Professionalism, identity and the self: the de-moralisation of teachers in English sixth form colleges

Abstract

In order to understand the changing nature of professionalism we must consider how the work of teachers has changed in recent years and place this into its wider political and social context as the British State moved from a social democratic model of the State to one based on neo-liberal ideology. Although much of the literature of teacher professionalism has focused on the school sector, we should recognise that the term also applies to the education sector as a whole and consider the changing nature of work as well as the wider social construction of professional identity. The purpose of this paper is to interpret the development of professionalism in the sixth form college sector by drawing from the work of Critical Theory and Jürgen Habermas in particular. It also explores the views of teachers on how their professional identity and personal orientation to work are changing. In doing so, the paper will explore the power relationship that exists between teachers and the state bureaucracy, the interplay between practice and ethics and the re-professionalisation of teachers in an age of neo-liberalism.

Keywords:

• sixth form college
• professionalism
• re-professionalisation and performativity
• New Public Management and neo-liberalism
• Jürgen Habermas
• autonomy
• ethics and bureaucracy
• ‘de-moralisation’
• identity and the self