Influence of tenure policies on job satisfaction, motivations, and experiences of language teachers in Macau’s higher education
Vol 8, Issue 10, 2024
VIEWS - 51 (Abstract) 35 (PDF)
Abstract
Despite being controversial, teacher tenure policies are understudied, particularly in higher education contexts outside the Western world. Using semi-structured interviews with 15 university faculty members, this study explored how tenure systems influence the teaching practices, motivations, and job satisfaction of language teachers in Macau's universities. It was revealed that Macau implemented competitive, “up or out” tenure policies that were based on research output. Faculty were anxious as vague expectations heightened research priorities over teaching quality and student support. Requirements also strained collegial relationships as faculty goals focused on promotion. Veteran professors demonstrated resilience, maintaining intrinsic motivation despite policies. They advocated improving policies by promoting transparency, balancing workloads, accommodating disciplines, and communicating effectively. Using empirical data, this study identifies key policy implications for supporting teacher motivation while balancing inequality constraints. It provides empirical insight into optimizing tenure for teacher engagement and fulfillment.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Aaronson, D., Barrow, L., & Sander, W. (2007). Teachers and Student Achievement in the Chicago Public High Schools. Journal of Labor Economics, 25(1), 95–135. https://doi.org/10.1086/508733
Baker, V. L., Neisler, G., Pifer, M. J. (2023). Success After Tenure. Taylor & Francis.
Barrett, N., Strunk, K. O., & Lincove, J. (2021). When tenure ends: the short-run effects of the elimination of Louisiana’s teacher employment protections on teacher exit and retirement. Education Economics, 29(6), 559–579. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2021.1921111
Bellibaş, M. Ş., & Gümüş, S. (2019). A systematic review of educational leadership and management research in Turkey. Journal of Educational Administration, 57(6), 731–747. https://doi.org/10.1108/jea-01-2019-0004
Brown, R. S., & Kurland, J. E. (1990). Academic Tenure and Academic Freedom. Law and Contemporary Problems, 53(3), 325. https://doi.org/10.2307/1191800
Chetty, R., Friedman, J. N., & Rockoff, J. E. (2014). Measuring the Impacts of Teachers I: Evaluating Bias in Teacher Value-Added Estimates. American Economic Review, 104(9), 2593–2632. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.9.2593
Chudgar, A., Chandra, M., & Razzaque, A. (2014). Alternative forms of teacher hiring in developing countries and its implications: A review of literature. Teaching and Teacher Education, 37, 150–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.10.009
Coleman, J., Schroth, S. T., Molinaro, L., et al. (2006). Tenure: An Important Due Process Right or a Hindrance to Change in the Schools? Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 18(3), 219–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-006-9020-5
Cooper, M. R. (2015). Alaska and Vergara v. California: Evaluating the Constitutionality of Teacher Tenure in Alaska. Alaska Law Review, 32(2), 395–420.
