An exploration of primary-school teachers’ engagement with teachmeets

Harrop, Susan June (2024) An exploration of primary-school teachers’ engagement with teachmeets. Doctoral thesis (EdD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This study explores teachers’ perceptions of their reasons for attending teachmeets as a form of continuing professional development (CPD). Teachmeets are organised for teachers by teachers and are attended beyond school hours. The study situates the emergence of teachmeets within the history of changes to education from the 1997 New Labour government to 2021, seen as a time of gradual de-professionalisation. The methodological approach initially involved an interpretivist approach and later adopted a socio-material stance. The research design comprised semi-structured interviews with 12 primary-school teachers in the northwest of England. The interviews investigated teachers’ reasons for attending teachmeets, who or what influenced their engagement and what they gained from attending. Using an interpretivist approach, a thematic analysis was undertaken, resulting in five emergent themes: (i) control, (ii) surveillance and fear, (iii) data, (iv) a shared free space and (v) a cohesive inspirational community. Additionally, a case study focused on one participant and took a socio-material approach. This approach was chosen to fully capture the affective contours of the interviews. For example, I was struck by the way silences, corporeal gestures and shifts in tone of voice provided insights into the contrasting affective intensities of the school and teachmeet environments. Findings suggest that school based CPD was limited, contrived, and not tailored to teachers’ individual needs, often experienced as part of wider de-professionalising forms of surveillance and control underpinned by fear. In contrast, all participants found teachmeets to be accepting, liberating, and affirming places where teachers reignited their confidence and motivation to continue in the profession. Policy implications point to the gap between government rhetoric about the role of CPD and the realities of practice. This study highlights the care and concern teachers showed for each other outside of school and the lengths to which some teachers go to support each other professionally.