When Teachers are Confronted with Ideological Aspects of Their Profession

Abstract

This article falls within the research area of school development. It also takes into account neo-liberal tendencies, such as they have been approached in educational research. The article takes as its starting point a development project that began when four rural secondary schools turned to their regional university for scientific support. It seems to be a general fact that more and more schools are turning to universities for help as a result of being subjected to ranking lists -i.e. a neo-liberally oriented phenomenon. School development work has proven difficult in general terms, and current tendencies, the author argues, risk reinforcing these difficulties. The urgent practical needs of schools risk colliding with the critical interests of academia. This, the author argues, is a problem that needs further exploration. The aim of this article is to explore responses from teachers towards a specific activity that encouraged them to take an objective look at their day-to-day practices, and to relate teaching and assessment approaches theoretically to pupils' social backgrounds. Three aspects were investigated in particular: first, teachers' attitudinal responses to being provided with an understanding of diverse and conflicting interests; second, teachers' attitudinal responses to being provided with tools for encountering school rhetoric in a critical way; and, third, teachers' attitudinal responses to being guided by a specific pedagogic discourse. The data consists of 61 written responses from teachers representing four rural schools. The 'appraisal theory' was adopted as an analytical tool for capturing the teachers' evaluative stances. The results highlight the intricacies of confronting teachers with certain sociological and theoretical topics that reveal the fact that the school is not a neutral place. The author suggests that there should be further debate on this matter.

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