Out-of-Field Teaching Practices

Out-of-Field Teaching Practices

What Educational Leaders Need to Know Out-of-Field Teaching
Anna Elizabeth du Plessis
Learning Sciences Institute Australia Practices
Society perceives the role of school leaders as ‘fixers’. Yet the author poses some

What Educational Leaders

confronting questions: can they fix or manage the out-of-field phenomenon without
having in-depth knowledge and understanding? Can educators teach the next
generation of teachers and school leaders without appreciating the realities of the
workplace? Can policymakers develop effective policies without a deeper understanding
of the workforce issues that influence quality education beyond the obvious issues?
Need to Know
Many dilemmas face today’s teaching workforce and workplaces. The book takes the
reader on a journey as experienced in real life by teachers and school leaders. It aims
an extreme global focus on the quality of education and on governments’ achievements Anna Elizabeth du Plessis
in providing opportunities to prepare the next generation of students for their future.
The author’s assessment exposes more concerns than assurances.
Anna du Plessis’ academic career includes more than 25 years of classroom experience
across three countries. Her journey in leadership positions started during her fourth
year of teaching. Her compassion for teachers, school leaders and students stimulated
a search for a deeper understanding of the lifeworld and challenges facing educational
practitioners.
The objective in this book is to share information that will improve education systems,
strategies, decisions, policies and actions. Readers of this book might be parents,
student teachers, prospective school leaders, educational directors, policymakers or
teacher educators.
Only knowing and understanding can inform well-directed decisions.

Anna Elizabeth du Plessis

ISBN 978-94-6300-951-5

SensePublishers DIVS

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11.278 mm
Out-of-Field Teaching Practices
Out-of-Field Teaching Practices
What Educational Leaders Need to Know

Anna Elizabeth du Plessis

Learning Sciences Institute Australia
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-94-6300-951-5 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-94-6300-952-2 (hardback)
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Teachers matter.
– TEMAG (2014)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Forewordxi
Tony Bush

Prefacexiii

Chapter 1: The Meaning of Out-of-Field Teaching for Educational Leadership:

If We Just Knew… 3
Introduction3
A Bourdieusian Standpoint on School Leadership 8
Mapping the School Leadership Field 9
Definitions of Concepts 10
A Survey Tool: Information for School-Leaders 11
Summary12

Chapter 2: Seeking Answers in Literature: Is “The Office” an Obstacle for

Effective Leadership? 15
Introduction15
Misconceptions about the Out-of-Field Phenomenon Are Widespread 16
Pressure on School Leadership 19
Implications of Out-of-Field Placements for Teachers and School Leadership 21
Defining Quality Teaching 27
Teaching Characteristics and the Learning Environment 30
Productivity and Out-of-Field Teaching 31
School-Leaders’ Effectiveness within the Out-of-Field Phenomenon’s Space 32
The Out-of-Field Phenomenon’s Influence on Teachers as Professionals 33
The Out-of-Field Phenomenon and Teachers as Resource Investments 34
Inter-Relations between Literature Reviewed and the Study 37
The Importance of Knowing for School Leadership 39
Building Healthy School Communities 40

Chapter 3: Looking through Different Lenses: Evidence-Based Information

Improves Healthy School Communities 47
Introduction47
School-Leaders’ Accountability to the School Community 50
Empathy and Trust Build the School Community 52
The Out-of-Field Phenomenon, Collaboration and the Meaning for
School Communities 53

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Leaders’ Role in Building a Healthy Community 56

Summary58

Chapter 4: Turning the Teaching Workforce and Workplace around with

Open Discussions 63
Introduction63
Learning from Actual Experiences 63

Chapter 5: The Influences on the Teaching Workforce: Epistemological and

Intuitive107
Introduction107
Influence on Leaders and Leadership Styles 116
Leadership Models, Change and Transformation 122
Leadership and the Purpose of Schools 126
The Organisational and Academic Climate 129
School Leadership, Decision-Making and Policies 130
Leadership and Valuing Staff 137
Summary141

Chapter 6: What to Do with This Information? Where to Focus? 145

Introduction145
Concluding Remarks Linked to International Literature 150
Summary153

