When performativity meets agency: how early career teachers struggle to reconcile competing agendas to become ‘quality’ teachers

Sullivan, Anna; Johnson, Bruce; Simons, Michele; Tippett, Neil

doi:10.1080/13540602.2020.1806050

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…We gave out stationery, exercise books, readers, some sport equipment, and basically, we wanted the parents to show the teacher that they’d done some work. (Kylie, school leader, school 9, major city, mid ICSEA) Prior to COVID, the intensification of work (Williamson & Myhill, 2008 ), deteriorating morale (Mackenzie, 2007 ; Stroud, 2018 ; Whiteoak, 2020 ) and the rise of performativity (Ball, 2003 ; Sullivan et al, 2020 ) were already affecting the teaching workforce in NSW. The intensification of labour described by Kylie contrasts sharply with the usual classroom-based practice of most primary school teachers, and clearly demonstrates how COVID not only amplified workplace issues but added a new layer of pressure.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under pressure and overlooked: the impact of COVID-19 on teachers in NSW public schools

et al. 2022

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The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on teachers around the world, raising significant concerns about their workload and wellbeing. Our comparison of 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (first year of the pandemic) survey data (n = 362) from teachers in New South Wales, Australia, demonstrates that their morale and efficacy declined significantly during COVID-19, even with the relatively short period of school closure (8 weeks) during 2020. Interviews with teachers and school leaders (n = 18) reinforced these findings and highlighted the depth to which teachers felt dispensable and unappreciated, despite working incredibly hard for their students. The pressure to adapt to online teaching and learning, in trying circumstances, also challenged their confidence in their teaching. We argue that practical and emotional support for teachers both during periods of remote learning and upon students’ return to the classroom is essential to support teacher’s wellbeing and a robust teaching workforce into the future.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under pressure and overlooked: the impact of COVID-19 on teachers in NSW public schools

et al. 2022

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“…There is currently an Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill before the Irish Parliament that would require schools to publish and operate charters for students and parents and while this is expected to further increase student voice in Irish schools, its overall aim of improving 'the level of engagement between schools and students and their parents by inviting feedback, comment and observations' could create cultures of surveillance in that it 'reflects the Government's commitment to introduce a stronger complaints procedure' (www.education.ie). While student voice can be used to monitor teachers in accountability-driven systems (see Skerritt 2020), Ireland is contextually rather different to countries where this is currently more common, such as England (Page 2017), Sweden (Frostenson and Englund 2020), New Zealand (Charteris and Smardon 2019c), Australia (Sullivan et al 2020), and America (Finefter-Rosenbluh 2020). Nonetheless, the management-level consultations in the data are particularly noteworthy not only because of the lack of tradition of student voice in Ireland but because of the Student and Parent Charter Bill, and because of the sensitivity of teachers towards evaluations more broadly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student voice and classroom practice: how students are consulted in contexts without traditions of student voice

Skerritt

Brown

O’Hara

2021

Pedagogy, Culture & Society

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Different countries have different histories, traditions, cultures, and practices of student voice and are currently at different stages of their student voice journeys. This paper investigates how student voice is coming to be used in relation to classroom practice in different school types and socio-economic settings in the Irish education system. Ireland is a country without a strong tradition or history of student voice and particularly in relation to teaching and learning matters and it is envisaged that this paper will be of strong interest to those in countries where student voice is not yet prominent, but there are also wider implications. This research shows that students are now being consulted in relation to classroom practice in a variety of ways but that even within single school systems consultations are very much connected to school context with voice being used to different extents in different schools in different settings.

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“…Interviewer: Ok and how did you experience all this [referring to the TBA policy]? These words also point out the extent to which school actors internalize that performance metrics are becoming synonym with teachers' and schools' quality (Sullivan et al 2020). In the same way that excessive performance pressure can affect teachers' experience negatively, obtaining good results in the standardized test can lead to both individual and collective satisfaction.…”

Section: Nonetheless In Line With Whatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Stakes: The Influence of Accountability Policy Options on Teachers’ Responses

2023

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Under test-based accountability, side-effects —including practices to inflate test results, often seen as cheating—are usually associated to so-called high-stakes policies. However, the influence of different types of stakes in the generation of this type of practices has been overlooked in education research. Based on a survey experiment, our results indicate that the type and level of stakes of accountability systems (e.g., high- vs. low-stakes, material vs. symbolic) do not differ in triggering side-effects. Counterintuitively, individual symbolic consequences trigger similar reactions among teachers than material incentives. In-depth interviews give insights into the social mechanisms that lead to symbolic effects having such an influence in understanding teachers’ reactivity to accountability.

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When performativity meets agency: how early career teachers struggle to reconcile competing agendas to become ‘quality’ teachers

Cited by 21 publications

References 23 publications

Under pressure and overlooked: the impact of COVID-19 on teachers in NSW public schools

Under pressure and overlooked: the impact of COVID-19 on teachers in NSW public schools

Student voice and classroom practice: how students are consulted in contexts without traditions of student voice

Understanding the Stakes: The Influence of Accountability Policy Options on Teachers’ Responses

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