Journal of Sociology and Social Work

From Classroom to the Dole: Τhe Experience of Unemployment of Public School Substitute Teachers in Greece
Pavlos Liaropouos

Abstract
The article addresses the labour experience of substitute teachers in Greece whose working life is punctuated by periods of employment and unemployment and long intervals of uncertainty. In other words, the labour of this particular category of teachers is precarious. As revealed by the relevant research, unemployment is experienced differently by each individual subject. The organization and management of substitute teachers’ unemployment time can assume various forms: on the one hand, it can be devoted to seeking new employment or training or recreation but, on the other, it can have detrimental effect on the unemployed due to lack of employment. The dominance of neoliberal rationality in the labour market seems to tip the balance towards more unemployment than professional development and the suggestions of pedagogical theory about the contemporary teacher’s role.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jssw.v8n1a7