Skepticism, Gratitude, and the Neoliberal Narrative: TFA Teachers’ Conceptualization of Occupational Stature

Erasure, expert/ise, and educational “choice”: A poststructuralist perspective of Kansas educational bills in 2023

“…In this way, the issue of teacher representation-from a poststructural perspective-illustrates policymakers' efforts to maintain partial and subjective hegemonies about teachers and their roles. Neoliberal and neoconservative education policy language shapes both public sentiment and seemingly unequivocal "truths" around practitioners' roles, their knowledge, and pedagogical autonomy (Wescott, 2022); often calling these into question while simultaneously amplifying the decision-making power of venture philanthropists, policymakers, and other external educational "experts" (Aydarova, 2021;Kraemer-Holland, 2021;. By discursively re-positioning policymakers and parents as educational overseers, the policies under study consequently privilege politically subjective "truths" about teachers as less-than-agentive experts as seemingly common sense, redefining what educational "expertise" means and looks like and who holds it.…”

Amplifying organisational discourses to the public: Media narratives of Teach For Australia, 2008–2020

“…While a considerable body of literature exists on the two earliest TFAll programmes—TFA and Teach First UK (e.g., Allen & Allnutt, 2017; Thomas & Mockler, 2018; Elliott, 2018; Kraemer‐Holland, 2021; Kretchmar et al, 2014; Labaree, 2010; Olmedo et al, 2013)—research in other contexts is still emerging (Thomas, Crawford‐Garrett, et al, 2021). Within the Australian context, Windsor (2014, 2017) conducted a series of interviews with TFAus Associates and staff members—including TFAus Founder Melodie Potts Rosevear—about their experiences and perspectives on the programme, finding that Associates' perspectives of schooling were ‘influenced by the discourse of “problems in school” that is present in the TfA [TFAus] promotional material and related media articles’ (Windsor, 2014, p. 130).…”

“…Given perceived links between job prestige, status and esteem, and the ability to attract talented individuals (see Kraemer‐Holland, 2021), it is not surprising that the media articles often presented TFAus as bestowing a newly transformed and attractive status on the teaching profession. For example, one article discusses how a TFAus Associate—a previous law graduate—‘knows how he could earn a higher salary if he wasn't a teacher’, but affirms ‘he is energised everyday working in a profession helping transform young lives’ (Burrell, 2016).…”