Teacher as a performer or a professional? An exploration into the possible impacts of performative culture on teachers’ identities

From the early 1980s, neo-liberal shifts in educational policy aligned private sector values and practices with the public sector (Albo: 2009 Albo, G. 2009 ‘The crisis of neoliberalism and the impasse of the union movement’ in Development Dialogue, (51) pp. 119–131 [Google Scholar]). This alignment provided an influx of performative policy in education, driving outcomes-based decisions rather than permitting teachers to make independent choices; this de-professionalises and restricts teacher autonomy. This restriction of autonomy is a common theme in what constitutes a professional. Since the Educational Reforms Act (1988) there has been an emergence of the New Public Management (NPM). With the NPM being based upon rules, guidelines, standards and benchmarks teachers have become caught up in a managerial milieu where their autonomy is restricted. I argue that the influx of performative neo-liberal education policy is a key factor in the restriction of teacher autonomy. Having been a teacher for the last 8 years, this is something I can attest to. I will discuss the formation of an activist teaching identity as a means to legitimise teacher autonomy. As autonomy is identified as a crucial factor in teacher retainment (NFER: 2020), opening discussion about performative culture could not only be a step towards resisting de-professionalisation (Sachs: 2003 Sachs, J. 2003. ‘The Activist teaching profession’. Buckingham; Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press [Google Scholar]), but a step towards retaining experienced teachers.