Earthquakes, cancer and cultures of fear: qualifying as a Skills for Life teacher in an uncertain economic climate

O’Leary, Matt; Smith, Rob

doi:10.1080/03054985.2012.710545

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…We identified six key themes in the data and we have explored the thematic strands of cultures of fear and managerialism / performativity in a previous publication (see O'Leary and Smith 2012). In this paper therefore, the intention is to focus on themes that centre on how NPM manifests itself through particular approaches to knowledge and knowledge production and the impact of these on the emergent professional identity of this group of student teachers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Public Management in an age of austerity: knowledge and experience in further education

Smith

O’Leary

2013

Journal of Educational Administration and History

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This article originates in a piece of educational research into the experiences of further education (FE) student teachers in the West Midlands region of England. This cohort of students experienced significant upheaval in their college workplaces and placements during the 2010/2011 academic year. Pressures on FE funding were exacerbated by a Comprehensive Spending Review by the coalition government in late 2010 – prompted by the on-going global economic crisis. Some of the repercussions of these funding cuts for staff and students in the sector are discussed in this article, as perceived by this cohort of student teachers working in a range of FE providers across the West Midlands. Many of these repercussions can broadly be seen as an extension of existing managerialist practices, as the justification for an increasing squeeze on local resource allocation continues to be a wider appeal to global market ‘realities’. But we theorise that new public management (NPM) plays an important role in a reductive kind of knowledge production for policy-makers which fuels and legitimises on-going policy intervention, and we see this as an important shaping force in the emerging professional identity of these new teacher

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Public Management in an age of austerity: knowledge and experience in further education

Smith

O’Leary

2013

Journal of Educational Administration and History

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“…For example, as part of the Coalition Government's 'austerity' measures, in the period 2009-14, courses for adults lost around 35% of funding (UCU 2015). A redirection of finance towards Apprenticeships is taking place within a longstanding 'bums on seats' funding environment (Smith 2007, 43) that has been heavily criticised for leading to 'spoon-feeding', 'gaming' and a narrowed curriculum (O'Leary and Smith 2012, Smith and O'Leary 2013, Wolf 2011.…”

Section: The Further Education Context In Englandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformative Learning in English Further Education

Duckworth¹,

Smith²

2019

Handbook of Vocational Education and Training

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This chapter draws on the Further Education in England: Transforming Lives & Communities project, commissioned by UCU. This research project aims to understand and provide evidence of how the further education (FE) sector is vital in transforming lives and communities in 21st century Britain. The research provides learners, teachers, family members and their communities with the opportunity to tell their stories, linking the distinctness of FE to the impact it has on individuals, society and the economy. The research provides evidence of how further education offers a "differential space" (Lefebvre 1991) that can subvert the prescriptive, linear spaces of compulsory education and lead to critical spaces for transformative learning. The study proceeds from an understanding that educational practices are positioned as ideologically imbued, driven and shaped by policy. Indeed, the model of curriculum can determine whether education is an emancipatory or oppressive process. While productivist approaches to vocational education and training support and perpetuate ideologies that legitimate and authenticate prescribed knowledge, reproducing inequality and injustice through the practices employed (Beck, 2005; Ade-Ojo and Duckworth 2016, Duckworth and Smith 2017b), transformative learning shifts to a more holistic and dynamic approach. It seeks engagement with learners through a purposeful acknowledgement of learners' cultural background and biography and nurtures critical insight into education as a socially-situated process. Transformative learning is orientated to affirming agency and as such, has a ripple effect that impacts on learners' families and their communities. This chapter draws on a range of theoretical perspectives to provide an appropriate and illuminating framework to explore the themes around transformative learning that have emerged from the evidence. Amongst these, hope, space, egalitarianism and symbolic violence feature strongly. Learners' experience of symbolic violence (Bourdieu and Passeron 1991, Duckworth, 2013) was a key focus of our analysis. This symbolic violence consists of labelling individuals, reifying social division and the current (dis)order, and stymying creativity through the erasure of critical insights. It seeks to locate 'failure' within the individual as a determining and essentialist aspect of their identity thereby thwarting the development of empowering learner agency. Transformative learning spaces move beyond the symbolic and institutional violence that often shapes learners' understandings of themselves within the educational context and into a transformative critical space, restoring participants' hope and enabling them to transcend the internal and external influences and violence that have shaped their learning journey to date. We suggest that in challenging inequalities in learners' lives and communities, adult education and vocational education and training should reflect a transformative pedagogy, providing a curriculum that is culturally relevant, learner-driven a...

