"A Teacher's Not a Teacher Anymore": Occasional Teaching and Collaborative Inquiry in Precarious Times

Abstract

This presentation shares findings from a collaborative inquiry involving six occasional teachers, myself included, who came together over five months to explore our experiences navigating a teacher labour market ruled by teacher surplus, job shortages, and increasing employment precarity. Together we took an inquiry stance on occasional teaching (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) and explored the consequences of precarious teacher employment for teaching, learning, working, and living. Findings illustrate the myriad ways precariousness shapes not only our career trajectories but also our everyday experiences of practice, our professional identities as educators, and our engagement in political action and institutional change efforts.