more calmly, more respectfully, and more professionally as a result of being a part of a family unit. Relationships with colleagues were seen as improved for the most part, but no specific effect was evident in the data. Relationships with principals were not affected.

About one third of the teachers who viewed marriage as an important influence on their professional role, however, reported the effect as negative. Marital strife for both sexes, and responsibilities at home for females, negatively affected teachers' performance at school by absorbing attention and energies and intruding on time needed for lesson preparation:

Because of a strained relationship with my wife, I tend to be short with students and colleagues.

If I've had an argument with my husband or some other type of stress at home.... I don't seem to be as effective. I don't pick up on subtle nuances of behavior or redirect students as well.

Feelings of stress, shame, frustration, guilt, and weariness were associated with marital problems. As a result, relations with students tended to become distant, formal, inconsistent, abrupt, and verbally abusive. Not wanting to exert the effort to communicate, and investing less energy in extracurricular activities and the Parent Teachers Association meant that relationships with colleagues suffered as these teachers became more isolated. Relationships with principals also became distant as teachers tried to avoid extra-duty assignments.

Several female teachers reported having to change jobs frequently due to their husbands' careers, though not all viewed the outcome negatively. 294




None of the male teachers, in contrast, said that they changed jobs due to changes in their wives' careers.

Both male and female teachers perceived being single as having an influence on their teaching. Most viewed their single status favorably because it gave them more time for classroom preparation and extracurricular activities than their married colleagues could afford:

If I wish to spend an outrageous amount of time at school I am free to do so. Being single gives me more flexible time and perhaps more energy to devote to school work. I can stay late, come early, take work home, without it impacting others directly.

Besides independence, feelings associated with being a single teacher included self-esteem, being closer to students, and having pride in students' achievements.

Divorced female teachers believed that they became independent and personally stronger. The experience also made them more sensitive to children of divorced parents as stated by these teachers:

I had given up my professional life until my divorce. Even though I am not happy about the divorce, I am happy to have my professional life back. I work happily now because I have a purpose again. The process of divorce helped me relate to other single parents and deal better with children of broken homes.

Feelings of satisfaction, happiness, strength, empathy, and fulfillment characterized these teachers. Divorce reportedly made teachers feel closer to colleagues, and relations with principals were described as being good.

A number of male and female teachers viewed their single status as having negative consequences for their jobs as teachers, mainly in terms of keeping them from getting to know their married colleagues well. Feelings of isolation and having no connection to others were reported by these single teachers:

I spend most of my planning period and break time in my room preparing for my classes since I can't talk about my children, new baby, or the problems my husband is causing me. I feel as if I am working alone and have no connection to what anyone else is doing.

In addition, some unmarried teachers expressed a concern about not really understanding students or their parents. Expressions of loneliness and isolation and a distaste for getting too involved with students also appeared. A minority of divorced female teachers (in each case with one child) explained that single parent status meant dividing attention solely between their own child and students. A chronic lack of adult interaction, they felt, made them less tolerant toward students. Interactio/n with colleagues was described as limited. Single males reported that principals at times seemed suspicious of their lifestyle.

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Teachers reported that involvement with extended family members or close friends also affected their professional lives. Females mentioned this category almost twice as often as males. Favorable outcomes included opportunities to share ideas and gain insight into others. Personal relationships made teachers feel loved, fortunate, and a oneness of purpose with others:

Being involved with family and friends has added a dimension of involvement with my students which makes for better learning experiences.

Having good friends who share their feelings, attitudes, and goals is very important to me. They have helped to broaden my horizons in many ways.

Teachers viewed themselves as more flexible and more loving toward students because of close relationships with extended family and friends. Relations with colleagues, especially those who also wanted to grow, were improved through greater openness and mutual understanding. Respect and support were obtained from principals due to the teachers' perceptions of themselves as being willing to engage in frank communication.

A small number of male and female teachers, however, reported that extended family and friends affected their professional lives negatively by increasing responsibilities in their personal lives. Illness or death of a parent or close relative was mentioned most frequently as affecting job performance negatively by preoccupying thoughts and monopolizing time and energy. Feelings experienced at such times included anxiety, guilt, anger, fatigue, and frustration. Teachers reported that students suffered by not receiving the teacher's full attention. Relationships with colleagues were unaffected except among those who were supportive and picked up the slack. Principals were described as concerned, supportive, and understanding under these circumstances.

