Changing Employment Practices? Teachers and Principals Discuss "Part-Time" Arrangements for Alberta Teachers

Abstract

The general trend away from "standard" jobs - that is, employment by one employer, involving full-time work with an expectation of being employed indefinitely - has been widely examined and debated (e.g. Betcherman, McMullen, Leckie, & Caron, 1994; Broad, 1991; Handy, 1990; Negrey, 1994; White, 1983). So has the movement toward various forms of "non-standard" employment - such as job sharing, part time, temporary arrangements (e.g. Commission of Inquiry into Part-time Work, 1983; Duffy & Pupo, 1992; Higgins, Duxbury, & Lee, 1992; Krahn, 1995; Negrey, 1994; Schellenberg & Clark, 1996; White, 1983). However, we cannot discover any systematic and sustained scholarly attention directed toward this phenomenon as it pertains to Canadian public school teachers. What are the day-to-day realities of living out "non-standard" teaching arrangements, and what politics and ideologies engender those realities? 

In order to explore some of those questions, we conducted a study that describes and compares the enactment of three types of part-time employment policies for teachers in one Alberta school district. Using semi-structured interviews, we sought diverse perspectives by talking with approximately 30 teachers and administrators in that district. Each of them is involved in the implementation of one or more of these three different policies. We documented the study participants' views on the advantages and disadvantages (personal, educational/professional and organizational) of the policies. 

We report an overview of our findings in this article by organizing and discussing the participants' perspectives according to three general themes -- Motivations, Negotiations, and Implications. Since we have provided some detailed analysis of the first two themes, Motivations and Negotiations, elsewhere (Young & Grieve, 1996), we will emphasize Implications in this paper.