Understanding the out-of-field teaching experience

Out-of-field teaching describes the practise of teachers engaged in teaching subjects or year levels outside their fields of qualification or areas of expertise. The purpose of addressing the need for an in-depth understanding of out-of-field teaching practices is underlined by the research question, how fundamental, for out-of-field teachers in their everyday concerns and practices are their lived experiences and the meaning of out-of-field teaching. The argument that out-of-field teaching practices have significant meaning for quality teaching and learning environments confronts certain and widely held misconceptions in this field. Gadamer's theory (1975, 273) of "fusion of horizons" supports the investigation with information from different angles (i.e., principals, teachers [specialist and out-of-field], parents, and educational leaders) with the support of Vygotsky's theory (1978) of the more knowledgeable other, to conceptualise the meaning out-of-field teaching has for the learning environment. Data were triangulated through semistructured interviews, observations as well as document analysis (agendas, minutes of subject and staff meetings, reflective notes in the field diary). The significance for sociology of education includes key concepts, firstly British Journal of Sociology of Education 815 teacher dispositions, emotions, perceptions and expectations, secondly leadership concerns, thirdly classroom management difficulties, fourthly behaviour issues, fifthly the meaning for the wider school community and finally concerns about pedagogical content knowledge.