UC Berkeley

For the last twenty years, the study of callings in different work domains has unfolded at an increasing pace. Although the concept of calling pervades the world of teachers and education, such pervasiveness has not translated into critical inquiry in the research field of teachers and teaching. There is some consensus on understanding a calling as something internal and connected to work that is ethically commendable. Although scantly studied, callings are considered an integral part of who a teacher is. But what about those who experience the calling in ways different than what relevant authors like Palmer (1998) or Hansen (1995) describes? What about those who hear a call coming not from within but from without—from outside of themselves? What about teachers who describe their calling with a very spiritual tone or even more—those who are certain their calling comes from God?

This study uncovers the meanings that secondary teachers attach to their work, as well as explores the circumstances in which those meanings are articulated and communicated as a calling to teach. I draw on theoretical insights coming from organizational behavior and the sociology of religion. I use cases of teachers who worked or work in Catholic high schools run by the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order. The Jesuits have been running high schools for more than 450 years worldwide. Because of their tradition in education and the familiarity / prevalence of the language of calling within the Jesuit high school context, these organizations provide a good environment within which to explore the question of the calling to teach. The cases I observe in this dissertation are those of priest and lay teachers who worked in the United States, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru across three time periods: before 1965, between 1965-1990, and between 1990-2016. In total there are 105 in-depth interviews.

The findings reveal that the participating teachers create meaning out of their work using the building blocks of the self, others, the work context, and the spiritual life. Although those building blocks are not entirely illustrative of how the phenomenon of calling displays itself in the life of teachers, they offer a partial way to look into the phenomenon of calling. Teachers with a calling certainly participate in the different sources of meaning, but as this study shows, teachers who have experienced a calling go far beyond these characteristics. In fact, the exercise itself of defining the calling was not an easy task.

Callings as experienced by the teachers in this study do not align either, in a strict way, with the types of callings established by the literature on callings (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009). To simply attach to the narratives of teachers the labels of classical, modern, or neoclassical callings was a fruitless exercise. For that reason, the working definition of calling with which I operate in the study, which emphasized a sense of destiny, a sense of mission, enjoyment in the teaching work, longevity, and perseverance, did not completely satisfy the complexity of the phenomenon of calling in the lives of the teachers studied. A much more compelling vision of callings comes from the discussion of archetypes of callings. I introduce five archetypes of callings: the listeners, the martyrs, the embedders, the builders, and the chosen ones. Each of them portrays a particular aspect of the experience of a calling to teach. The narratives of these five teachers, augmented by the 76 teachers interviewed who group themselves within these focal narratives, illuminate the power of calling and also suggest a rethinking of the role of spirituality in teachers’ work.

Generally speaking, teachers from different generations and regions, despite professional status, portray a consistency that makes these variables adjectives, not substantives. As mentioned, these variables make a difference with respect to certain meanings and calling archetypes, but the general rule, based on the evidence on this study, seems to be that both meanings and callings are evenly present across the variables. It is likely that in addition to the long-time commitment of teachers interviewed, their adherence to the less self-centered attractors to teaching studied by Lortie (1975) and the existence of the solid high school institution—despite the dramatic changes experienced—can make these different types of teachers more similar than what one might expect.

A calling is experienced and communicated in a fairly unique way, and there is no meaning, typology, or archetype that can capture it entirely. The calling develops over time; it changes and surprises the person who receives it. The calling is also a significant force that strengthens the person to go totally out of themselves to serve, love, and make others the center of their lives and efforts.

The religious side of the experience is real, especially for those teaching for many years in Jesuit high schools. The schools, despite experiencing drastic changes from 1960 onwards, have kept a sense of mission around their work as private providers of education. This strategy has made these high schools into places where teachers have received support to nurture a calling that may have originated in either religious or secular contexts. The schools have proven to be key in teacher’ lives, both for those who have always been in Jesuit organizations and for those who have transferred to one. The institutions seem to have been central in the teachers’ process of discerning and confirming their call to teach.

Being called, for those who experience it, is not an episodic event in the life of teachers. It is a central experience to which they have to return often. It is a reminder not only of why they do what they do, but of who they are.