Navigating the market

Teachers work in upper secondary schooling in Queensland, Australia has undergone considerable transformation. Hill s doctoral study investigates how recent policy developments combine to impact on teachers work. Using a labour process and socio-cultural perspective, data collection at a school site included a range of primary documents, descriptive statistics and interviews with teachers. The retreat from a Keynesian welfare state coupled with the unresolved role of the state in education enables four key marketisation strategies; choice, devolution, corporatisation and the evaluative state. The impact of these strategies in upper secondary schooling is compounded by the emergence of vocational education and training. With a growing policy emphasis on the completion of a minimum twelve years of schooling as a means to assure successful participation in the knowledge economy, successive policy initiatives in upper secondary education expose four unresolved crises; increasing participation rates, debates about the location and structure, confusion around forms of governance, and an unresolved curriculum for upper secondary schooling. Each significantly impact on teachers work

Autorentext

Angela Hill (PhD) is an academic in Queensland Australia. She has worked across a range of educational settings including VET, schools and teacher education. Her research focuses on education policy in the context of disadvantaged communities.