Chapter 7: Out-of-Field Teachers Matter!: Plan and Strategise 157

Introduction157
Forum Discussions 157
Collaborative Decision-Making 158
Adjustments to Leadership Styles 158
Support at Education Departmental and Governmental Level 159
Targeted Professional Learning and Development Opportunities 160
Internal Professional Learning 161
Recruitment Policies and Procedures 162
Reflection on Organisational Effectiveness 162
Legislation and School Leadership 163
School Community’s Awareness and Involvement 164
Leadership and Action Research 165
Professional Learning and Support Programs for Out-of-Field
Teachers165
Professional Learning and Development Programs for School-Leaders 166
Emotional and Psychological Footprints of the Phenomenon on Teachers 167
Career Decisions of Beginning and Experienced Teachers 168

viii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Financial Impact on Education Systems and Governments 168

Different Perceptions about the Phenomenon 168
Conflict between School-Leaders’ Needs and Education Systems’ Support 169
Synchronised Procedures for Teacher Recruitment and Assignments 170

Appendix 1: Action Research Tool for School-Leaders to Know More about

Their Teachers  173

Appendix 2: Cannas—School Leadership Model 175

Appendix 3: From Novice to Expert and Master Teacher 177

Glossary181

References183

ix
 FOREWORD

Leadership is increasingly recognised as a key variable in determining school and

student outcomes, second only to classroom teaching in terms of factors that schools
can influence. The difference between effective and ineffective leadership can be
profound and have a significant impact on the life chances of children and young
people. Leadership can be regarded as effective if it produces the outcomes desired
by the school’s stakeholders, both internal and external.
There is a substantial body of literature, much of it highly normative, about
which leadership approaches are most likely to produce favourable outcomes.
Anna du Plessis notes many of these leadership models in the opening chapter of
this volume. What has become known as “adjectival leadership” offers an often
confusing repertoire of styles available to school leaders. The literature examines
these models from two distinct perspectives. First, they may be seen as ways to
understand, and to analyse, school leadership practice. Second, they may be
advocated as preferred approaches to leadership, which principals and others should
follow. Such prescriptions have been applied most strongly to transformational,
instructional and, in the 21st century, distributed leadership. The empirical
evidence for such advice is often limited. Wise leaders avoid a singular approach to
leadership and prefer a contingent stance, selecting the most appropriate style for
each event or problem.
Despite the enhanced recognition of the importance of leadership, most countries
do not require school principals to have specialised training for this role, regarding
teaching experience as a sufficient background for aspiring leaders, despite the
mounting evidence that leadership requires very different skills from classroom
teaching. There is no clear evidence that good teachers necessarily become good
leaders; they are different roles.
This point links to the author’s focus on out-of-field teachers, who have to teach
subjects, or year groups, for which they have not been prepared. There are many
leadership books but the distinctive contribution of this volume is its focus on the
experience of these out-of-field teachers, based on substantial empirical evidence.
She notes that such arrangements are indicative of “crisis management”, while
effective leadership, with its longer-term horizon, plans ahead to minimise such
problems. Expecting teachers to be effective in teaching outside their expertise is
similar to expecting principals to be successful without any specific preparation for
their new role. Both may be necessary as short-term “fixes” but, if they become
institutionalised, they are likely to be damaging for the professionals concerned and
for the schools and students they are intended to serve. The author is right to stress
the need to “hire for fit” if schools are to produce the outcomes required to meet

xi
FOREWORD

the needs of students, parents and other stakeholders. This book makes a valuable
contribution to our understanding of how out-of-field teachers cope when they are
faced with these unfamiliar demands.

Tony Bush
University of Nottingham
and
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

xii
 PREFACE

During my 26 years of teaching, across three different countries, I had the privilege
to work with remarkable school principals.
School-leaders’ accountability for the development of effective teaching and
learning environments makes them vulnerable because often they receive continuous
critical feedback from the wider school community, as well as from staff members
within the intimate school environment.
School-leaders admit that they can feel isolated and unsupported when they
have to manage complex teaching practices that influence the teaching workforce
and workplace. School leadership agency and voice often get lost in the business
of schooling, and when a school leader’s voice disappears, school improvement
strategies and policies become a tricky terrain.
The “voice” of Jan de Waard, an experienced principal, introduces us to the
realities of schooling and leadership challenges and lived experiences.
When I started my career as a teacher it was a very bureaucratic and at times
autocratic system. Junior teachers were not allowed to raise their grievances
with regards to the choice of subjects they are comfortable teaching, nor were
learners able to raise their grievances with regards to teachers not being able
to effectively present certain subjects to them. As a result of this, out-of-field
teaching was quite common.
I know from personal experience how detrimental out-of-field teaching can
be to both learners and teachers. I can recall one school having a policy that
teachers were assigned to a specific subject and a specific year level for a
period of 3 years. After this 3-year period he or she was moved to a different
subject and to a different year level. This naturally led to frustration among
the teachers, the learners and also the parents. There was one specific incident
when a teacher was placed out-of-field to teach Mathematics to year/grade
7 learners (13 year-olds). Learners frustrated with this teacher’s teaching
practices shared their grievances at home, which led to parents handing in
a petition to the school’s authority. Unfortunately, this only transpired in the
third term, very near the end of the teaching year. The educator was moved to
a different subject, but by that time it was far too late in the academic year. The
learners completed primary school three months after this and the effect this
had on their education and development was never measured. The effect this
had on the learners may not have been measured, but as the teacher resigned
from the school at the end of the year, this must have had a marked impact on
the teacher.

