The reconfiguration of adult education VET teachers: Tensions amongst organisational imperatives, vocational ideals and the needs of students

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the introduction of a quality assurance scheme as a regulating technology that is part of adult education restructuring occurring currently, and to examine the subsequent tensions in the work of the VET teachers. The scheme implies a standardisation of educational content and of assessment procedures. It is a management tool for customer orientation as well as for soft control of teachers’ work. The concepts of reconfiguration and de-coupling are used to illuminate how the teachers are referring to themselves and their work, in relation to the introduction of these new arrangements. The main source of tensions emanates from teachers encountering students with multiple needs embracing not only educational, but also social and psychological as well as existential aspects. This tension also points to situations when teachers are able to preserve another type of individualisation than the standardised. However, the scheme also has the potential to govern new relations in teachers’ work by creating new links between knowledge, adult education policy, management, teachers and students.

Keywords:

• adult education restructuring
• VET teachers
• quality assurance