A Matrix of Power: Decoding Teacher Positionality in Schools

A Matrix of Power: Decoding Teacher Positionality in Schools

Last week, I received a call from a colleague. She was deeply troubled by the toxic environment in her school. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for her to survive there, and she’s seriously considering quitting her job.

We often associate "toxic culture" with corporate workplaces. But schools and colleges, too, have their own cultures—ones that can be either suffocating or enabling. What's more important is that this institutional culture profoundly affects how teachers operate in their classrooms. Yet, we hardly prepare teachers to navigate it. Neither our pre-service teacher education programs nor our in-service training modules include any meaningful conversation about this.

We train teachers to manage a classroom, but not to understand or influence the school culture they are a part of. And strangely, what happens inside the classroom has very little bearing on how a teacher’s identity is shaped within the school system.

A phenomenal teacher inside the classroom may still be perceived as a “weak” teacher depending on other factors—whereas someone less effective pedagogically may enjoy a strong and celebrated position in the school. Sounds ironic, right? That a teacher who excels at teaching is seen as less powerful in a space where teaching should be the core identity?

There are several reasons for this, but one key factor is the absence of forums within schools where teachers can actually discuss what they are teaching—what's working, what's not. The classroom remains an isolated, private space. And children, due to their position in the power structure, can’t influence the dominant narrative about who is a “good” teacher.

This often leads to disillusionment. Many competent teachers give up over time when they see their classroom efforts are neither acknowledged nor valued. Meanwhile, others who are able to navigate the school's power dynamics—due to various social, structural, or identity advantages—are celebrated as great teachers.

So, how does this system work? What determines a teacher’s positionality in a school?

As Foucault said, power is everywhere—not because it dominates, but because it circulates. To understand the identity politics of teachers, we need to understand the power matrix within schools.

The School Power Matrix

Based on my own experience and observations, I’ve attempted to create a rough matrix to map the positionality of teachers in schools. This isn’t evidence-backed research, but many teachers might see echoes of their own realities in this.

Let’s take an example to understand how this power matrix operates in a typical school setting.

Imagine a teacher who is a Post Graduate Teacher (PGT), permanent in employment, and teaches English—a subject often perceived as prestigious. She is a good-looking woman, with no disability, belongs to the general category, is a local resident, owns both a house and a car, and follows the dominant religion. When we calculate her positionality score based on the matrix, it adds up as follows:
PGT (4) + Permanent (6) + English (6) + Good-looking female (4) + No disability (2) + General category (4) + Local (3) + Own house and car (5) + Dominant religion (2) = Total score: 36.

Now compare this with another teacher who is a Primary Teacher (PRT), working as a guest teacher, male, with no disability, from a Scheduled Tribe (ST) background, a new outsider to the school, commutes by bus, and follows a less dominant religion. His score comes to:
PRT (2) + Guest (3) + Male (2) + No disability (2) + ST (1) + Outsider (new) (1) + Travels by bus (1) + Less dominant religion (1) = Total score: 13.

The contrast between the two scores—36 vs 13—is not just numerical. It symbolises the vast difference in positional power, voice, and recognition within the school. The first teacher, even before she speaks, carries institutional capital. Her opinions may be heard more, her mistakes more easily forgiven, and her teaching more likely to be recognised and validated. On the other hand, the second teacher starts from the margins, often having to work twice as hard for half the recognition. The gap between these scores defines more than just status—it defines how much voice a teacher has in staff meetings, how their suggestions are treated, how their mistakes are perceived, and ultimately, how their professional identity is shaped.

Some of these attributes are fixed, but many are not. A conscious teacher can navigate, adapt, and even strengthen their positionality over time. But without naming this reality, we risk losing some of our finest teachers to an invisible system of power that they never got trained to negotiate. It’s time we start talking not just about pedagogy—but about power. And that’s the crux of the issue. It’s not always about who teaches better—but about who has the power to be seen as a good teacher.

What we often overlook is that a teacher’s power positionality doesn’t just affect how they are perceived—it actively shapes their classroom practice. When a teacher feels undervalued or voiceless within the school culture, it inevitably impacts their confidence, creativity, and risk-taking in the classroom. But awareness is the first step toward agency. Teachers who understand these invisible hierarchies may find ways to navigate them, reshape perceptions, and assert their professional identity more intentionally. However, real change cannot be left to individual navigation alone. Schools must create dedicated forums to recognise, share, and celebrate classroom practices, not just institutional roles or exam results. Such spaces can democratise professional recognition and counterbalance the hierarchy-driven culture that often prevails. When pedagogy becomes part of the staffroom conversation, not just the classroom one, schools can begin to shift from power-sustaining structures to learning-centred communities.