‘Ducking and diving’ adult educator agency in testing times: insights from England and New Zealand

Abstract

This article addresses the possibilities for adult educators to exercise professional agency in contexts which have become dominated by neoliberalism. It draws on research undertaken in England and New Zealand which investigated the impact of global discourses and policies on experienced adult educators whose philosophy of practice was orientated towards personal or social transformation. The narratives of four adult educators illustrate the impact of policies in both counties. They also demonstrate how globalising policies create dilemmas for practice which adult educators accommodate or resist. The paper discusses how different responses were linked to adult educators' biographies, their philosophical perspectives and theoretical underpinnings, their assessment of the possibilities for manoeuvre in their current context and their view of future. It suggests some of the challenges posed by different forms of resistance and argues for the importance of a philosophical and theoretical understanding in sustaining professional agency.

Keywords:

• adult educators
• professionalism
• agency
• England
• New Zealand

Notes

1. The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 by representatives of the British Government and a number of chiefs of Māori tribes, established British governorship in Aotearoa New Zealand, whilst also recognising, inter alia, Māori rights to land and property ownership. Today, the treaty is an important document which underpins the bicultural status of Aotearoa New Zealand and relationships between Māori and Pākehā (those of European settler heritage).