In summary, it appears that for many teachers interpersonal relationships outside of school serve as important sources of support for the professional role. When these relationships place overwhelming demands upon the teacher's time and energy, however, their impact becomes negative and teachers are isolated from students and colleagues. Female teachers seemed to be affected more intensely by interpersonal relationships than males, both in terms of emotional commitment and responsibility for maintaining them. The category parenthood, for example, was not only mentioned more frequently by females, but many female teachers used the more intimate term mother to describe their relationship to their own children. None of the males, in contrast, used the phrase being a father or fatherhood. Female teachers also reported having their professional lives affected negatively at times by the illness of their children, whereas males did not. Similarly, females who were single parents mentioned their children as influencing their professional lives, whereas unmarried males did not.

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Females also identified marriage as an important influence on the role of teacher more often than males. This category of response was balanced for males and females in terms of positive and negative impact, however, with negative outcomes most closely associated with marital strife for both sexes. Some females reported having to change jobs frequently because of their husbands' careers.

Extended family and friends were also mentioned as having an impact on teaching more often by females than males, continuing a pattern suggesting that interpersonal relationships have greater importance for female teachers. Negative consequences, due to increased demands from extended family and friends, were no different for male and female teachers, for married and unmarried teachers, or for younger and older teachers according to our data.

Others have documented the fact that home and family responsibilities fall heavily upon female teachers and less upon males (Spencer, 1985; Spender & Sarah, 1980). Our data suggest that responsibilities arising from interpersonal relationships in teachers' private lives that may appear bu- rdensome by objective standards are transformed by many individuals into positive consequences for the professional role. Females, and to a lesser extent males, reported that close relationships with others and even crises in those relationships made them stronger, more caring, compassionate, respectful, and understanding teachers. This tends to support the views of Lightfoot (1983) and Biklen (1986) who suggest that teachers often succeed at reconciling and integrating their personal and professional identities. Consequences for the professional role become negative mainly when interpersonal relationships are disrupted or when more than routine involvement and responsibility are required.

Personal Traits, Interests, Beliefs, and Experiences Teachers identified many specific personal traits as having a positive

influence on their professional lives. These included, among others, being organized, structured, personally satisfied, ethical, moralistic, just, creative, nonconforming, and personifying the work ethic. For example, two teachers reported:

I'm a very organized person in most all aspects of my personal life. This carries over into teaching. I have my lesson plans, notes, and materials organized. I also try very hard to teach organizational skills to my students.

I love to enjoy life, to joke, tease, have fun. In my classroom or with my colleagues, I can sometimes avert unpleasantness.

Female and male teachers did not differ in either frequency or content of response with regard to personal traits. Sentiments associated with personal traits were invariably positive and included contentment, satisfaction, respect, efficiency, and exhilaration. Teachers who identified personal

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traits as important to their professional lives reported holding high expectations for students. In the perceptions of these teachers, they communi- cated to students a sense of enjoyment, fun, and self-confidence. Positive outcomes associated with personal traits included working together with colleagues and successfully holding one's own. Principals were perceived as having more confidence in the abilities and judgments of these teachers.

Teachers believed that their own interests in learning, children, traveling, and in various avocations had a generally positive influence on their professional lives. Male teachers identified personal interests somewhat more often than females. Teachers said that their interests helped to make them better teachers. Some, who described themselves as bookaholics, viewed themselves as seeking knowledge and striving for expertise in any area that interested them. Teachers expressed satisfaction, enjoyment, fulfillment, and pleasure as a result of being able to integrate their interests into the curriculum:

I am an avid reader and enjoy many different types of books. I relate things I read to various areas of the curriculum in our daily lessons.

Students' worlds were believed to be broadened by the teachers' wealth of knowledge and varied experiences. Although not always directly relevant to classroom content, teachers' outside interests provided avenues along which positive bonds could be established with students through the sharing of such experiences. Teachers sometimes shared special expertise with colleagues. They viewed such contact as improving professional relationships.

Female and male teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels identified personal interest in children and the welfare of young people as being very important, especially for encouraging student growth and development. Teachers expressed feelings of enjoyment, pleasure, pride, and fulfillment when successful in working with students and disappointment when unsuccessful:

A part of my personality is to have a sincere interest in children. I feel that this characteristic has a very positive effect. It allows me to maintain a loving, caring environment while also striving to complete teaching tasks.

