Navigating boundaries: the evolution of homeroom teachers’ profession through professional boundary work

Abstract

In organizational contexts, professional boundaries serve a dual purpose by distinguishing various professions from one another and regulating access to power, status, and rewards. Individuals operating within professions in which such boundaries are not clearly or explicitly defined face the risk of compromising their status and autonomy. However, they possess the agency to actively define their profession and enhance its standing among both internal and external stakeholders. This study explores how homeroom teachers in the Israeli education system—recognized as a distinct occupation within the broader teaching profession—engage in boundary work to form and define their professional group. Our findings reveal that (1) homeroom teachers employ adaptable boundary work strategies, tailored to their interactions with different key stakeholders. Specifically, they (a) define boundaries to clarify, for themselves, the parameters of their own roles; (b) balance boundaries with partners inside the school (administrators and subject teachers) to facilitate day-to-day collaboration while simultaneously asserting their own roles; and (c) orchestrate boundaries when interacting with external partners (students’ parents), acknowledging the distinction between roles while primarily seeking to foster effective joint work towards the common goal of helping students succeed. (2) Despite the diversity in their approaches, all homeroom teachers exhibit a unique expertise, allowing them to combine boundary-setting with inclusivity, highlighting the dynamic and interactive nature of the boundary work process. This dual nature enhances the effectiveness of communication and collaboration within the educational system, molding the role of homeroom teachers as a distinct professional group.