Teachers' Lived Experiences of Work Intensification in a New Jersey High School

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore high school teachers’ lived experiences with work intensification in northern New Jersey. The theory that guided this study was Apple’s teacher work intensification thesis as it helps to explain the organizational conditions that lead to increases in teacher workloads, as well as teachers’ responses to work intensification. The central research question for this study involved exploring the lived experiences of 10 public high school teachers in New Jersey managing perceived feelings of time poverty due to work intensification. Sub-questions were used to explore teachers’ value of time during their workday, as well as how they mediated between job demands and their perceptions of their work. Data was collected through interviews, reflective journals, and a qualitative survey. Member-checking was done to verify data transcription accuracy. Data was thematically analyzed, and open coding was used to identify common words or phrases used by the participants. The data was then categorized, and themes were generated to make meaning of the data in relation to research questions. Further analysis included memoing, in vivo coding, and horizontalization. Results of the data analysis led to the identification of four themes: organizational pressures, unsustainable working habits, chronic stressors, and workplace relationships’ influence on work quality. The findings in this study support prior research which describes how changes in the amount and complexity of teachers’ work can exacerbate their feelings of time poverty and lead to negative job outcomes.