A Phenomenological Study on the Beginning Teachers’ Perceptionof Incivility from Parents and Students

Purpose: This study attempted to explore the beginning teachers’ experiences of incivility from parents and students and to find out the essential meaning of the experience. Method: Eight beginning teachers with less than five years of experience working in schools who experienced incivility were interviewed in-depth and the collected data were analyzed by the Giorgi’s method of phenomenological research. Results: Six main themes and 27 sub-themes were found. The six main themes are as followed: ‘incivility frequently experienced from parents and students’, ‘myself frequently damaged’, ‘identity as a teacher seriously damaged’, ‘trying to overcome incivility experiences’, ‘things helping overcome incivility’, ‘new things learned from overcoming incivility.’ Conclusion: The study suggested common and core elements of beginning teachers’ experiences of incivility experiences and proposed a generic structure of the relationships among the elements.