תהליכי שינוי בהוראה ובאימהות כמעצבים את התפקידים החברתיים של מורות שהן אימהות

The social roles of teachers and mothers are shaped by processes of change in the teaching profession and in motherhood. In recent decades, the chief changes in the teaching profession have been reforms to improve teachers’ employment conditions; integrating technology into teaching and learning; and enhancing parents’ involvement in their children’s education. At the same time, the maternal role has also undergone changes, connected to the ideal of motherhood and the in creasing importance ascribed to the values of equality. The aim of the current study was to examine the perceptions of mothers-teachers about changes in the teaching profession and motherhood as shaping the social roles of teaching and motherhood, and their implications for the work-family conflict. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 30 teachers who are mothers of children up to age 13, employed in three main streams in formal education: secular Jewish,religious Jewish, and Arab. Thematic analysis showed that the characteristics of the profession are multi-channel communication with students and parents; a non-supportive work environment; and free time as a public resource. The characteristics of the teacher’s role were classified into a professional dimension and a care-giving dimension. The characteristics of the maternal role were classified as an out-of-home orientation, such as career development, and an in-home orientation, such as home care. In addition, we found a prevalent presence of work-family conflict in the professional and personal lives of teachers-mothers. The study indicates the need to re-examine the characteristics of the teaching profession and its reforms from wider social and gender perspectives. This need has become crucial during the current Covid-19 crisis, which has caused a more extreme blurring of boundaries between roles, creating in turn the possibility of a prevalent presence of conflict in the lives of teachers who are mothers.