Teachers generally believed that the commitment they felt toward the well- being of children enhanced their classroom performance. Relations with colleagues were seen as improved by sharing a common purpose.

Teachers also identified specific leisure activities, hobbies, and avocations as important to their professional lives. Travel was viewed as important, for example, in expanding their perspective and understanding of the world. This could later be shared with students:

When we plan [our] vacation, my husband and I try to include places that have some educational and cultural enrichment value that we can share with students.

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Miscellaneous interests in areas such as sports, golf, ballet, computers, horses, and marketing provided recreation for teachers. Although not always directly relevant to classroom content, teachers believed such outside interests also provided avenues along which positive bonds could be established with students through the sharing of such experiences. Teachers reported feelings of enjoyment, excitement, and personal growth, first from the outside experience itself, and a second time from sharing their interests with students. They believed that students enjoyed variety in a teacher and that occasionally hearing about something other than academics made the teacher seem more human. Knowledge was sometimes shared with colleagues and provided variety to informal conversations.

A negative influence of outside activities on teaching was mentioned by some teachers, slightly more often by males. Limitations on time and energy that interfered with teaching were noted, along with feelings of guilt and conflict with professional duties. Active involvement in community groups and volunteer work after school used up time and left less energy for preparing lessons and grading papers after school hours. Typically, teachers who viewed outside interests as a negative influence reported that they were less efficient in the classroom. Getting papers back to students late was most commonly given as an example:

Due to the time I spend on hobbies and family, I have very little time to think about work. This often leaves something lacking at work, such as grading papers.

These teachers said that they became more demanding and autocratic toward students when they themselves had failed to prepare adequately. Relationships with colleagues tended not to be affected unless it became apparent that a teacher neglected to perform basic duties upon which others depended.

Teachers identified their own spiritual beliefs as having mainly a beneficial influence on their professional lives. Most spoke generally of religious values or a belief in God without naming any religion in particular. Many specified Christianity, but Zen, Yoga, and a belief in the inherent dignity of man were also mentioned as sources of stability, meaning, and direction. Several teachers explained as follows:

My faith in God, and thus in people as individuals uniquely worthy to be treated fairly, underlies everything I do as a teacher.

Religion is very important in my personal life. I pray daily for guidance in my personal life and to be an example to my students. One aspect of my personal life which impacts on my career has to do with my spiritual belief that all of us on earth are related and responsible for supporting each other's growth.

Male teachers identified spiritual beliefs as having an important influence on their teaching somewhat more often than females. Feelings associated

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with such beliefs were very diverse, with love, however, predominating. Other feelings included concern for and acceptance of others, joy, peace, challenge, persistence, confidence, security, enthusiasm, and other positive expressions. Relationships with students were characterized as caring, understanding, accepting, patient, and trusting as a result of spiritual beliefs. Teachers saw themselves as exemplars for students to emulate. Relations with colleagues were characterized as helping, accepting, sharing, and giving. Loyalty, commitment, and trust were often expressed toward the principal.

Of the teachers who identified spiritual beliefs as important, only the males reported that their religious beliefs or activities sometimes conflicted with their role as a teacher. Feelings of anger, guilt, and conflict were expressed in reaction to student misbehavior, objectionable curriculum topics, colleagues, and intrusive parents: "A person who is deeply religious may be offended by language or practices one finds in dealing with students or faculty members." Relations with students, colleagues, and administrators were typically described by these teachers as strained.

Male and female teachers uniformly described experiences encountered in their private lives as positively affecting their performance as profession- als. Early experiences as children gave them either an interest in becoming a teacher or developed within them qualities such as caring and morality which they viewed as important to the teacher role.

From a very early time I was primed to be a teacher. Many of my teachers as well as my parents stressed the importance of education. I soon saw teaching as an opportunity to influence lives and contribute something to society.

Another teacher reported: As a seventh grader I had a miserable year concerning peer relationships and interaction with my parents. I swore that if I was ever blessed with a teaching job, that I would become the teacher I always wished I'd had.

Satisfaction was the feeling most frequently associated with teaching as a result of prior experiences.

