Publication details
Wandel von Deutungsmustern in Lehrerkollegien – Übergänge, Transitionen und das Problem der Generationen
| Title in English | Changing Mindsets among Teaching Staff – Social Change, Transitions, and the Issue of Generations |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | Can we refer to concepts like transition to describe how the collective mindset of teachers changed over time? Transition then would not refer to the biography of an individual but to the constitution of a social group. This kind of change might be explained by the concept of generations: People born at the same time make similar formative experiences, shaping their mindset in a specific way. When they join a so-cial group and replace older individuals, this may cause a significant change within the group. This kind of process might be called a transition. However, within a social group, an older generation usually is not collectively replaced by a younger. Replacement, in this context, rather is a continuous process and cannot be associated with distinct events that will occur with a predictable rhythm. Transition and simi-lar concepts, however, typically describe processes with a beginning and an end, and are associated with distinct events. Still, the concept of transitions might be applicable in the specific case of teaching staff and changes in its collective mindset. Although we might expect that the continuous replacement of older individuals by younger is what applies here, Nath et al. demonstrated that we often find a cyclic pattern with hiring and replacing teaching staff: At several points in history a great number of young teachers was hired within a short time span. Afterwards, vacant positions were rare, and little replacement took place until this group retired. |
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