Whole School Matters draft manuscript
Community Matters draft manuscript
MindMatters Resource Kit
MindMatters Posters
School Audits and Surveys
CommunityMatters DVD
Community Partnership DVD
Staff Matters
About Staff Matters
Getting Started
The Thriving Self
The Interpersonal
Useful Information
Journals
Activities
Links
Case Studies
The Professional
The Organisational
School in the Community
Discussion List
Professional Development
Index of Programs and Resources
Links
e-news

Conflict Among Community

Achinstein, B. (2002). 'Conflict among community: The micropolitics of teacher collaboration.' Teachers College Record, 104(3), 421-455. http://www.tcrecord.org

In this paper, and contrary to what might be expected from everyday literature and discussion, Achinstein (2002) describes conflict among professional (in this case, teacher) communities as a potential positive. She argues that communities that can productively engage in conflict, rather than try to avoid or repress it.

Achinstein bases her analysis upon in-depth case studies in two schools (one over a four-year period, one over a one-year period). She defines a teacher professional community as:

A group of people across a school who are engaged in common work; share to a certain degree a set of values, norms and orientations towards teaching, students and schooling; and operate collaboratively with structures that foster interdependence. (p. 422)

However, there are dilemmas, tensions and challenges in building teacher communities. Achinstein argues that active engagement in conflict - a dialogue of differences - is a normal and essential part of a functioning teacher community. 'Conflict can create the context for learning and the ongoing renewal of communities' (p. 422).

Achinstein writes that traditional theories of organisational life often overlook the everyday experiences of people who work in organisations. She instead takes a micropolitical approach, highlighting individual differences, goal diversity, conflict, the use of informal power, and the negotiated and interpretive nature of organisations. As teachers increase their interactions with, and expectations of, each other, they generate 'heat as well as light' (Little, 1990, cited in Achinstein, 2003, p. 423).

Achinstein identifies a continuum of conflict 'stances', ranging from an avoidant stance (which identifies a community's ability to rapidly absorb, exclude or transfer conflicts and thus maintain a unified community and stable school environment) to an embracing stance (which involves a community acknowledging and critically reflecting upon their differences with the goal of fundamental change).

It is time to reframe notions of conflict amid community. To engage in conflict and question one's beliefs with the possibility of deep change is fundamentally a positive and hopeful act rather than a problematic one within the community. If conflict processes are a natural, inevitable, and at times fruitful part of teacher professional communities, then conflict talk, deliberation about ideology, border negotiations, dissent and disagreement over practices can no longer be relegated to the domain of unprofessional or dysfunctional. (p. 450)

Achinstein's analysis has several practical implications.

  • Researchers should no longer ignore or pathologise micropolitical processes but should explore them.
  • Policy-makers should reconsider naïve initiatives that put teachers in groups and expect them to learn and grow, disregarding the complexity of the collaborative process and the time needed to navigate differences.
  • Practitioners who understand the micropolitics of collaboration may be less alarmed when conflicts do arise and learning to navigate in more expert ways, and more explicitly discuss the kinds of communities they want to maintain (p. 450).