Struggling to ‘see the big picture’: professional learning, policy and precarious employment

The authors argue that the professional learning practices of teachers in precarious employment may have a significant impact upon their understandings of specific policy reforms. The analysis considers a teacher’s understandings of learning about a new policy in light of the various ‘epistemological resources’ he brought to bear to his learning opportunities and the particular ‘framing’ which developed. The research reveals that enactment of policy reform is dependent upon opportunities for teachers in precarious employment circumstances having access to paid, professional learning opportunities on an ongoing basis. Such access may be reduced by the neoliberal challenge to historical employment relationships in education.