New Public Management and the New Professionalism in Education - Compliance, Appropriation and Resistance - Special Issue

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

This article examines the dramatic implications of neo-liberal education policies for teachers’ professional identities, focusing on key features of the policy shift: marketization, metricization, managerialism, and the elevation of performativity. It argues that increasing regulation and restrictions in a neo-liberal environment confine teacher identity formation and development. Using data collected within English schools, it analyzes how teachers respond as neo-liberal policy is re-contextualized and re-translated, revealing both power and complexities of resistance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Conceptualizing Teacher Professional Identity in Neoliberal Times

Resistance, Compliance and Reform

Keywords

SPECIAL ISSUE New Public Management and the New Professionalism in Education: Compliance, Appropriation and Resistance education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 23 Number 88 | September 14th, 2015 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Conceptualizing Teacher Professional Identity in Neoliberal times: Resistance, Compliance and Reform David Hall University of Manchester & Ruth McGinity University of Manchester United Kingdom Citation: Hall, D., & McGinity, R. (2015). Conceptualizing teacher professional identity in neoliberal times: Resistance, compliance and reform. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23(88) . [http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.2092](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.2092. This)[. This](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.2092. This) article is part of the Special Issue on New Public Management and the New Professionalism in Education: Compliance, Appropriation and Resistance Guest Edited by Gary Anderson & Kathryn Herr. Abstract: This article examines the dramatic implications of the turn towards neo-liberal education policies for teachers’ professional identities. It begins with an analysis of some of the key features of this policy shift including marketization, metricization and managerialism and the accompanying elevation of performativity. This is followed by a discussion of the implications of this turn for teachers in which a new professionalism of increasing regulation and restrictions upon practice in a policy environment dominated by neo-liberalism act to restrict and confine professional identity formation and development. Drawing upon data collected within English schools the article explores how teachers have responded to this new policy environment in ways that are sensitive to how neo-liberal policy has been re-contextualized and re-translated in different educational settings. This reveals both the power of this New Right inspired permanent revolution of educational change in English schools and the complexities of how it has been variously embraced, accommodated and resisted by teachers. The article concludes with a discussion that explores the meaning of resistance in the context of what are identified as restricted teacher professional identities where affordances for professional practices lying outside of neo-liberal subjectivities have been dramatically reduced. Keywords: new public management, neoliberalism, teacher professionalism, resistance, educational policy Conceptualizando la Identidad Profesional Docente en Tiempos Neoliberales: Resistencia, Conformidad y Reforma. Resumen: Este artículo examina las implicaciones dramáticas del giro hacia políticas educativas neoliberales para las identidades profesionales de los docentes. Empieza con un análisis dealgunas de las características principales de estos cambios, incluyendo la marketización, la medición, managerialismo y la creciente importancia de la performatividad. Sigue con una discusión de las implicancias para los docentes de un nuevo profesionalismo con crecientes regulaciones y restricciones sobre su práctica, que en un ambiente dominado por el neoliberalismo, actúan para restringir la formación y desarrollo de la identidad profesional. Utilizando datos recogidos en escuelas inglesas, el artículo indaga sobre cómo los docentes han respondido a este ambiente político dando cuenta de las maneras a través de las cuales las políticas neoliberales han sido re contextualizadas y retraducidas en distintos contextos educativos. Esto revela el poder de esta revolución permanente de cambios educativosinspirados por la Derecha Nueva en el contexto de las escuelas Inglesas y las complejidades respecto a cómo han sido aceptadas, acomodadas y resistidas por los docentes. El artículoconcluye con una discusión que explora el significado de la resistencia en el contexto deidentidades profesionales restringidas, dond

FAQs

What policy changes does the article identify as driving shifts in teachers’ professional identities?

It highlights marketization, metricization, managerialism, and the elevation of performativity as key features of the neo-liberal policy turn.

How does the article describe the effects of neo-liberal governance on professional identity formation?

It argues that increasing regulation and restrictions reduce the affordances for professional practices and confine teacher identity formation and development.

How do teachers respond to the neo-liberal policy environment in English schools?

The article explores how teachers respond through practices sensitive to how policies are re-contextualized and re-translated in different educational settings, including varied modes of embracing, accommodating, and resisting.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag