Education Policy and the Intensification of Teachers’ Work: The Changing Professional Culture of Teaching in England and Implications for Social Justice

Abstract

This chapter explores ongoing changes to the work of teachers in England and what could be termed an intensification of teaching, linked to performative neoliberal education policies that prioritise school and student achievement measurements. These developments have been observed in relation to English schools, as well as globally. The chapter argues that this emphasis on achievement can come at the expense of other, more pastoral aspects of teaching and thus carry serious social equity implications. It can also present a mismatch between teachers’ original, often altruistic motivation to join the profession, and the realities of their daily work. Using data from a series of qualitative studies with English teachers over the past ten years, the chapter aims to trace teachers’ professional self-understandings and conceptualisations of their work and asks what versions of a socially just professionalism are open to teachers.