Darouichi, A., Kunisch, S., Menz, M., et al. (2021). CEO tenure: An integrative review and pathways for future research. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 29(6), 661–683. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/corg.12396
Day, R. E., Sahota, P., & Christian, M. S. (2019). Effective implementation of primary school-based healthy lifestyle programmes: a qualitative study of views of school staff. BMC Public Health, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7550-2
Dinerstein, M., & Opper, I. (2022). Screening with Multitasking: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Teacher Tenure Reform. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4177557
Drake, A., Struve, L., Meghani, S. A., et al. (2019). Invisible Labor, Visible Change: Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Agency in a Research University. The Review of Higher Education, 42(4), 1635–1664. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0078
Duerden, M. D., & Witt, P. A. (2010). The impact of direct and indirect experiences on the development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(4), 379–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.03.007
Ewange, M. M. (2018). Students Access to Quality Science Teachers in Secondary Schools in the South West Region of Cameroon: An Appraisal from the Perspective of Students Academic Achievement. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 1356–1365. https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd18862
Feng, L., & Sass, T. R. (2017). Teacher Quality and Teacher Mobility. Education Finance and Policy, 12(3), 396–418. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00214
Flores, M. A. (2019). Surviving, being resilient and resisting: teachers’ experiences in adverse times. Cambridge Journal of Education, 50(2), 219–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764x.2019.1664399
Gao, L. X., & Zhang, L. J. (2020). Teacher Learning in Difficult Times: Examining Foreign Language Teachers’ Cognitions About Online Teaching to Tide Over COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.549653
Goldhaber, D., & Hansen, M. (2012). Is it Just a Bad Class? Assessing the Long‐term Stability of Estimated Teacher Performance. Economica, 80(319), 589–612. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12002
Goldhaber, D., & Theobald, R. (2021). Teacher Attrition and Mobility Over Time. Educational Researcher, 51(3), 235–237. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x211060840
Goldhaber, D., & Theobald, R. (2022). Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the Pandemic. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 45(4), 682–687. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221139285
Goldhaber, D., & Walch, J. (2016). Teacher tenure. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(6), 8–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721716636864
Grissom, J. A., & Bartanen, B. (2018). Strategic Retention: Principal Effectiveness and Teacher Turnover in Multiple-Measure Teacher Evaluation Systems. American Educational Research Journal, 56(2), 514–555. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218797931
Han, E. S. (2020). The Myth of Unions’ Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District–Teacher Matched Data on Teacher Turnover. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 59(2), 316–352. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12256
Jacobs, S. (2016). Improve tenure with better measures of teacher effectiveness. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(6), 33–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721716636870
Jiang, L., Zhang, L. J., & May, S. (2016). Implementing English-medium instruction (EMI) in China: teachers’ practices and perceptions, and students’ learning motivation and needs. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(2), 107–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1231166
Kahlenberg, R. D. (2016). Teacher tenure has a long history and, hopefully, a future. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(6), 16–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721716636866
Katsigianni, E. A., & Ifanti, A. A. (2016). Tenured and non-tenured school principals in Greece: a historical approach. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 48(3), 225–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2016.1173023
Kim, D., Song, Q., Liu, J., et al. (2017). Building world class universities in China: exploring faculty’s perceptions, interpretations of and struggles with global forces in higher education. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 48(1), 92–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1292846
Kosnik, C., Menna, L., & Dharamshi, P. (2020). Displaced academics: intended and unintended consequences of the changing landscape of teacher education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 45(1), 127–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1793947
Kubanyiova, M. (2018). Language teacher education in the age of ambiguity: Educating responsive meaning makers in the world. Language Teaching Research, 24(1), 49–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818777533
Kubanyiova, M. (2020). Language teacher education in the age of ambiguity: Educating responsive meaning makers in the world. Language Teaching Research, 24(1), 49-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818777533
Kubanyiova, M., & Crookes, G. (2016). Re‐Envisioning the Roles, Tasks, and Contributions of Language Teachers in the Multilingual Era of Language Education Research and Practice. The Modern Language Journal, 100(S1), 117–132. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12304
Leal Filho, W., Lange Salvia, A., Abubakar, I. R., et al. (2022). Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Routines of Higher Education Institutions: A Global Perspective. Sustainability, 14(21), 14105. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114105
Lester, J. (2013). Workplace Bullying: Does Tenure Change Anything? The Example of a Midwestern Research University. 37-54. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203122938-6
Li, Y., & Zhang, L. J. (2022). Influence of Mentorship and the Working Environment on English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ Research Productivity: The Mediation Role of Research Motivation and Self-Efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.906932
Loeb, S., Miller, L. C., & Wyckoff, J. (2015). Performance Screens for School Improvement. Educational Researcher, 44(4), 199–212. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x15584773
Madikizela-Madiya, N. (2022). Transforming higher education spaces through ethical research publication: a critique of the publish or perish aphorism. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(1), 186–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2022.2048634
Marotta, L. (2019). Teachers’ Contractual Ties and Student Achievement: The Effect of Temporary and Multiple-School Teachers in Brazil. Comparative Education Review, 63(3), 356–376. https://doi.org/10.1086/703981
McKeown, S., Haji, R., & Ferguson, N. (2016). Understanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory. In: Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer International Publishing.
