A Place to Form Alliances? The role of school staffrooms in fostering peer relationships for veteran teachers

An aspect of primary teachers’ working lives often overlooked in research studies is that of the role of primary school staffrooms. Yet many teachers inhabit this specific area of school at some point every working day. The nature of staffrooms varies according to school context and age phase; for example, small village primary schools may only have a modest room whereas secondary schools often provide large staffrooms and additional departmental space. Whatever the physical arrangements, Paechter (2004:3) demonstrated that staffrooms are often made up of different ‘networks and sub-groups’ of teachers, where ‘a variety of power relations’ (ibid:7) are played out. From a negative perspective, staffrooms have been described as sites of ‘mafia-like’ domination (Frankel; 2010:n.p.) and ‘an environment of contrived collegiality’ (Parks & McKay, 2022:4) making staff feel isolated and alienated. There are few studies describing the nature of staffrooms and collegial processes within. This research project identified key features of the social interactions and behaviours evident within the staffrooms of primary schools in England, drawing on a questionnaire survey of 508 teachers. A group of particular interest, comprised late-career teachers, having taught for over 24 years, and who used staffrooms on a frequent basis. Therefore, this paper discusses the findings from a sub-sample of 109 veteran teachers and examines the ways in which this critical space was important in terms of the development of peer relationships and the importance of social interactions in maintaining commitment to teaching.