Although no negative outcomes for the professional role were associated with personal experiences, some of the experiences-poverty, illness, com- bat-had not been particularly pleasant when they occurred. Toward students, these teachers said that they were more caring, understanding, tolerant, persistent, and that they could help them more. These teachers believed that they could assist colleagues and work more closely with others as team members who acted professionally and pulled their own weight. Previous experiences were reported to make teachers independent, as well, which led to either good or poor relations with the principal depending upon the principal's leadership style.

Some teachers mentioned sound physical health as a factor that influ-

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enced them professionally in a positive way. These teachers spoke of having large reserves of energy which they attributed to regular exercise and youthfulness. Feelings associated with personal health included wellness, excitement, and being renewed. Teachers believed that they were more receptive to students because of their health and that students were more responsive to them as well:

I feel that regular exercise has the positive effect of helping me not to tire as easily as I might otherwise do during my daily activities as a teacher. I feel it contributes to my being more mentally alert in my professional life-thinking more easily, more quickly, as I plan and as I teach.

Except for being able to do a good job, health appeared to have little direct impact on relationships with colleagues or administrators.

Teachers identified temporary illness as having a negative impact in terms of leaving less time and little energy for teaching and a lowered tolerance for students. Feelings resulting from the detrimental effect of illness on their professional duties included guilt, frustration, inadequacy, and depression:

When your health isn't good, you don't feel like taking the time necessary to prepare adequately for your students.

I am very motivated in my teaching and I feel I am very organized and creative. I can go, and go ... then crash!

When they became ill, teachers reported that they felt they cheated their students by not giving them their usual high level of attention. Teachers also reported that fluctuating levels of energy on their part had a detrimental effect on relations with students and colleagues who never knew what kind of response to expect. Illness was not a greater concern among experienced teachers in our sample than for novices.

The reported importance to the professional role of teachers' personal traits, interests, beliefs, experiences, and health lends further credence to the proposition that teachers seek to integrate their identities inside and outside of school (Biklen, 1986; Lightfoot, 1983). As Lortie (1975) observes, the "self' of the teacher is frequently used as a "tool." The whole person of the teacher is required, Lightfoot notes, because the whole person of the student must be influenced.

The relative frequency of response in the areas of personal interests and spiritual beliefs suggests that these categories are somewhat more important for male teachers. Given the tendency for males to perceive themselves in terms of efficacy, ambition, potency, and mastery, as opposed to interpersonal values such as generosity, sensitivity, and nurturance (Linn & Peter- sen, 1985), this finding may not be surprising. Fairly sizable numbers of female teachers, however, also identified personal characteristics as important.

The expression of self in teaching is inevitable. Self expression alone,

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however, is not enough. The role of teacher has a moral dimension, as well, that is concerned with student learning (Buchman, 1986). The importance of spiritual values, moral virtues, and an interest in children is clearly evident among the teachers studied. Indeed, teaching appears to be a way of life for many teachers that is focused by moral and spiritual values. The failure to recognize the necessary link between personal moral belief and the enactment of public policy, Dunn (1987) suggests, has undermined the effectiveness of public schooling.

Socioeconomic Factors

The socioeconomic classification of personal life factors includes finances, visibility, social status, and miscellaneous problems. Far fewer responses fell into this third group, yet it is clearly different from the interpersonal and personal dimensions previously discussed.

Female and male teachers who reported that their financial situations had an impact on their professional lives tended to consider the impact as positive. Citing a need to maintain financial security for their families, married teachers especially said that they were motivated to work hard, do a good job, and seek advancement: "With three kids, I'm highly motivated to maintain an adequate income for the family."

Feelings expressed by teachers included security, pride, satisfaction, drive, and achievement. Beyond representing a model for students to emulate, no impact on the teachers' relationships with students was noted. A desire to demonstrate hard work and dedication to colleagues was expressed.

Some married teachers reported that their financial situations had negative consequences for their performance as teachers. This perspective was not related to age or gender of the teacher or number of children in the family. Monetary problems preoccupied these teachers to the extent of leaving them feeling drained, depressed, upset, sad, discouraged, insecure, and worried: "A shortage of money often leads to discontentment with teaching and causes me to consider going into administration or leaving education."

Relationships with students were described as less favorable if preoccupation with unpaid bills became too intense or if extra classroom supplies could not be purchased.

