An exploration of FE teachers’ attitudes, intentions and behaviours in response to the ‘Professionalisation Agenda’

Since 1993, consecutive governments in England have introduced a range of education reforms referred to as the Professionalisation Agenda, aimed at developing the quality of teaching and training provisions in Further Education. This agenda, while overtly seeking to achieve parity of esteem of FE teachers with school teachers has reportedly given more work and diminished autonomy, imposing a contract culture on organisations, a target culture on staff and a wider sense of de-professionalisation and proletarianisation with little consultation with the profession. It has been stated that the education reforms should foster professional development leading to better teaching, which in turn would improve learner achievements in a competitive market economy. This study explores the views of a sample of teachers, teacher educators and education managers on the impact of enhanced academic and professional qualifications and professional membership on teachers’ development and practice. The research uses questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to collect data from participants working in both vocational and academic curriculum areas, teaching in FE institutions in England. The research adopts a pragmatic design (Capps, 2017; Creswell & Creswell, 2018), which accommodates the features of both positivist and interpretivist paradigms and uses the research questions to structure a practitioner-based study. Policies are constantly evolving and grew in number over the eight years of my study. Eliciting the views of FE workforce members on so-called professionalisation agenda policies yielded perceptive views contributing to an understanding of the narrowing and marketising of FE. Although the teachers in the study have faced constraints and challenges in their professional development, they are resilient during change processes. The main themes emerging were the power behind the Professionalisation Agenda; Performativity; CPD; and De-professionalisation, with sub-themes relating to uniform approach towards professional qualifications; communities of practices and professional networks; authentic social inclusion in education; and professional autonomy.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

edd

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Greenwich

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Brown, Charmaine

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Ade-Ojo, Gordon
• Parsons, Carl

• LB Theory and practice of education

Language dc:language

en