Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Warner School of Education, 2018.
Background: To ensure a proper educational status of its work force, a country needs to periodically reform its education system to correspond to the changing demands of the global market. The mobilization of teacher social capital, i.e., the activation of teachers’ social ties to access resources, plays an essential role in the successful spread of an education reform. But as globalized markets experience economic turbulences, it is challenging to sustain education reform in countries under severe crisis. Though teacher social capital might play a counter-balancing role in such situations, the lack of published knowledge on the effects of economic shocks on teacher social capital and its mobilization makes it impossible to predict what policies could protect and ideally increase teacher social capital in the midst of a severe economic shock.
Objectives: To examine the impact of the financial and legislative dimensions of the ongoing economic crisis in Greece on teacher social capital during a simultaneous reform of the public education system.
Design and methods: The present study employed a qualitative, exploratory multiple case design. Network analysis constructs were operationalized in a qualitative manner to best capture social capital and analyze possible changes in it as perceived by the individuals.
Results: Both the quantity and quality of the participants’ social capital were overall negatively affected by both the economic and legislative dimension of the economic crisis. Most notably, weak and peripheral ties became weaker; formation of new social ties and strengthening of existing ties were hindered due to reduced face-to-face interaction and increased mistrust.
Conclusion: Governments faced with economic crisis should adopt policies that acknowledge and preserve informal teacher social capital, increasing their chances to sustain the spread of education reform and to safeguard pre-crisis achievement.
