Professionalism, performativity and care: whither teacher education for a gendered profession in Europe? Professor Sheelagh Drudy University College Dublin

Paper Outline discourses on teacher education highly feminised nature of teaching changes that have happened in universities implications for teacher education current European policy on teaching and teacher education published research evidence from EU, North America, Australasia, research in Ireland

A highly gendered profession 70%+ teachers in primary education are women lower secondary education is not as high as in primary education % of women in upper secondary education less striking but outnumber men in nearly all countries policy in relation to teaching and teacher education must take account

Discourses on teaching discourse of domesticity discourse of femininity discourse of care discourse of performativity and ‘new managerialism’ discourse of professionalism

Discourse of domesticity ‘Domestic ideology’: women ‘naturally’ more disposed towards nurture than men Women greater suitability for teaching very young children perception of school students and student teachers that women best suited to primary teaching most frequent explanation for the low proportion of men in primary teaching the perception that it is a ‘woman’s job’

Discourse of femininity linked to the discourse of domestic ideology notions of female domesticity and service linked to teacher professional identities women teacher educators read their own working lives through images of female domesticity discourse of femininity found in primary teacher education programmes women teachers reproduce, rather than change, traditional gender patterns

Discourse of care care central and fundamental to human development and well-being, social solidarity, and to economic development ‘nurturing capital’ feminine and feminist ethic of care (Gilligan) concept of care linked to concept of justice ‘caring-for’ and ‘caring-about’ (Noddings)

Three-fold taxonomy of care (Lynch) Primary care relations Secondary care relations Tertiary care relations

Discourse of care The affective domain, or caring about children, is fundamental to teacher professional identity (Barber) Ethic of care embedded in Codes of Professional Conduct of Teaching Council (Ireland): “As well as the legal duty of care which teachers exercise, their role as carers is central to their professional value system”

Care Understood in many different ways by teachers - caring as commitment, caring as relatedness, caring as physical care, caring as expressing affection, caring as parenting and caring as mothering (Vogt) a moral perspective an ethic of care understood as responsibility for and relatedness to their pupils ethic of care should be an integral element of quality in teaching and in teacher education

Care Orientation to social justice Altruistic values, making a difference Irish research - male and female student teachers were more strongly oriented to caring or altruistic values than were second-level pupils Male student primary teachers markedly different from other males in relation to their attitudes to caring/altruistic values Ethic of care should be an integral element of quality in teaching and in teacher education

Discourse of performativity and ‘new managerialism’ Neo-liberalism Audit culture Removal of locus of power from practicing professionals to auditors Surveillance New? - “payment by results” 19 th C. Irl Research on negative aspects of performative pressures in teaching

Discourse of professionalism Managerial and democratic professionalism (Sachs) Managerial discourse dominant Associated with neo-liberalism Involves re-organising the public sector according to ‘best’ commercial practice Involves ‘masculinising’ school cultures

Discourse of professionalism Democratic professionalism: Emerges from the profession itself Relies on trust rather than performance ranking Emphasis on collaborative, cooperative action between teachers and other educational stakeholders

Teacher Education, Universities and Performativity Cultures Teacher education mainly located within universities in Europe Rise of the ‘entrepreneurial’ university Development of performativity, managerialism and audit cultures Advantages to states of performativity cultures in higher education Research on problems emerging Tensions between cultures of teacher education and performativity cultures

Teacher Education in Changing Environments Role of universities in the deepening of democracy, the fostering of social justice and the public good Teacher education, educational sciences, educational research a very important element of university’s role Role of teachers in daily lives of entire populations Importance of higher education in initial and continuing education (Commission of EU)

Teacher Education in Changing Environments Impact of research on policy agenda Importance of retaining teacher education in universities/higher education Space to develop reflective and critical practitioners Harvest potential of research-based, problem-centred teacher education

International Policy on Teaching and Teacher Education Lisbon, Bologna, Bergen implications Commission of EU – common principles, statement to parliament: Teaching: high status, high reward, well-qualified profession with opportunity to continue studies to highest level Teachers: lifelong learners who understand social cohesion and exclusion in society and ethical dimensions of the knowledge society; reflective, analytical and critical practitioners Teacher education: an object of research

International Policy on Teaching and Teacher Education OECD – Teachers Matter Economic competitiveness and efficiency, high quality in teaching Enhance the status of teaching Language: performativity, performance indicators, standards, evaluation and appraisal “concern” at decline of males in the profession, based on supposed benefits of male role models and decline in appeal of teaching

Conclusions Teaching highly feminised in Europe Disjunction between performativity discourse and discourses integral to teaching, such as an ethic of care Universities now imbued with performativity cultures yet retaining university involvement in teacher education is fundamental to professional status Need to align professional agendas with EU policy Need to add an ethic of care, social justice and solidarity to teacher education policy in Europe