Teachers’ work and the politics of time and space

Abstract

This paper identifies and analyses different dimensions of time and their implications for teachers’ work. The theoretical analysis arises from a study of elementary principals’ and teachers’ perceptions and uses of preparation time. Five dimensions of time are identified and discussed: technical‐rational time, micropolitical time, phenomenological time, physical time, and sociopolitical time. From the point of view of the classroom, teachers and administrators have different perceptions of time. Driven by linear, technical‐rational time perspectives, administrators seek to speed the pace of change. Teachers operate in a phenomenological time‐frame where they seek to slow down change. As the gap between administration and teaching widens, so do the differences in time perspectives between teachers and administrators. The paper concludes with a set of questions about the strength of present divisions between administration and teaching.