Almost all the teachers who mentioned visibility as an important influence taught in rural areas. Several teachers experienced high visibility as a favorable influence on their professional lives because they viewed themselves as an integral part of the community. They emphasized the importance of working together with other community members and appearing more real to students:

I coach baseball teams made up of school children and live in the small

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town where I teach. Parents are met, and interaction with small town people is very important as far as working together on problems at school.

As a result of visibility, feelings of acceptance, well being, and familiarity were expressed. Relations with students were described as improved and close, and with colleagues and principals as cooperative.

Having to be careful about their behavior in public was noted, however, by other teachers who felt watched and judged by community members. Smoking, drinking, and dating seemed to be behaviors about which these teachers felt most self-conscious:

My behavior outside of school, such as my dress or drinking, could affect how others perceive what I do when I work. They might feel that I behave unprofessionally outside the class and thus would act that way at school, or influence their children in some way [of which] they don't approve.

Self-conscious, constricted, outraged, controlled, embarrassed, annoyed, and violated were negative feelings teachers associated with high visibility. Some teachers indicated that they tended to avoid students after school to maintain their own privacy, though others said that they showed more of themselves to students than to anyone else. These teachers maintained a front before most colleagues and the principal. They revealed a more spontaneous self only to colleagues whom they trusted as friends, with whom laughter at the situation was considered possible.

A small number of teachers identified low social status as a negative influence. All of the teachers who expressed this sentiment were employed in suburban districts. Teachers who expressed sensitivity about occupying a low social status felt compelled to justify and defend their roles as teachers both to themselves and to others:

I feel that as a teacher I must constantly defend myself and my profession to the public. It seems that they take our position literally-their servant.... What am I doing in this profession if there is so much wrong with it? There is always that nagging question, "Have I chosen the right profession?"

Feelings mentioned included frustration, depression, futility, and nega- tivism. Parents and students were viewed as lacking respect for teachers, with students becoming unresponsive. This left teachers uncertain about whether they were ever doing enough and made them critical of colleagues who did not maintain high standards.

Several female teachers mentioned worries and concerns that are common to the ordinary experience of most people as negatively impacting their professional lives. They experienced problems varying from unspec- ified personal crises to mechanical trouble with an automobile that draw attention and energy away from the classroom. Frustration was most commonly expressed, but depression and loneliness were also felt. These

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teachers said that they were less prepared for class and were less sympathetic and less tolerant of students when personal problems developed.

A complication of this third classification is that several of these facets of a teacher's experience outside of school (e.g., finances, visibility, and social status) actually originate with the teacher's professional role. They affect performance of that role indirectly by way of their influence on the quality of the teacher's private life.

In addition, other circumstances in teachers' private lives seem to mediate the degree of influence these factors exert. Finances and visibility were viewed by some teachers as having a positive effect on their professional lives and by others as having a negative effect. Social status was mentioned only as a negative contributor to professional life, though infrequently, and only by teachers employed in suburban districts. Simi- larly, visibility was mainly an issue for teachers who taught in rural areas; for them the visibility was a positive factor.

Miscellaneous problems were mentioned infrequently and tended to reflect difficulties that are by no means unique to teachers. The small number of responses included in this classification also presents limitations on interpretation.

Summary Teachers typically perceived their personal lives as beneficial to their

interactions with students in terms of greater sensitivity, empathy, caring, and receptivity, all of which they viewed as bringing teachers closer to students. Negative outcomes relating to interactions with students resulted from aspects of teachers' personal lives that took time, energy, and attention away from classroom responsibilities. This tended to distance teachers from students and their needs and often resulted in feelings of guilt.

Various aspects of teachers' personal lives were perceived as contributing to improved relationships with colleagues in terms of generating greater mutual confidence, sharing, helping, openness, dedication, and cooperation, although a decreased tolerance for displays of insensitivity by colleagues toward students was also noted. On the negative side, factors in teachers' personal lives affecting collegial interaction included less contact, less energy, and less openness; those conditions isolated teachers from colleagues except for relying upon them for emotional support.

Relations with principals were improved by personal life dimensions that gave teachers confidence in their own abilities or made them willing to be open and frank, trusting, loyal, and committed to the principal. They perceived principals as having greater respect for them and willing to offer more support. On the other hand, negative outcomes of teachers' personal lives for their relations with principals included a decrease in trust, openness, and spontaneity, and an increase in distance and emotional dependency.

