Abstract
This study explores out-of-field teaching in terms of its causes, consequences, accompanying challenges and how it is currently managed and draws implications for the school leadership in terms of how to manage this phenomenon better. The aim arose from concern about the negative consequences of out-of-field teaching and inadequate awareness of this phenomenon in South Africa. Through Grossman's (1990) model of teacher knowledge as the theoretical framework, this study identifies the knowledge gap of the typical out-of-field teacher.
For the empirical study, a constructivism/interpretivism paradigm was used with a qualitative research approach. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews with nine participants from three schools in a small town in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Two teachers and one head of department from each school were interviewed.
The study largely confirms the causes, negative consequences, experienced challenges and needs of out-of-field teaching that have been pointed out by the literature. However, the findings point to problematic understanding and perspectives that should be investigated further. This includes that participants tended to focus on out-of-field teachers rather than out-of-field teaching and failed to distinguish between the two. Some also felt that out-of-field teaching for certain subjects or grades was more acceptable than for others. HoDs did not necessarily have a deeper knowledge about the subjects than the teachers. All participants also only pointed to PCK knowledge from Grossman’s (1990) model for teacher knowledge, while none specifically considered any use of knowledge of context. While the majority took some kind of initiative to upgrade their subject knowledge, few participated in professional learning communities.
The study reveals inadequate support for out-of-field teachers and the importance of out-of-field teachers’ attitudes in facilitating their content delivery. Although lifelong learning is often involked to describe an expectation for contemporary learners, teachers’ own attitude towards the out-of-field subject is shown to be important aspect of how they approach this misaligned assignment and ultimately whether they are able to deliver effective teaching.