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Contested territories: English teachers in Australia and England remaining resilient and creative in constraining times

  • Kerry-Ann O’Sullivan
    ,
  • Andy Goodwyn
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Abstract

Globally teachers are experiencing reductions to their autonomy and constraints on their professional practice through legislative impositions of limiting standards, external testing and narrowing curricula. This study explores the ways English educators find a balance between these external expectations, contemporary pressures, professional aspirations, and personal values. It was a qualitative investigation into the perceptions shared by thirty-three English teachers from New South Wales, Australia and across England. A significant gap now exists between the ways English teachers conceive their subject, their purposes and the nature of their work, and that determined by regulation, formalised curriculum and accreditation requirements. The enduring resilience of these teachers is revealed but also the corrosive structural effects produced by narrowly focused, neoliberal policies especially in relation to high stakes testing. However, the research demonstrates how certain English teachers remain remarkably resilient–retaining autonomy where they can–and we define this attribute as ‘adaptive agency’.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 224-238

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

English in Education (Volume 54, Issue 3)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 28/06/2020
  • Published - 23/07/2020

Publication status

Published - 23/07/2020

ISSN

0425-0494

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/624554
  • Scopus: 85088429826

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