McNeal, L. (2012). Total Recall: The Rose and Fall of Teacher Tenure. Hofstra Lab. & Emp. LJ, 30, 489–510.
Meese, J. A. (2015). Expectations of the Exemplar: An Exploration of the Burdens on Public School Teachers in the Absence of Tenure. City University of New York Law Review, 19(1), 131.
Mu, F., & Hatch, J. (2020). Becoming a Teacher Scholar: The Perils and Promise of Meeting the Promotion and Tenure Requirements in a Business School. Journal of Management Education, 45(2), 293–318. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562920939612
Nir, A. E., & Ifanti, A. A. (2016). To tenure or not to tenure? Some implications for school leaders’ proactive behavior from a comparative perspective. International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, 18(4), 206–218. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijced-05-2016-0009
Perry, J. L., & Mee, E. D. (2022). The evolution of organizational forms for public service education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 28(1), 3–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2021.2025330
Podolsky, A., Kini, T., Darling-Hammond, L., et al. (2019). Strategies for attracting and retaining educators: What does the evidence say? Education Policy Analysis Archives, 27, 38. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.27.3722
Rahmati, T., & Sadeghi, K. (2021). English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ Motivation: An Activity Theory Perspective. The Qualitative Report. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4472
Raithel, K., van Knippenberg, D., & Stam, D. (2021). Team Leadership and Team Cultural Diversity: The Moderating Effects of Leader Cultural Background and Leader Team Tenure. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 28(3), 261–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/15480518211010763
Ren, X., & Zhou, F. (2023). College EFL teachers’ demotivation to conduct research: A dynamic and ecological view. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1071502
Rodriguez, L. A. (2020). Understanding Tenure Reform: An Examination of Sense-Making Among School Administrators and Teachers. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 122(11), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812012201112
Sadeghi, K., & Ashegh Navaie, L. (2021). Iranian EFL teachers’ experiences with online professional development: Perceptions and preferences. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 9(3), 9-23. https://doi.org/10.30466/ijltr.2021.121073
Sadeghi, K., & Pourbahram, R. (2023). Social Justice in Technology-Mediated Second Language Education: A Systematic Review. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.30466/ijltr.2023.121407
Sato, M., Fernández Castillo, F., & Oyanedel, J. C. (2022). Teacher Motivation and Burnout of English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teachers: Do Demotivators Really Demotivate Them? Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.891452
Si, J. (2022). No other choices but involution: understanding Chinese young academics in the tenure track system. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 45(1), 53–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080x.2022.2115332
Song, B., & Kim, T. Y. (2016). Teacher (de) motivation from an Activity Theory perspective: Cases of two experienced EFL teachers in South Korea. System, 57, 134–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.02.006
Wang, Y. (2021). The Impact of Tenure Track Personnel System on Higher Education in China. In: Proceedings of the 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021).
Xu, W., & Sukjairungwattana, P. (2022). The Study of Macau’s Higher Education 1999–2019. Frontiers in Education, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.898238
Xue, L. (2021). Educational Involution During the Social Transition Period. In: Proceedings of the 2021 4th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2021).
Yang, X., Cai, X. L., & Li, T. S. (2023). Does the tenure track influence academic research? An empirical study of faculty members in China. Studies in Higher Education, 49(3), 476–492. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2238767
Yuan, R., & Zhang, L. J. (2017). Exploring student teachers’ motivation change in initial teacher education: A Chinese perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 61, 142–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.10.010
Židonis, Ž., & Sutkuvienė, J. (2019). Teacher’s emotional reactions to radical introduction of new tenure-based pay system in Lithuania. Public Policy and Administration. https://doi.org/10.13165/vpa-19-18-2-01
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i10.7558
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2024 Wei Xu, Yuying Wang
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.