DEFENSIBLE SPACES: IDEOLOGIES OF PROFESSIONALISM AND TEACHERS’ WORK IN THE ROMANIAN PRIVATE TUTORING SYSTEM by Simona M. Popa B.A., Licentiate, University of Bucharest, 1995 M.A., University of Bucharest, 1997 MEd, University of Pittsburgh, 2001 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh kath 2007 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION This dissertation was presented by Simona Popa It was defended on February 1st, 2007 and approved by William Bickel, Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies; Senior Researcher, LRDC Silvia Borzutzky, Professor, Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University Mark Ginsburg, Education Quality Specialist, Academy for Educational Development John Weidman, Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies Dissertation Advisor: Clementina Acedo, Assistant Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies ii Copyright © by Simona Popa 2007 iii DEFENSIBLE SPACES: IDEOLOGIES OF PROFESSIONALISM AND TEACHERS’ WORK IN THE ROMANIAN PRIVATE TUTORING SYSTEM Simona M. Popa, PhD This study seeks to analyze the nature and extent of as well as the reasons for the private tutoring activity practiced by fifty-one Romanian secondary education teachers. The findings of my research draw to the conclusion that, although undeniably present, material self-interest does not prevail in their work as private tutors. Instead, their chief goal has been consistently to gain more professional and social status – a goal challenged by successive regimes of contrasting political hues. While identifying the ways in which their work in schools has been “proletarianized” and in which the economic and the political have pervaded their teaching activities, they understand their private tutoring work as a critical solution in a critical period of transition in the Romanian society. This practice has grown into a very well organized, hierarchical system, which aims to recuperate an ideal type of relation teacher-student and to offer them authority, autonomy, prestige and economic rewards – exactly the elements that are at the heart of their ideals of “professionalism”. Besides being a subtle answer to the education policy changes, private tutoring is a momentous attempt at re-legitimating their profession and restoring their professional and social images. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..........................................................................................................XI I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW............................................................................... 1 A. ARGUMENT OF MY RESEARCH .......................................................................... 1 B. STRUCTURE OF MY THESIS ................................................................................. 4 II. SETTING THE STAGE FOR MY RESEARCH.............................................................. 6 A. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC.......................................................... 6 B. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS................................................ 8 C. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................... 11 D. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ....................................................................................... 12 E. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................ 13 III. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.................................................................................... 16 A. TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM .......................................................................... 16 1. Conceptions of Professionalism........................................................................ 16 2. Conceptions of (De)Professionalization ........................................................... 19 3. Educators as Workers and Their Relation with the State ............................. 26 4. Conclusions......................................................................................................... 33 a. The Politics of Teacher Professionalism.......................................................... 33 b. Intellectual/ Professional: Notes about the Romanian Teachers’ Identity... 36 v B. PRIVATE TUTORING: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE........................... 41 1. Defining Private Tutoring................................................................................. 41 2. Social and Economic Implications of Private Tutoring ................................. 60 3. Governments’ Responses and Possible Solutions ........................................... 63 4. Conclusions......................................................................................................... 68 IV. METHODOLOGY............................................................................................................. 70 A. ETHICAL SENSITIVITY ........................................................................................ 70 B. RESEARCH STRATEGY ........................................................................................ 71 C. RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................ 74 D. INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE .................................................................... 77 1. Conducting Interviews ...................................................................................... 77 2. Participant Observation.................................................................................... 79 3. Using Secondary Data ....................................................................................... 81 4. Using Audio and Visual Material..................................................................... 81 E. VALIDITY AND FEASIBILITY OF THE STUDY............................................... 82 F. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................ 84 V. SOCIO-ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT 85 A. SOCIO-ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT .................. 85 B. EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT................................................................................... 96 C. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 113 VI. LEGACIES AND (DIS)CONTINUITIES OF THE PAST........................................... 116 vi A. TEACHERS’ WORK AS PRIVATE TUTORS BEFORE CEAUŞESCU’S REGIME ........................................................................................................................... 116 B. MEMORY AT WORK: PRIVATE TUTORING DURING CEAUŞESCU’S REGIME ........................................................................................................................... 121 C. TEACHERS’ WORK AS PRIVATE TUTORS AFTER 1989 ............................ 128 D. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 129 VII. THE “MATERIALITY” OF THE ROMANIAN TEACHERS’ WORK AS PRIVATE TUTORS .................................................................................................................................... 135 A. TEACHERS’ REASONS FOR TUTORING ........................................................ 135 1. Financial ........................................................................................................... 135 a. Teacher Unions and Strikes: Less than Meets the Eye? .............................. 139 b. The Taint of Corruption ................................................................................. 141 c. The Grey Economy.......................................................................................... 148 d. Exchange of Favors.......................................................................................... 149 2. Professional and Social Status ........................................................................ 152 B. A GLIMPSE AT THE TORTURE CHAMBER................................................... 161 C. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 164 VIII. SOCIO-SPATIAL VARIATIONS AND HIERARCHIES OF THE ROMANIAN TEACHERS’ PRIVATE TUTORING WORK ..................................................................... 168 A. GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS OF PRIVATE TUTORING ....................... 168 1. Countryside vs. “The City”............................................................................. 168 2. Small Cities vs. Big Cities................................................................................ 170 3. Professors vs. Teachers ................................................................................... 171 vii B. TO TUTOR OR NOT TO TUTOR........................................................................ 172 C. SUBJECT TEACHING VARIATIONS OF THE PRIVATE TUTORING....... 176 D. TEACHERS’ EMPLOYMENT STATUS AND AGE VARIATIONS IN THE PRIVATE TUTORING ................................................................................................... 180 E. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 182 IX. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF MY RESEARCH FOR POLICY MAKING ................................................................................................................................... 186 A.