Time and Control in Teachers’ Work - The Erosion of Rhythms

This paper investigates how temporalities and rhythms in teaching are related to mental strain and wellbeing. The temporality of teachers’ work is currently changing in many countries due to public sector cutbacks and new ways of teaching. This article will examine psychosocial strain related to changes in the temporal order of work among teachers in Denmark. A 2014 change in Danish legislation forced teachers to conduct all their work at their school. This caused the largest labor marked conflict seen in Denmark for many years, and the largest ever seen in the public sector. Before this change in legislation, teachers were free to organize all their time outside the scheduled teaching, such as the time and place for preparation, meetings, contact with parents and other professionals in the school system. Preparation norms, which previously have been negotiated, was abolished and put under managerial control in terms of number of hours allocated to tasks. This fundamentally different organization of time is examined using qualitative data. The chapter draws on concepts from both psychosocial working environment research and the sociology of time. The aim is to study the changes in the rhythmic relationship between different types of tasks, division of labor, rhythms of time for socializing, communication practices, coordination, synchronization, etc.