xiii
PREFACE

Due to the difficulty in obtaining qualified teachers, appointments were at times

made knowing full well that the appointment is not the ideal appointment.
One instance of this was a teacher that had experience in teaching sciences
at secondary level being appointed to teach science at primary school level.
Despite being well qualified for the subject, having the ability to connect with
academically strong learners, and being very popular with these learners, he
still had incidences of academic outcomes in which up to 40% of his class was
failing. It was obvious that he lacked the ability to understand the age group
he was teaching.
After 1994 with the democratisation of South Africa, the school system that I
was accustomed to underwent enormous changes. The biggest direct change
on our day to day teaching was a rapid, dominant language and culture change.
No one was prepared for or trained in how to handle this rapid cultural change
and the process of adapting to this was, and still is, mainly a trial and error
process.
I believe that even today, this remains one of the most vital matters that need
to be addressed; teachers being out-of-field in not understanding the culture of
the learners they are teaching. Some educators were and are very successful
in adapting and using the learners’ cultural background to help them excel in
their specific subject, but there are teachers that, due to not understanding the
cultural background of learners, are unable to motivate these learners to excel
in their subjects. With the enormous challenges in education in South Africa,
out-of-field teaching, is however not high on the priority list and unfortunately
[the problem] will be with us for many years to come.
This book is a true reflection of the school environment and the real-life
experiences of school-leaders and teachers in complex teaching situations. It is the
first book about the out-of-field phenomenon, and discusses the complex teaching
situations that result from the phenomenon. The critical analysis is divided into six
chapters:
Chapter 1 defines leadership styles and the out-of-field phenomenon as a concern
in schools and classrooms.
Chapter 2 discusses the misconceptions around the out-of-field phenomenon and
the pressure that develops in the teaching and learning environment as a result. It
underscores the workforce and workplace challenges that school-leaders have to
face because of the complexities that out-of-field teaching gives rise to.
Chapter 3 takes a fresh look at the accountability of school-leaders, and how
their decisions directly influence healthy school communities. It also takes an in-
depth look at the implications of complex classroom situations for the wider school
community, when teachers are not suitably qualified for the positions they are
assigned to.

xiv
 PREFACE

Chapter 4 explains how, by paying attention to the lived experiences of those

involved in challenging teaching and learning environments, school-leaders can
learn and adjust their leadership styles.
Chapter 5 takes a close look at leadership models, styles and skills in the light
of real-life experiences of school-leaders. The chapter reveals the experiences of
school-leaders, and encourages you to learn from the “truths” that schools in the
field openly and honestly share.
Chapter 6 reviews and summarises the fundamental concepts this book offers,
and suggests ways to move towards a better-managed out-of-field teaching situation
within schools.
Chapter 7 provides evidence-based information to support educational leaders and
school-leaders to take action. It offers useful advice for the professional learning and
development of teachers who find themselves in these complex teaching situations.

xv
The growth and development of people
is the highest calling of leadership.
– Harvey S. Firestone
 CHAPTER 1

THE MEANING OF OUT-OF-FIELD TEACHING

FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
If We Just Knew…

INTRODUCTION

The diverse context of schools and multi-layered interrelationships between leaders,

