Nuancing the critique of commercialisation in schools: recognising teacher agency

Abstract

This paper investigates the commercialisation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Australian schools. Specifically, it focuses on understanding why teachers value commercial resources, and how they enact these in their classrooms. Theorising around teacher agency suggests teachers are now choosing to use a range of commercial resources and view these as important additions to their pedagogical toolbox. Teachers want high quality resources, and they prefer resources that are easy to import, scaffold and modify according to their specific needs. Teachers did not readily see the benefit of a prescriptive SEL program. Instead, they wanted multiple resources that they could pick and choose the best bits from. Our data suggests that teachers are not being seduced by commercialisation and the ‘easy fix’ it promises, but are in fact presenting as agentic professionals who care deeply about students’ social and emotional wellbeing and are working to tailor bespoke learning experiences to meet the needs of their students within their specific school contexts. We argue that it is worth nuancing the critique about commercialisation offered in the literature to date, and suggest that commercialisation is not inherently bad, rather it is the ‘intensity’ of commercialisation that needs to be regulated and further investigated.

Keywords:

• Commercialisation
• commercial resources
• teacher agency
• curriculum
• policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Lions Quest Australia who funded the project.

Notes

1. It is worth noting that KidsMatter includes this disclosure statement on its website: ‘From time to time, programs offer discounts or special arrangements to KidsMatter schools/services. KidsMatter does not endorse these programs and does not prioritise one program over another. KidsMatter encourages schools and services to use the Program Guides to explore the available programs and determine the best choice to meet their needs’ (https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/primary/resources-for-schools/other-resources/programs-guide).