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The frequency with which no discernible effect was noted for relationships with principals may be largely due to the structure of schools. Teachers typically have less contact with administrators than with colleagues or students. Thus, the quality of the relationship is not likely to improve if opportunities for contact do not exist. However, negative aspects of teachers' personal lives may diminish both the quality and quantity of interactions with principals as teachers actively engage in avoidance behavior.

Discussion

When Waller wrote his 1932 classic, Sociology of Teaching, little real distinction between a teacher's personal life and professional life existed. The teacher was "on-stage" at all times. Formal and informal restrictions on teachers' personal lives, Waller believed, were a major obstacle to the professionalization of teaching. Social isolation from normal interpersonal relationships, he argued, systematically limited teachers' emotional and intellectual development. This stunting of the teacher as a person was viewed as ultimately harmful to the personality development of students and as a major obstacle to the humanistic reform of the schools.

Waller (1932) called attention to the debilitating stereotype of inflexibil- ity, inhibition, and reserve imposed upon teachers by local communities. This stereotype was enforced by the exclusion of teachers from participa- tion in normal social activities and constant exposure of teachers' behavior to public scrutiny. The teacher's private life was literally a public exhibition, fair game for the prying eyes and narrow minds of the local community.

Even more insidious than the community's ever vigilant rumor mill were the official controls that prevented teachers from experiencing a normal adult existence. For a female teacher, the price of a husband and children was termination of her teaching contract. For a male, the luxury of having a family was made difficult, if not prohibited entirely, by low salary. Thus, a combination of informal and formal sanctions systematically stifled the social and psychological development of teachers both on and off the job. The professional role was all encompassing and teachers' private lives were severely limited (Beale, 1936; Waller, 1932).

The data reported here suggest that compared to 50 years ago, teachers have considerably more freedom today to determine how they live their lives outside of school. Most of the teachers in our sample seem to have chosen a conventional family life. But a fairly substantial number of teachers in the sample were divorced, a fact which not long ago would have kept them from the classroom entirely. In their private lives, at least, teachers appear to have greater opportunity to experience life as mature, fully functioning adults, selecting the life-style they prefer, with whatever joys and tribulations that may follow.

The major change from Waller's time appears to be that the professional

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role no longer entirely shapes the personal lives of teachers. Rather, to a much greater extent, the personal and interpersonal identities of teachers seem to contribute to the enactment of the professional role. The freedom that teachers enjoy presently is probably due to changes in the values and norms of society, to the anonymity and tolerance prevalent in metropolitan areas, and to salary improvements that have accompanied middle class economic prosperity in the United States (Pajak & Blase, 1984). The data also suggest, as Waller (1932) predicted, that the expansion of the realm of the teacher's personal life has coincided with teachers becoming more sensitive and less harsh in their treatment of students.

What seems to be most important in the personal lives of teachers, in terms of the effect on the professional life, is a well-developed individual identity and a sense of connectedness to others beyond the self (Belensky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Gilligan, 1982). According to the perceptions of teachers in our sample, positive attitudes associated with personal life factors are transmitted to students and reflected in interactions with colleagues and principals. The sense of connectedness is experienced by teachers in a variety of ways-through children, family life, friends, interests, experiences, values, and identification with the larger culture. Such links to the past, future, and a transcendental order (secular or sacred) are apparently important to teachers as sources of stability and direction.

The phenomena of occupational stress and burnout among teachers can perhaps be understood within the broader context of the individual teacher's total life experience (Spencer, 1985). Our data suggest that the negative effects of the isolation of the classroom, a widely recognized problem (Lortie, 1975), may be lessened by investment in a variety of personal interests and activities and a rich and supportive network of social relationships. Such experiences off the job may renew and energize (Marks, 1977) many teachers for the emotionally demanding setting of the classroom and school.

Rather than viewing the self of the teacher as a unitary or binary (personal-professional) cognitive structure, the data further suggest that a multifaceted self may be a more appropriate representation of how many teachers relate to the world. Involvement in multiple roles, relationships, activities, and goals may buffer teachers from negative thoughts, feelings, and self-appraisals (Linville, 1987) associated with teaching. Furthermore, multidimensional definitions of self appear to be perceived by teachers as actually enriching their performance on the job.