teachers and parents make it impossible to have a “blueprint” for school leadership
(Bush & Glover, 2012, p. 34). However, the use of evidence-based information
informs the type of leadership style most suited for certain positions.
Knowledge is power (Braun, 2010; Cilliers, 2013; Schieman & Plickert, 2008;
Shulman, 1987), especially within school leadership teams where decisions are made
that will influence the schools’ academic culture and atmosphere. Foucault claims
that a specific discourse of knowledge is truth, and it is “local knowledges” that
keep power transparent and respond to basic needs and survival strategies (Cilliers,
2013, p. 5). Contextual factors influence educational leaders’ effectiveness to put
improvement strategies into action (Datnow & Castellano, 2001).
Bush (2015) discusses various leadership models implicit in the organisation and
leadership theory, for example:
• managerial
• transformational
• transactional
• moral
• participative
• distributed
• postmodern
• contingent
• pedagogy and didactic.
Bush further acknowledges that organisational and leadership theory can be
“analysed and compared by constructs, goals, structure, culture and context” (p. 1).
In order to effectively lead and manage their school community, leaders need
factual, evidence-based information and an in-depth understanding of specific
situations within their schools (Crowther, 2011).
Critical support is linked to a web of relationships (Dutton, 2003; Gordon &
Brobeck, 2010). Educational leadership—and, in this case, a school leadership’s

3
CHAPTER 1

effectiveness to uphold social justice—is influenced by inclusive practices,

interrelationships between identity and differences, emphasis on students’ academic
achievement, the absence of policy and practice coherence, the separation between
leaders and personnel, and the implications all this has for collaboration and in-depth
understanding (Capper & Young, 2014).
Braun (2010) cautions that it is vital to keep abreast of the rapid creation of new
knowledge, which means school-leaders need to be aware of what is happening
inside classrooms.
School-leaders’ decisions have implications for the social–structural engagements
within schools, and greatly influence the “inner lives of individuals” (Schieman &
Plickert, 2008, p. 153). Effective management of complex situations is impossible
if leaders are unaware of the experiences of the human and social capital they are
expected to manage and lead (Minckler, 2011).
The book focuses on a complex multi-layered phenomenon that calls on educational
leaders to show perceptive and deep understanding.
The phenomenon of out-of-field teaching, where teachers are placed in teaching
positions in which they have to teach subjects or year-levels outside their field of
qualification or expertise, appears in public schools as well as independent schools.
This happens either because of a managerial decision by the principal and the
school management team, or because of governmental recruitment and placement
procedures.
Unsuitable assignment of teachers point towards “crisis management” as a
solution for teacher shortages, and school management carrying out inadequate
needs analyses. This kind of solution has far-reaching implications as it affects
several groups in the education process: governing bodies, school management,
teachers, students and parents.
Out-of-field teaching is not an aberration, and it is not restricted to only a
few subjects—for example, to the STEM-subject areas of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics—but has implications for all subject areas and year
levels. Continuous curriculum changes and transformation of subject fields oblige
teachers to teach subjects for which they have neither the necessary qualifications
nor expertise.
The more complex the educational reform, the less one can control it, because
matters such as skills, creative thinking and committed action cannot be mandated
(Fullan, 1993).
Changes and reform in education stimulate reflection and investigation of the
out-of-field phenomenon and its implications for educational leadership, school
management, and thus for quality education. As out-of-field teaching can result in
poor-quality teaching practices and inequity of teacher resources in education, a
diagnostic understanding of how the out-of-field phenomenon influences effective
school leadership and management is essential.
Bush and Glover (2014, p. 564) note that effective and productive leaders are
“increasingly focused on learning, the central and unique purpose of educational

