Vol. 22 No. 4 (2024): Teaching Careers and Institutional Contexts that Promote Equity
Articles

Erratic Teaching Trajectories: Between Critique and Complicity with the Performative Experience

Javier Molina-Pérez
Bio
Published October 3, 2024

Keywords:

Educational policy, Identity, Teacher, Autonomy, Accountability
How to Cite
Molina-Pérez, J. (2024). Erratic Teaching Trajectories: Between Critique and Complicity with the Performative Experience. REICE. Ibero-American Journal on Quality, Effectiveness and Change in Education, 22(4), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.15366/reice2024.22.4.007

Abstract

Neoliberalisation in education has favoured the enactment of policies of standardisation, quantification and accountability that intensify the individual teacher's responsibility for the achievement of performance. The academic community discusses whether teachers resist or adhere to the performative culture. This research aims to understand the influence of these dynamics on the perception of teacher autonomy and the reconstruction of professional identity. A qualitative methodological approach is used, following an inductive design based on Grounded Theory. A theoretical sample is defined, which determines the participation of 30 teachers of Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate. The semi-structured in-depth interview technique was used as an instrument for collecting narrative data. The results highlight the complexity of analysing teachers' responses in categories of acceptance or resistance. Teachers focus on measurable elements and compliance with accountability mechanisms. Although practices seduced by the performative logic can be observed, most cases show critical positions and identity discrepancies with the professional experience. Teaching trajectories are reconstructed by hybridising complicities with the culture of performance and the inhibition of the effects of control through exercises of subtle resistance.

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