When a Student Causes a Teacher's Trauma: An Autoethnographic Account

Authors

  • Lynle Cacho

Keywords:

autoethnography, personal narratives, teacher's plight, teacher-protection policy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The Department of Education recently reported that three out of ten children in Grades 1-3 experience physical violence committed by their teachers. for such scenarios, child protection measures have been implemented. Teacher protection measures however seems to not have been considered. To introduce a fresh alternative research method and to delineate the personal narratives of a teacher in these challenging times, an autoethnographic study was used.

METHODS

The researcher adopted the work of Meekums (2008) in describing teachers' plight. It is a narrative approach in telling a story which includes poetry and journal. Teachers' plight narrated the passion of a teacher to teach the lesson until untoward incidents happen. A wounded teacher described how she felt during an accident and how she thought about it. An account of the trauma and accompanying agony from the terrible experience is also made. This also considers how her son was affected due to the painful circumstances that happened to his mother. The analysis of the data in autoethnography begins with an emotional journey while recalling the events of the past. The recall of this emotional data is done by writing down the events. Unlike other qualitative methods, autoethnography focuses less on finding themes but more on emotional details.

RESULTS

The results of the study revealed three voices, namely: wounded teacher, traumatized person, and upset mother. Since the process of writing has demanded self-reflection, it becomes therapeutic to cure the wound within the teacher. in doing so, it has contributed to fix the shattered pieces of the teacher and lead her to have an optimistic disposition after all these unwanted circumstances, which other teachers could relate with or learn from such experiences.

DISCUSSIONS

This research approach draws upon the researcher's own experience, specifically in relation to the school culture of which she is a member. The result of the study may serve as one of the critical voices to strengthen more the teacher-protection policy in the district level and may provide information and insights relating to improving in-service training for teachers on child behavior and psychology, classroom management techniques, positive disciplines, and other related fields. It is a highly personalized account that draws upon the experiences of the teacher-researcher for the purpose of extending sociological understanding and sharing teacher's reflective voices.

Published

2019-01-18