4
 THE MEANING OF OUT-OF-FIELD TEACHING FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

organisations”. The information this book offers you is supported by three separate
research projects, and aims to develop an exhaustive understanding of the influence
the phenomenon has, not only on teachers but also on their leaders.
Capper and Young (2014) emphasise that a lack of coherence between policy
and practice is a testing experience for educators. School improvement policies,
developed to stimulate achievements according to expectations and practices of out-
of-field teaching, arouse intense questions about socially just circumstances.
School-leaders are accountable for the development of productive, competitive,
and effective school environments (Hattie, 2009). Effective leadership is a key to
both continuous improvement and transformation in schools (National College for
School Leadership [NCSL], 2001).
Purposefully the book shows how out-of-field teaching creates complex leadership
and management situations within education systems and schools. This kind of
teaching is a global concern (Ingersoll, 2002) influencing the quality of education,
while education plays a part in the international economy (Bush, 2008).
Adding to an already complicated situation is the recent tendency of the new
generation of leaders and less experienced leaders to focus on school image, results
and popularity while building survival alliances to cope with pressure.
Getkin (2009) notes that the new leadership generation is more comfortable with
managing processes than leading people by example.
The purpose of this book, then, is to reveal and discuss the “real life experiences”
of teachers in out-of-field positions in relation to educational leadership agencies.
Bush and Glover (2016) emphasise that the way leaders manage people and employ
processes for high-quality learning and teaching can influence the effective use of all
educators. This model is rooted in a distributed leadership model.
The information this book offers follows three empirical studies, completed in
the area of out-of-field teaching. It draws its empirical information from the lived
experiences and perceptions of school-leaders, educational leaders, out-of-field
teachers, specialist teachers, parents and students—presented as their “truths” at the
time of the experiences.
The empirical data support the specific focus the book offers regarding the
influence of leadership strategies and styles, and what they mean for out-of-field
teachers, as revealed through analysing interviews, classroom observations and
documents such as agendas and minutes from subject meetings and staff meetings.
New information about school-leaders’ immersion and understanding, in relation
to the out-of-field phenomenon, is revealed through the perceptive lenses of directors,
principals, specialist teachers, out-of-field teachers and parents.
The book shows you how different leadership experiences and practices have the
capacity to intensify the lived experiences of out-of-field teachers, or to transform the
challenges of out-of-field teaching practices into professional learning opportunities.
Stakeholders in education expect school-leaders to make decisions that would
benefit students’ development, and foster the optimal use of teachers as their
most valuable resource. Dimmock (1999) claims that school-leaders shape goals,

5
CHAPTER 1

motivations and actions, and initiate change to reach existing as well as new goals.
However, the placement or assignment of teachers in out-of-field positions might be
seen as crisis management or “snapshot” strategies, carried out by school-leaders to
solve staffing problems when they have no other options.
The argument this book brings forward is that leaders’ understanding of the
implications of taking the option to assign unsuitably qualified teachers in certain
positions has a significant influence on teachers’ out-of-field experience, and what it
means for effective learning.
Darling-Hammond (2010a) and Hattie (2009) comment that, second to teachers,
principals have a major influence on student achievement. Spillane, Camburn and
Stitziel Pareja (2009) mention that leadership strategies determine the amount
of time leaders spend on critical reflection and incidental interaction with staff
members. School-leaders who spend a significant amount of time in their offices
become disconnected from what is actually happening within classrooms.
In this book, the focus turns specifically to classrooms with out-of-field teachers,
and how leaders’ disconnectedness from the lived experiences in these classrooms
affects their decisions.
Educational leaders’ decisions, supply-and-demand problems as well as
transformation in the workplace develop situations where even experienced teachers,
excellent in their own field, suddenly find themselves in “out of fit” positions.
Well-qualified and well-trained teachers have stated that teaching unfamiliar
subjects without specialised or intensive assistance from experts leaves them feeling
exposed. The absence of such support transforms previous experts into mere text-
book followers, with diminished performance, reduced to teaching for survival.
This situation not only creates uncertainty and instability among staff members, but
changes school environments into spaces too complex to effectively manage.
Out-of-field teachers tend to be constantly aware of their own detrimental
situation and often feel guilty about any perceived deficiency in the development of
their students, a natural survival instinct. Aware of a gap in their content knowledge,
some teachers also experience difficulties in getting their curricula established or
organising the necessary resources to support effective teaching.
Self-concerned teachers tend to be more negative about workshops, additional
training and sharing their dilemma and difficulties with colleagues. This means
that the out-of-field phenomenon adversely affects the most important resource in
education: well-established and appropriately qualified teachers.
Kelly (1989) notes that no change will ever take place within education systems
unless this phenomenon is accepted in principle by the teachers. It is therefore
important that educational leaders focus on the teachers in classrooms before they
can expect extraordinary changes in education systems.
The development of an in-depth understanding about the experiences of teachers,
principals, deputy principals, parents and students, and the influence of the out-of-
field phenomenon on them as well as on school managements’ strategies, is the
book’s knowledge base.