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“…Several studies have explored the challenges ESOL face in terms of funding (e.g. Cooke, 2006;O'Leary & Smith, 2012). In more recent years, ESOL funding has become still more complex, demonstrating the contradictory nature of government attitude towards ESOL.…”

Section: Esol: a Solution To The Problem?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Making sense of ESOL policy: Tutor perspectives

Courtney

2017

Bellaterra J. Teach. Learn. Lang. Lit

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This paper explores tutor perspectives on ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners in the UK. Government policy towards ESOL is increasingly driven by an ideology in which citizenship is conflated with the acquisition of English language skills. Underpinning this way of thinking are concepts of Othering and deficiency. My research aimed to investigate how tutors "make sense" (Spours, Coffield, & Gregson, 2007; James & Biesta, 2007) of ESOL policy in the UK, how this informs tutors' attitudes towards English language learners, and to understand the potential impact that such attitudes could have on learners. The study demonstrates that tutors are influenced in their attitudes towards their learners by the persistent external issues of funding and the contradictory discourse implicit in ESOL policy. Such attitudes can have a tangible effect on learners. RésuméCet article explore les perspectives des éducateurs sur les apprenants d'ESOL (anglais pour les locuteurs d'autres langues) au Royaume-Uni. La politique gouvernementale envers ESOL est de plus en plus guidée par une idéologie dans laquelle la citoyenneté est confondue avec l'acquisition de compétences en langue anglaise. Sous-jacent cette façon de penser sont des concepts du « Othering » (de l'Autre) et de la déficience. Ma recherche visait à examiner comment des éducateurs « rendent sens » (Spours et al., 2007; James & Biesta, 2007) de la politique envers ESOL au Royaume-Uni, comment cela informe leurs attitudes envers les apprenants et quel est l'impact potentiel des attitudes sur les apprenants. Cette étude démontre que les éducateurs sont influencés dans leurs attitudes envers leurs apprenants par les problèmes externes persistants de financement et le discours contradictoire implicite dans la politique envers ESOL. De telles attitudes peuvent avoir un effet tangible sur des apprenants. Les mots clés: déficience, ESOL, enseignement d'ESOL, « Othering » ResumenEste artículo explora el punto de vista de profesores con respecto a hablantes de otras lenguas (ESOL en inglés) en el Reino Unido. Las políticas gubernamentales hacia la provisión de ESOL están cada vez más guiadas por una ideología en la cual la adquisición de nacionalidad está mezclada con la adquisición de habilidades en inglés. Conceptos tales como la Otredad y deficiencia sustentan esta manera de pensar. Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar cómo los profesores "comprenden" (Spours et al., 2007; James & Biesta, 2007) la política ESOL en el Reino Unido y cómo ésta informa sus actitudes hacia los aprendices de inglés. El estudio también intentó entender el impacto en potencia que las actitudes de los profesores podrían haber tenido en los aprendices, demostrando que sus actitudes son influenciadas por las persistentes problemáticas de financiamiento y las nociones contradictorias 26 implícitas en la política ESOL. Dichas actitudes pueden tener un efecto real en los aprendices.

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Earthquakes, cancer and cultures of fear: qualifying as a Skills for Life teacher in an uncertain economic climate

Cited by 16 publications

References 22 publications

New Public Management in an age of austerity: knowledge and experience in further education

New Public Management in an age of austerity: knowledge and experience in further education

Transformative Learning in English Further Education

Making sense of ESOL policy: Tutor perspectives

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