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Abstract
This article aims to raise education researchers’ self-reflection about their treatment of teachers as workers through introducing the term “creative work ethic.” At its core, the creative work ethic is the belief that good work entails innovation. Additional features of this ethic are the prizing self-motivation, work done individually, and a flexible schedule that mixes labor with leisure activities. The danger of the creative work ethic is a tendency for self-exploitation and devaluing workers who do not fit into the ethic. After defining the features of the creative work ethic and describing its drawback, the paper reads closely three education papers in order to show how this ethic colors their analysis of teachers’ work or their prescription for better teaching.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by author.
Notes
1 This paper had its beginning in context of the Self Study Lab headed by Oren Ergas. I worked on in as part of advanced training program at the Mofet Institute led by Tehiya Winograd Jean and Lauren Erdreich (who commented on an earlier version). The paper was copy edited by Ronnie Guy with funding provided by Beit Berl’s Research authority. I am grateful to all involved as well as the editors and anonymous readers at Educational Philosophy and Theory. At any rate, opinions stated here are my own as well as any errors.
2 For two examples among many, see Buchanan, Citation2015; Jankowski & Provezis, Citation2014.
3 For my purposes, it is more important to show the creative work ethic to which many subscribe rather than demarcate the borders of the creative class. To be fair, Florida also insists that creativity informs other occupations as well.
4 The Rise of the Creative Class has over 25,000 Google Scholar citations, while some YouTube videos featuring Florida have tens of thousands of views. Florida was not totally ignored in education. For instance, Robyn Gibson invokes Florida in order to argue in favor of more creative teaching approaches in higher education (Gibson, Citation2010).
5 For two recent examples, see Ferrari et al., Citation2009; Harris & de Bruin, Citation2018.
6 In the Post-Modern Condition, Lyotard writes that “The State and/or company must abandon the idealist and humanist narratives of legitimation in order to justify the new goal: in the discourse of today’s financial backers of research, the only credible goal is power. Scientists, technicians, and instruments are purchased not to find truth, but to augment power” (Lyotard, Citation2005, p. 46). The performance – the measurable outcomes – of these professionals replaces ideals. As Munday puts it, “for Lyotard truth and justice have been replaced by effectiveness and efficiency” (323).
7 See also his interview based study: Gormley, Citation2020b.
8 See Hesmondhalgh & Baker, Citation2011.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
David Hadar
Dr. Hadar teaches English at Beit Berl College of education and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. in American literature from the Hebrew University, His book, Affiliated Identities in Jewish American Literature was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2020.