Identifying and modelling barriers of teachers' vulnerability in the Iranian education system

Objective: Conceptual discussions on vulnerability highlight the importance of courage and effort in situations where outcomes cannot be controlled, rather than focusing on winning or losing. Accordingly, this research aims to identify the barriers to teacher vulnerability and present a model to promote and cultivate a culture of vulnerability.
Methods: This qualitative research adopts a phenomenological approach. The research population comprises teachers with a minimum of 20 years of experience in the school setting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 teachers, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis and the coding technique by King and Horrocks. Finally, an interactive management approach and structural interpretive modeling software were used to develop a model based on the data.
Discussion and Conclusion: The research findings reveal that the barriers to teacher vulnerability in the education system include lack of self-teaching, superiority thinking based on experience, a culture of teacher perfectionism, concerns about economic and social issues, fear of criticism, fear of losing credibility, resistance to accepting mistakes due to a lack of accountability and the importance of outcomes, fear of breaking habits and change, sense of competition among teachers, lack of error acceptance training, teacher fatigue, lack of error-confronting protocols, lack of closeness and intimacy with students, lack of motivation due to lack of recognition, and a sense of irresponsibility towards others.