6
 THE MEANING OF OUT-OF-FIELD TEACHING FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

This book also investigates how participants understand the role school-leaders
play in this regard. To understand the out-of-field phenomenon, focus is placed on
how the phenomenon adversely influences effective school leadership, and thus the
quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning that take place.
Objectives that flow from this aim are to create an understanding of the
perceptions and experiences of teachers and school-leaders because of the out-of-
field phenomenon, and to understand the influence that the out-of-field phenomenon
has on the characteristics of teaching, such as specific beliefs, values, experiences,
attitudes and knowledge.
This book further explains how the handling of the phenomenon directly affects
school-leaders’ effectiveness and leadership styles, and the influence that teachers’
and educational leaders’ perceptions of the out-of-field phenomenon have on quality
teaching and learning.
In an educational environment where the out-of-field phenomenon is
widespread, a better understanding of the phenomenon’s influence on school
leadership might stimulate reflection on existing policies, then lead to developing
justifiable policies and practices to improve effective teaching and quality
education.
Constitutions often state that quality education is the basic right of children.
Assigning teachers to positions for which they do not have suitable qualifications or
expertise simply risks damaging this basic right of students.
Teachers are able to adapt and develop the skills they need, but often at great
cost to them and their students. In a complex teaching situation, such as the out-of-
field phenomenon, teachers adapt by developing certain teaching characteristics that
may be acceptable to their superiors or leaders in order to survive, but they often
become uncertain followers, rather than motivated leaders and creative developers
of extended curricula.
In fact, Woods (1990, p. 49) suggests that teachers can often project an “impression
of teaching, and some still presented a professional aura, but in fact many teachers
were doing something other than teaching”.
Being followers means that teachers must comply with matters decided upon
mostly by decision-makers in the managerial structures of education, while the
teachers themselves have to cope with self-criticism, and with the quality assessment
of parents, colleagues and educational leaders.
A culture of negative criticism towards teachers leads to the ideology of “blaming
the victim”—the teachers—for everything that goes wrong in education (Tabulawa,
1997). Criticism is often due to a lack of awareness about the frequency of the out-
of-field phenomenon in schools.
Emerson, a consultant at the American National Council for Accreditation of
Teacher Education, warns against teachers working outside their field without the
educational community being informed about the situation (cited in Chaika, 2000).
Parents and students are usually not officially informed about the phenomenon, but
they are still aware that something is different.

7
CHAPTER 1

The topic of “unsuitable” assignments is rarely publicised and only sporadically

tracked. Ingersoll (1999a, pp. 28–37) notes that this makes it difficult to evaluate the
extent of the influence that out-of-field teachers have on the teaching environment,
when the out-of-field phenomenon is treated as the schools’ “dirty little secret”.
Educational leaders’ awareness of the value of “hire for fit” strategies when
assigning teachers is crucial. As Ingersoll (1999a, pp. 28–37) puts it: “Few would
require cardiologists to deliver babies, real estate lawyers to defend criminal cases,
chemical engineers to design bridges, or sociology professors to teach English”.
Similarly, parents would also not wish their secondary school child to be taught
trigonometry by teachers who did not have any formal higher education or training
in Mathematics.
Regrettably, this happens regularly, as the out-of-field phenomenon seems to be
an acceptable practice in public and independent schools. However, the way it can
erode healthy and effective learning and teaching environments often goes unnoticed.
The reality in the field is that each school community has its own needs; to meet
them, school-leaders must prioritise needs and fill teaching positions accordingly.
Teachers must not be seen as semi-skilled workers, ready to perform any job, because
unsuitably placed teachers who are struggling can complicate an already complex
system of constantly changing curricula and procedures.
King (2002) proposes a solution for establishing a successful school: an
enthusiastic principal with passionate teachers and positively involved parents.
Learning should be a stimulating, uplifting and enriching process, encouraging
students to be life-long learners. The needs of students, teachers and school-leaders
should be seen as equally important.
If school-leaders understand the value of the fit between these needs and
recruitment requirements, recommendations and the appointment processes,
greater success can be achieved. Transformation should ideally embrace the need
for knowledge, insight and functionality in learning needs. Acknowledgement of
the authority of school-leaders’ power and their role in preventing the out-of-field
phenomenon also involves acknowledging parents’ involvement and the role they
can play in the successful education of students.
Unfortunately, parent involvement is still underestimated and leaders tend to keep
information about the occurrence of out-of-field teaching from parents. King (2002)
states that parents want the best possible education for their children; their view of what
makes a reputable school influences where they decide to send their children to school.
The need is growing to learn more about the implications of the out-of-field
phenomenon for quality education, through investigating individual experiences and
what these mean to the participants who have suffered them.

