Being a Teacher in a Disadvantaged Area

This chapter draws on a conversation between a group of teachers discussing the traits of a successful teacher of deprived students, and an extended vignette by Greg, who reflects on his day-to-day life teaching in a very disadvantaged setting and some of its challenges and pleasures. The academic responses focus on the emotional aspects of teachers’ work. Annette Braun highlights the ‘emotional labour’ that teachers undertake, suggesting that these are learned practices not natural dispositions. The question should perhaps be not what kind of person it takes to teach successfully in deprived areas, but what kind of profession. Tamara Bibby brings a psychoanalytic lens, noticing Greg’s desire for ‘splitting’ (teacher vs. friend, pastoral vs. academic). She suggests instead the need for more explicit recognition of the range of personal and professional relationships in which teachers and their students engage as a core part of professional practice.