The Focal Point of Stigma and Alienation in Education: Evaluation of Professional Lives Through the Eyes of Paid Teachers

The main purpose of this study is to examine the professional lives of primary and secondary school teachers who have undisguised disadvantages, within the framework of their own narratives and experiences. In other words, it reveals how the concept of alienation, used by Karl Marx as an expression of the result of economic exploitation, and the concept of Stigma, used by Goffman, emerge and intersect in the lives of paid teachers. The data for the present study were collected from paid teachers working in schools located in the Kemalpaşa district of Izmir, where the population density is high. In this study, phenomenology desin was preferred among qualitative research methods, while snowball method among purposeful sampling types was used in determining the interviewees. Structured interview questions were preferred in this study. The analysis of the obtained data was resolved by content analysis. Research findings showed that paid teachers received salaries far below those of permanent teachers, which wears them out. Their insurance was paid in half, and as a paid teacher, they were subject to stigmatization in their work areas and daily lives, and over time, alienation from their profession. This research was conducted with paid teachers working in five schools within a single district. Therefore, further research involving more schools and a larger sample size will likely yield richer data.