Spinning straw into gold: conversion work and the Rumpelstiltskin economy in teacher education

This article develops the Rumpelstiltskin economy as a lens for understanding a recurring demand in teacher education: converting educational labour into forms institutions recognise as valuable. In the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, straw becomes gold through a bargain whose cost escalates. In academia, a related economy emerges when already valuable work must be translated into institutional currency before it can fully count. Drawing on four studies of higher-education-institution-based teacher educators, the article examines burnout, rustout, Ofsted-related distress in England and quality of life through this conversion demand. It names conversion work as the mechanism through which educational labour is recognised, rewarded and sometimes depleted. Protective factors may sustain teacher educators within these conditions, but they do not alter the price of recognition. The Rumpelstiltskin economy therefore names the constrained bargain through which educational work is turned into institutional ‘gold’, and asks what must be pledged for that recognition to be secured.