The (r)evolution of a miserable teacher - an autoethnography

Abstract

When our family relocated from South Africa to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2015, I was not prepared for the inception of my personal evolution. Stepping into a classroom as a mathematics teacher, after nearly a decade of being a self-sustainable entrepreneur, forced me to evaluate my motives for becoming a teacher, and shifted my focus to progress and the development of my own pedagogy. Just as I was finding my feet in the British international schooling system in the UAE, the coronavirus disease of 2019 (Covid-19) resulted in a global pandemic and forced all schools to close and roll out distance learning education systems. In turn, this led to a revolution in the teaching profession as I knew it. Both of these contexts paved the way of the title of the thesis: The (r) evolution of a miserable teacher – an autoethnography Autoethnography challenges the canonical manner in which research is conducted, allowing the researcher to use her personal experience (auto) to understand the cultural experience (ethno) better and describe (graphy) the results in narrative form. This might be an oversimplified definition of a complex journey of self-discovery and contextual understanding, but holistically even a definition can evolve. The use of a postmodern perspective throughout the thesis ensured that the data were not limited to a singular paradigm but were rather a culmination of what was relevant at the time of the research. Through reflective and reflexive data collection and construction techniques, a progressive and innovative data graph was developed to visually enhance the (r)evolution of the data description, analysis and evaluation. Conceptual metaphor theory allowed Les Misérables to be the framework and foundation for the data to be constructed. This study contributes to the teachers' collective by combining traditional paradigms in a new, brave, evolutionary way. A personal evolution through resilience and agility became evident through reflective and reflexive data and literature. Evolution is never-ending, but by becoming aware of the effects of personal growth, the process is elevated to a sustainable focus in everyday life. The evolution did not falter when Covid- 19 forced the education sphere to momentarily pause at a possible revolutionary turning point. Distance education allowed politicians, school developers and owners, curriculum writers, principals, school boards and managers, teachers and parents to re-evaluate methodologies, curriculum content and inclusion policies, as well as the everyday implementation of policies and procedures. Literature proves that a revolution was necessary and Covid-19 made this possible by funnelling our expectations into experience. The revolution is far from complete but, similar to evolution, awareness leads to improved practice.