Table Of ContentINTERNATIONAL
SCHOOLS,
TEACHING AND
GOVERNANCE
An Autoethnography of
a Teacher in Conflict
Carmen Blyth
International Schools, Teaching and Governance
Carmen Blyth
International Schools,
Teaching and
Governance
An Autoethnography of a Teacher in Conflict
Carmen Blyth
Cape Town, South Africa
ISBN 978-3-319-46782-5 ISBN 978-3-319-46783-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-46783-2
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Conflict: An unresolved profound and prolonged disagreement or dispute,
which, whatever the cause of the particular conflict, can escalate over time
to have serious consequences for those involved.
P
rologue
Laurel Richardson, professor emeritus at Oregon State University (USA)
and more importantly a sociologist of everyday life experience, together
with former student and professor of educational theory and practice
Elizabeth St Pierre, explains that writing is a different way of knowing,
a way of knowing differently. And that if we write as a way of knowing,
how we write is as important if not more so than what we write. For
Richardson writing is:
a method of inquiry, a way of finding out about yourself and your topic.
Although we usually think about writing as a mode of ‘telling’ about the
social world …Writing is also a way of “knowing”—a method of discov-
ery and analysis. By writing in different ways, we discover new aspects of
our topic and our relationship to it. Form and content are inseparable.
(Richardson, 1994, p. 516)
For this reason the background to my experience of conflict at one partic-
ular international school is written as: (a) the first act of ‘a surrealist drama
about a surreal, yet real’ (Richardson, 1997, p. 296) international school
and (b) an equally surreal response to authority’s demands. Richardson
(1997) explains that the surreal can seem appropriately equal and equally
appropriate to the real if not identical in form and relations. In other
words, the words and setting might differ from what actually occurred but
the contexts and meanings are inherently the same. The two examples I
give below use school politics as site for the writing and discipline as con-
text (Richardson, 1997).
vii
viii PROLOGUE
Act 1
[Scene 1: It is a hot and humid August afternoon at the start of the aca-
demic year at the Tepapawai International Secondary School (TISS)1 yet
the office is chilly bordering on cold. The sound of the air conditioner
whirrs in the background. The room is clinical: there are no plants, no per-
sonal photos or pictures, and the sea view from the sole window has been
blocked out with a heavy blind. At a coffee table sits a man who motions
to the head of department as she enters to close the door and take a seat
opposite him.]
Man: We’ve made a decision not to offer you another
contract after this year I’m afraid to say. We
think that is the best way of solving the problem
between you and the team.
Head of Department: Okay.
Man: I think we need to move the situation on.
Head of Department: [Silence]
Man: Here is a letter for you to take away that has been
counter signed by the HR Director [he hands let-
ter to Head of Department].
Head of Department: Wow!
Man: I am sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but
I think that’s how we need to move forward.
That’s how it is. So you obviously need to go
away and think about that.
Head of Department: Well there is not much to think about, is there?
Man: No, not a lot.
[Scene 2: In the drab and dingy staff room, the Vice Chair of the
Teachers Association and the Head of Department are seated having a cup
of tea. Their cups remain untouched.]
Vice Chair: Well, there’s no point in your filing grievances
against your principal and deputy principal, not
now that you’ve been given a non-renewal. No,
no point at all. I hope you can see that.
Head of Department: [Silence]
PROLOGUE ix
[Scene 3: It is a cold and miserable day at the Labour Tribunal court.
The last case of the morning session is being heard. The court room is
empty save for the lady judge, the plaintiff (a head of department at the
Tepapawai International Secondary School (TISS)) and the HR Director
of the TIS].
Judge: Has the school paid all monies owing to the plaintiff?
Plaintiff: Yes.
Judge: Then case dismissed.
Plaintiff: But your Honour they can’t just get around the difficulty of
a disciplinary and grievance procedure by giving me a non
renewal.
Judge: Yes they can.
A contrAPuntAl resPonse
Dear Deputy Principal
Further to our discussions yesterday and today, I wish to clarify the problem.
1. A member of staff in my department has approached you to say that she
feels uncomfortable with my leadership and therefore has asked for you
to line manage her. She refused to meet earlier today as arranged by you
to discuss the ‘issues’ with me present.
2. You have been line managing Yvonne at my request as of this year due
to the fact that on more than one occasion she has physically threatened
and intimidated members of the department. This was well docu-
mented by three members of the department as well as myself; however,
no action was taken by you to resolve this issue.
3. I cannot allow that you resume your previous backdoor policy with
members of my department as this makes my position as Head of
Department [HoD] untenable.
4. The areas of dissatisfaction and tension were well aired at the meeting
of the whole department in March, following which a number of actions
were agreed and apparently the situation improved until last week
since when it appears your policy of allowing members of the depart-
ment to approach you directly rather than directing them to air their
concerns with me first (as you had agreed to do) caused a serious dete-
rioration in communication.
x PROLOGUE
5. I can only conclude that this situation continues to be an issue because
of your current line management strategies.
When I return from medical tests in Australia, we need to take some
action to rectify this current situation of insubordination and your backdoor
management policy before the situation becomes irrecoverable. If we cannot
find a way to do so, I cannot see how you can continue to line manage the
ESOL2 team.
notes
1. All names used are fictitious.
2. ‘English to Speakers of Other Languages’ (ESOL) is now more fre-
quently used in lieu of ‘English as a Second Language’ (ESL).
references
Richardson, L. (1994). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S.
Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 516–529). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Richardson, L. (1997). Skirting a pleated text: De-d isciplining an academic life.
Qualitative Inquiry, 3(3), 295–303. doi:10.1177/107780049700300303.
c
ontents
Part I The Journey/al and Reflections 1
1 The Story from Start to Finish 3
2 Re-theorising and Re-problematising Conflict
from a Posthumanist Stance: Meaning, Truth,
and Understanding in a Posthumanist World 49
Part II Dimensions of Conflict 69
3 The International School: Taking Stock of a World
‘Commodity’—Leadership and Management 71
4 The Apparatuses of Conflict 87
5 The Dark Side: Teacher Emotions and Their Affect/
Effect on Conflict 119
6 Concluding on a More Optimistic Note 149
Index 163
xi
