Older teachers' insights on school restructuring and teachers' work

A Critical Education Policy Special Interest Group Seminar

Reflecting on an era of reform: older teachers' insights on school sector restructuring and teachers' work

Presented by Carmen Mohamed

In 1988 the Education Reform Act passed into law and school sector education in England was set on a very different trajectory. Commitments to a local authority based model of comprehensive education, grounded in the values and principles of post-war welfarism, were fundamentally reconfigured. Teacher autonomy in relation to professional and pedagogical issues was challenged by a national curriculum and standardised testing, whilst new types of schools threatened the local authority based status quo. Ever since that time the scale and pace of change have been relentless, by almost any international comparison. Not only have curriculum and school organisation issues continued to develop apace, but these have both encouraged, and been reinforced by, the development of a high-stakes accountability culture.

Teachers aged 50+ who have been in teaching for most of their working life have lived through this extraordinary era of reform and are uniquely placed to be able to reflect on this reculturing of the English school system. They are also able to reflect on how this reculturing of the school system has impacted on them as teachers. Career life history interviews were carried out with teachers aged over 50 who still teach more than 50% of a timetable and have at least 20 years teaching experience. They were asked to reflect on the past, present and future of their teaching careers.

The insights of these older teachers are critical to understanding this era of reform from the perspective of those who have both experienced, and implemented, the changes. However, there is also evidence that older teachers are experiencing school system restructuring in particular ways and this is an issue that has attracted considerable media attention. The data provided rich, detailed material which led to a reimagining of teacher retention. Key themes emerging from the pilot study of 10 participants are notions of Freedom and free will; Agency and Extraversion; and Social responsibility which connects personal responsibility with practical rationality.