A BOURDIEUSIAN STANDPOINT ON SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

School leadership is conceptualised as a field of study (Bourdieu, Chamboredon, &

Passeron, 1991). The value of a Bourdieusian understanding of the field of leadership

8
 THE MEANING OF OUT-OF-FIELD TEACHING FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

lies in his attention to struggles within society, viewed as social movements with
disruptive moments, of which leadership becomes an integral part.
I argue that the out-of-field phenomenon within schools can be seen as a disruptive
moment in which leadership involvement underscores the interplay between habitus,
capital and field.
Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) emphasise that understanding the relational
properties of the leadership field means that the habitus of the agents in the field
need to be analysed. A clear understanding of the relationship between those in the
field of leadership informs the resources of the field.
Further clarity is achieved when the position of leadership, as a field within
other fields, is understood. A sound understanding of the position of educational
leadership within the field of the out-of-field teaching phenomenon informs these
specific relations.
An in-depth understanding of what constitutes effective leadership characteristics
is fundamental to the development of functional leadership attributes. Eacott (2013,
p. 175) highlights Bourdieu’s attention to the relationship between the individual
agency and organisational regulation, and the Bourdieusian perception of leadership
as a “field” within an “autonomous social world”.
The Bourdieusian viewpoint opens the field for critical analysis of the
managerialist projects. The assumption—that one specific leadership model can be
applied in different environments, and still produce the same outcomes for education
reform—raises questions.
Bourdieu (1984) further emphasises that dispositions influencing choices cannot
be fully understood without comprehending certain cultures within the broader
sense.
I argue with Bourdieu et al. (1991) that leadership can be disruptive if their
decisions are not supported by evidence-based information, and if grounded in
misconceptions.
Eacott (2013, p. 176) notes that leadership is “a break in the status quo” and is
“characterised by what it is not”.
Awareness of what is going on in the school develops through planning and
mapping, analysis, configuration and distribution of “capital within the school as a
field” (Eacott, 2013, p. 183).

MAPPING THE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP FIELD

The out-of-field phenomenon is an international problem, mostly overlooked by

school-leaders in their school improvement strategies and policies.
The phenomenon presents difficulties in efforts to achieve quality education and
equity for all students in, as well as frustrating quality leadership within schools.
Mapping school leadership as a field entails mapping the relations and relational
decision-making about policies, control and individuals’ struggles within the
school.

9
CHAPTER 1

Eacott (2013) underlines the need for a shared vision to be agreed upon in
mapping leadership models and styles in schools. Thomson (2010) discusses the
value of leadership that creates a space for individuals, with specific expertise and
knowledge to improve their capital and individualism in the field.
Leaders are directly responsible for developing and managing social capital
within the school environment (Minckler, 2011). Mapping school leadership as a
field demonstrates awareness of the relation of the leadership field within fields.
The field of school leadership has a clear relation to other related fields such as
teacher recruitment, utilisation and employment conditions, and school improvement
policies.
Reasoning embedded in relational space and the situatedness of the leadership
field are both fundamental to education policy discourses and to the education
systems’ focus on performance and achievement (Eacott, 2013; Griffith, 2003).
Mapping school leadership as a discourse of social movement underlines the
argument that school-leaders cannot fulfil expectations of developing effective
school environments while isolating themselves from engaged social practice.
Jordan, Kleinsasser and Roe (2014) point out that teaching and learning are social
enactments, and school-leaders are the managers of this space of habitus.
Eacott (2013) suggests that school leadership’s core business involves social
practice. However, school-leaders are accountable for the development of an effective
learning and teaching space and need to be aware of the impact that uncertainty has
on a teacher’s performance (Jordan et al., 2014).
A concern highlighted by Vanover and Hodges (2015) is that many school
principals are “not trained to use data” in leadership courses. This book will help
you in five ways:
1. It provides information to assist school-leaders to reflect on complex teaching
situations, such as out-of-field teaching practices.
2. It provides you with valuable insights for educational leadership courses.
3. It demonstrates the value of using data for school-leadership decisions.
4. It cites real-world experiences that leaders will be able to use as practice of
“evidence for action planning and evaluation” (Vanover & Hodges, 2015, p. 32).
5. It will enable you to reflect on evidence use in decision-making, school-
leaders’ knowledge of improvement necessary in certain subjects, whole-school
improvement strategies and planning.

