From performative to professional accountability: re-imagining 'the field of judgment' through teacher professional development

The rise of performative culture in education and intensifying forms of test-based accountability have subjected teachers to a ubiquitous 'field of judgment' through which they are held to account. Within this context, professional development is consistently deployed as a key solution to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education policy Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 452 - 473
Main Authors: Gore, Jennifer, Rickards, Bernadette, Fray, Leanne
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Routledge 04.05.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Accountability
Cultural change
Elementary School Teachers
Faculty Development
Foreign Countries
Foucauldian analysis
Judgment
Outcomes of Education
panopticism
Performativity
Professional Autonomy
Professional development
Professional training
quality teaching
Secondary School Teachers
Students
Surveillance
Surveillance systems
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher Collaboration
Teacher education
Teacher Effectiveness
Teachers
Teaching
Tests
Australia
ISSN:0268-0939, 1464-5106
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The rise of performative culture in education and intensifying forms of test-based accountability have subjected teachers to a ubiquitous 'field of judgment' through which they are held to account. Within this context, professional development is consistently deployed as a key solution to stagnant or declining student outcomes. In this paper, we examine how accountability might be reimagined through one approach to professional development known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR). We draw on Foucault's notion of panopticism and Ball's influential writings on performativity to analyse interviews with 21 educators from 14 schools in New South Wales, Australia, conducted during a 2014-2015 randomised controlled trial. Participants highlighted the pervasiveness of testing and test results in shaping their experience of teaching in a system of perpetual surveillance where numbers bite deep into practice. By contrast, participation in QTR afforded teachers rare spaces of freedom within the structure of performativity to collaboratively focus on pedagogy. We argue meaningful professional development can alter the field of judgment and enable teachers to reclaim accountability on their own terms, while maintaining a clear focus on student outcomes.
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ISSN:0268-0939
1464-5106
DOI:10.1080/02680939.2022.2080274