Conclusions and Implications

Our findings suggest that proposals for upgrading teacher pay and prestige have merit, given the close association in teachers' minds between the quality of their personal lives and their professional roles. Because

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finances and status were not identified as major issues in and of themselves, however, the link of those two factors to effective performance in the classroom may not be as direct as policy makers would hope. Requiring more involvement from teachers in the form of additional work-related responsibilities in exchange for such rewards might even result in a narrow- ing of teachers' definitions of self. The reforms currently being imple- mented across the country would seem to reinforce, if not entirely assure, this counterproductive outcome.

Both Apple (1986) and Spencer (1985) favor collective action by teachers as a way of overcoming the patriarchal, bureaucratic, and technical controls that trivialize and depersonalize teaching. Although we agree that the social contexts within schools should be restructured to encourage the intellectual and psychological growth of teachers, we are not entirely certain that unionization alone is capable of accomplishing these outcomes. If new structures are to be developed that will support the integration of personal and professional roles (Lightfoot, 1983) and restore professional choice and control to teachers, then other changes are needed as well.

Our data suggest that personal growth outside the classroom should be actively sought by teachers and encouraged by policy makers. Teaching is extremely demanding with respect to time and the emotional energy required (Blase & Pajak, 1986). Increased demands on teachers can be expected to further tax those already strained resources. Time and energy needed to complete paperwork or to perform added job responsibilities will necessarily come from somewhere. The most likely losers appear to be the teacher's personal life or students in the teacher's classroom. Ultimately, in either case, effective performance will be impaired.

Teachers need time to read, to engage in hobbies, and to be with their families and friends, perhaps even more than people in other occupations. They are then more likely to return to their classrooms, our data suggest, mentally and emotionally refreshed. Additionally, according to the perceptions of teachers, personal life factors must be satisfying and rewarding in order to have a positive influence on the professional role.

Given that the quality of teachers' personal lives appears to influence teachers' affective states directly and that those affective states, in turn, influence the behavior of teachers in school, policy makers should seriously consider providing employee assistance programs to teachers on a wide scale. For example, the availability of counseling services for teachers might help to alleviate the spillover of negative experiences from the private life to the professional role.

Finally, Shakeshaft (1985) and Spencer (1985) note that research has demonstrated that females are often more effective school administrators than males. Given the strong influence of the principal in shaping school culture, perhaps more female teachers ought to be encouraged to pursue careers in educational leadership. Schools might then more often become

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the kinds of social settings that nurture human growth for children and adults alike.

The data of this study also have implications for teachers themselves. First, it seems important for teachers to cultivate interests outside the job, to invest themselves in activities that are different from teaching, and to interact with people who are enjoyable to be around. Second, teachers should process negative feelings more actively and deal with them con- sciously. Lortie (1975) has noted teachers' acute susceptibility to guilt, particularly when it comes to their interactions with students (p. 159). Feelings of guilt were mentioned frequently by the teachers in this study in response to numerous personal life dimensions that competed with teaching for time and energy (see also Spender & Sarah, 1980). Opportu- nities for sharing and discussing overwhelming obligations and conflicting expectations might help individuals avoid the transformation of frustration and anger into self-defeating guilt. As Waller (1932) suggested, groups of teachers might even discuss the psychodynamics of the teaching role (Pajak, 1981), as well as the effect that teaching can have on teachers (Blase, 1985) and ultimately on students.

APPENDIX Text of the Teacher Personal-Professional Life Inventory How does your personal life affect or influence your professional life as a teacher?

(What you describe can be either positive or negative.) 1. Identify one important influence

2. Describe, from your viewpoint, how this affects your professional life. Please give a detailed example of what you mean.

3. Please describe the major feelings you experience as a result of what you discussed above (#1, 2).

4. Please describe and give an example of how (if at all) what you discussed above (#1, 2) affects your relationships with Your students: Your colleagues: Your principal: Other (If there is another relationship not mentioned above, please describe it here.)

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Authors EDWARD PAJAK, Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Supervi-

sion, Division of Educational Leadership, University of Georgia, 124 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602. Specializations: supervision of instruction, teacher and supervisor roles.

JOSEPH J. BLASE, Associate Professor of Educational Administration, University of Georgia, Department of Educational Administration, G-10 Aderhold Bldg., Athens, GA 30602. Specializations: sociology of teaching, micropolitics of students.

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Documents

The Impact of Teachers' Personal Lives on Professional Role Enactment: A Qualitative Analysis