Relationships of surveillance, assurance and recognition: early career primary teachers’ engagement with discourses of accountability and performance

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Irish primary teachers, and particularly those working in disadvantaged schools, are coming under increasing pressure to orient their practices towards satisfying the exigencies of accountability and performativity (Conway, P. F., and R. Murphy. 2013. “A Rising Tide Meets a Perfect Storm: New Accountabilities in Teaching and Teacher Education in Ireland.” Irish Educational Studies 32 (1): 11–36. doi:10.1080/03323315.2013.773227). Focusing specifically on early career teachers (ECTs) in Irish designated disadvantaged primary schools, this paper investigates ECTs’ engagement with discourses of accountability and performance and its influence on their daily practices. Semi-structured, life-history interviews were conducted with 18 participants drawn from three urban designated disadvantaged schools. Local conditions (level of disadvantage, the intensity and concentration of students’ needs, and school culture), as well as participants’ career stage, impacted upon the way ECTs engaged with, and/or mediated the influence of the strong, neoliberal performativity discourse. Participants’ engagement with the literacy and numeracy standardised testing process was characterised by relationships of surveillance which were held in tension with contradictory and conflicting relationships of assurance and recognition that the DEIS literacy and numeracy programmes and positive standardised test scores fostered. The findings indicate that the nature of these relationships, coupled with the demanding social context in which they begin their careers, is orienting ECTs towards the use of more structured and control oriented pedagogies.

Keywords:

• early career teachers
• educational disadvantage
• teacher accountability and performance
• literacy and numeracy
• standardised testing

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Dr Maeve O’Brien in the undertaking of this research. Thanks are also due to the participating teachers for their critical engagement with the research process, and the honesty and integrity of their views. The author is also grateful to the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Teaching Council of Ireland for supporting this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Gareth Burns recently completed his PhD thesis entitled: ‘Making a Difference’: What it Means for Early Career Teachers Working in Designated Disadvantaged Schools, under the supervision of Dr Maeve O’Brien at St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. His research interests include the professional lived experiences of beginning and early career teachers, mentoring and induction, socially just pedagogies and educational inequality. He works as a primary teacher in St. Paul’s National School, Ratoath, Co. Meath and lectures part-time in Sociology on the M.Ed programme in St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra.

Notes

1. DEIS 1 schools have lower pupil teacher ratios and can appoint administrative principals on lower enrolment numbers than the DEIS 2 schools. They also receive higher levels of funding than DEIS 2 schools (DES 2005).

2. Primary teachers use ‘STen scores’ to tell parents how students perform in standardised tests. STen scores go from 1–10.