DEFINITIONS OF CONCEPTS

In this book I take a closer look at the consequences that out-of-field phenomenon
teaching practices have for leadership, and how leaders’ engagement in the teaching
and learning environment confront taken-for-granted concepts.
Looking through a different lens at leadership influence shows another perspective,
and unpacking the concepts and terminology supports a clearer understanding of

10
 THE MEANING OF OUT-OF-FIELD TEACHING FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

impressions and perceptions. This further assists in identifying similarities in this

discourse and the larger frame of educational knowledge (De Vos, 1998a; Mouton,
1996).
Defining concepts relevant to both educational leadership and the out-of-field
phenomenon involves a tentative conceptual analysis of terminology as well as
defining such terms as leadership, out-of-field, and hire for fit, casual/temporary
teachers or supply/relief teachers.
Eacott (2013) discusses leadership as a vacuous concept, with links to behaviours,
interventions, attributes and various factors inside schools. The value and influence
of school leadership is often quantified against students’ academic results, students’
and teachers’ attendance rates and teacher-turnover rates.
Leadership can be seen as a social undertaking that involves innovation, future
focus and relational networks embodied in “discourses of school effectiveness and
school improvement” (Crossley, 2002; Eacott, 2013, p. 180).
The social aspect of a field, in this case the leadership field, is deeply vested
in sequences of collaboration and communication between individuals (Bourdieu,
1984).Significantly, Eacott (2013, p. 18) notes that upon entering the “black box
that is the school”, it is clear that autonomy lies not with individuals but within the
structure of the school.
Ingersoll (2001a, p. 42) says the concept of out-of-field refers to “Highly qualified
teachers who become highly unqualified when assigned to teach subjects for which
they have little training or education”.
I define the concept of out-of-field teaching as: “Teachers teaching in subject or year
levels outside their field of qualification or expertise”. My rationale and motivation
for this adjusted definition is that teachers develop expertise in certain subjects after
three to five years in the same field; they might not be officially qualified in it, but
have developed significant expertise that make them competent and effective teachers.
Broadfoot (cited in Harley, Bertram, & Mattson, 1999, p. 118) refers to the hire-
for-fit concept as “The regard that is paid to the teaching context especially those
conceptions of professional responsibility which are deeply rooted in particular
national traditions as well as more general classroom realities”.
In this book, the concept of hire-for-fit will refer to the process through which
suitable teachers are recruited and recommended for certain vacant posts. Harley et
al. (1999, p. 35) defines the concept of teacher as someone who “…teaches, educates
or trains other persons or provides professional therapy at any school, technical
college or college of education or assists in rendering professional services or
performs education management services or educational auxiliary services provided
or in a department of education”.

A SURVEY TOOL: INFORMATION FOR SCHOOL-LEADERS

Leadership in school is second to teaching practices, as the most influential factors

are classroom students’ development and achievement (Leithwood et al., 2008).

11
CHAPTER 1

The evidence-based data discussed in this book, collected since 2002, draw from
three major research projects and will be offered as information from investigation (I)
1, 2, 3, while the various schools (S) and participants (P) will be identified through
coding or pseudonyms to protect the confidentiality and privacy of those sharing a
closer insight of lived experiences through their perceptions, views and real-life stories.
Through these different research projects, I have developed two devices for you
to use:
1. a leadership model, discussed in the final chapter (Du Plessis, 2010, 2016).
2. a survey tool (see Appendix 1) that allows school-leaders to ensure they have the
information needed to construct high-value formal or informal discussions with
teachers in complex teaching situations.
The survey tool is developed to help leaders to focus on the most needed areas and
stimulate engaged conversations. The first section and survey tool focus on teachers’
personal perceptions about their competencies, their capacity to manage their current
teaching situation of being out-of-field, and what they need from school-leaders to
support them in these complex teaching positions.

SUMMARY

School-leaders influence three aspects of their profession:

1. the professional culture of the school
2. the collaborative culture among teachers to solve problems
3. the professional learning tradition among teachers (Leithwood, 1992).
Vanover and Hodges (2015) emphasise that the improvement and transformation
of schools is possible if school-leaders are able to use and understand assessment
data, which includes teacher-performance data and students’ development and
achievement data.
Chapter 1 provides a contextual perspective of the out-of-field phenomenon, as
an introduction to the complex, multi-layered characteristics of the phenomenon.
Awareness of the intense influence this phenomenon has on various aspects of the
teaching and learning environment sets the scene for you to reflect critically on the effect
of the information from educational leaders and school-leaders that this book offers.
The framework helps to demonstrate the general perspective and background
of the out-of-field phenomenon. Focus is on the dilemma that the out-of-field
phenomenon poses for an effective teaching and learning environment, while it
provides an overview of aspects dealt with in the following chapters.
Bush (2003) claims that leadership is often defined as influence, values and vision
and, combined, it has the potential to develop schools. He also states that the nature
of school-leaders’ goal-setting processes varies according to the leadership model
they use. The following chapters give evidence of how complexities in schools sway
leadership, and vice versa.

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Knowledge is power.
– Francis Bacon