Periodic Reporting for period 4 - TEACHERSCAREERS (Cultural roots and institutional transformations of teachers’ careers and the teaching profession in Europe)
Période du rapport: 2022-03-01 au 2023-08-31
The teaching profession has, over the last decades, gone through important changes in terms of the status and attractiveness of the profession, labor markets, and governance of the profession. The state of the teaching profession is an urgent topic for policymakers and the public, especially against the backdrop of increased teacher strikes and walkouts in many places. In Europe, a large majority of countries face alarming levels of teacher shortages, as reported by Eurydice.
At the same time, teachers and teaching are more than ever the focus of national, regional and global policy debates. Since the ILO/UNESCO’s 1966 recommendation report on the status of the teaching profession, the teachers and the teaching profession have been increasingly subject to global discourses and varieties of governance mechanisms. Despite the apparent global nature of teacher policies and teachers’ labor market issues, the literature has notably neglected the analysis of the interfaces between globalization and teachers’ labor markets, including working conditions, career pathways, collective mobilization, and industrial relations. The TeachersCareers project is thus first systematic comparative project in Europe aimed at understanding the role of the institutional dimensions affecting teachers’ careers and the teaching profession.
Based on combined analyses of policy processes at the EU and domestic levels, and longitudinal analyses of the workforce restructuring and evolutions in the employment regime of teachers in England and France, the TeachersCareers project has demonstrated the field of EU teacher policy works as a mechanism via multiple scales and seeking to influence the regulation of professional fields in member states. At the domestic level, however, highly contrasted trajectories of teacher policies were found in England and in France, which is also grounded in the very different histories these systems have with the EU. England has since the mid-1980s undergone a process of de-regulation and increased marketisation under a strong neo-liberal logic, while in France, teacher policies follow a neo-statist path characterised by the harmonization of training structures and the strengthened protection of the state-regulated internal labour market and teachers’ careers.
These distinct policy trajectories have reflected into different workforce restructuring and flexibilisation of teachers’ employment regimes in the two systems, with major implications for the educational quality and equity. The liberal deregulation policies in England have led to a widespread precarisation of the teachers’ work and the fragmentation of teachers’ careers, while in France, a strong dualisation of the teaching workforce has been observed leading to a rising precarisation of the employment of teachers. These distinct patterns of precarisation have considerable consequences for the changing status of the profession in Europe, as they indicate aggravated teaching profession crisis in both cases despite EU efforts.
At the same time, teachers and teaching are more than ever the focus of national, regional and global policy debates. Since the ILO/UNESCO’s 1966 recommendation report on the status of the teaching profession, the teachers and the teaching profession have been increasingly subject to global discourses and varieties of governance mechanisms. Despite the apparent global nature of teacher policies and teachers’ labor market issues, the literature has notably neglected the analysis of the interfaces between globalization and teachers’ labor markets, including working conditions, career pathways, collective mobilization, and industrial relations. The TeachersCareers project is thus first systematic comparative project in Europe aimed at understanding the role of the institutional dimensions affecting teachers’ careers and the teaching profession.
Based on combined analyses of policy processes at the EU and domestic levels, and longitudinal analyses of the workforce restructuring and evolutions in the employment regime of teachers in England and France, the TeachersCareers project has demonstrated the field of EU teacher policy works as a mechanism via multiple scales and seeking to influence the regulation of professional fields in member states. At the domestic level, however, highly contrasted trajectories of teacher policies were found in England and in France, which is also grounded in the very different histories these systems have with the EU. England has since the mid-1980s undergone a process of de-regulation and increased marketisation under a strong neo-liberal logic, while in France, teacher policies follow a neo-statist path characterised by the harmonization of training structures and the strengthened protection of the state-regulated internal labour market and teachers’ careers.
These distinct policy trajectories have reflected into different workforce restructuring and flexibilisation of teachers’ employment regimes in the two systems, with major implications for the educational quality and equity. The liberal deregulation policies in England have led to a widespread precarisation of the teachers’ work and the fragmentation of teachers’ careers, while in France, a strong dualisation of the teaching workforce has been observed leading to a rising precarisation of the employment of teachers. These distinct patterns of precarisation have considerable consequences for the changing status of the profession in Europe, as they indicate aggravated teaching profession crisis in both cases despite EU efforts.
The TeachersCareers had four objectives: [1] to explain the nature of teacher policy over the last thirty years in different educational systems (England and France); [2] to understand the changing status of the teaching profession and its impact on the diversification of the teaching workforce; [3] to analyse the processes by which teachers are allocated into increasingly diverse working and professional conditions; and [4] to model and predict teacher attrition and migration within a common but differentiated multilevel framework.
Regarding [1], we found empirical support for EU teacher policy as a bridging issue field, characterised by relatively slow and non-linear change, and demonstrate the elaboration of issue framings and institutional infrastructure, as well as the mobilisation of actors and networks, since the mid-2000s (Sorensen & Dumay, 2024). We also demonstrated the limited capacity of teacher unions and professional associations in this field despite their intensified activities (Sorensen & Dumay, 2023), which contrasts with the increased regulatory capacity of the EC based on the EU Semester. At the domestic level, we found highly contrasted trajectories of teacher policies in England and in France. England has since the mid-1980s undergone a process of de-regulation and increased marketisation under a strong neo-liberal logic that has been largely triggered by the state (Helgetun & Dumay, 2021), while in France, teacher policies follow a neo-statist path characterised by the harmonization of training structures and the strengthened protection of the state-regulated internal labour market and teachers’ careers (Pons, 2021).
Regarding [2], we compared evolutions in internal and external forms of employment flexibilisation in both systems from 2005 to 2020. We found in England that the internal flexibility is more pervasive than any forms of external flexibility (Mathou et al, 2022, 2023a). We also demonstrated that the development of internal and external forms of flexibilization reflects distinct organisational and social dynamics, which have important implications for educational inequalities. Although the external flexibilisation is low on average, we found it is prevalent in low SES schools, or in under-performing schools having been forced to convert as academies. In contrast, we also found that hiring teachers working part-time is much more common in high SES schools and converter academies which indicates more voluntary forms of flexibilisation. For France, we demonstrated the strong development of external flexibilisation of teacher employment relations (e.g. contract teachers) in line with the hypothesis of dualisation of the employment regime (Bertron et al, 2023; Dumay, 2024). We also found that teachers employed on the basis of non-standard employment relations have been progressively desegregated over time, with strong implications for the status of the teaching profession and the quality of teaching on average.
Regarding [3] and [4], we demonstrated, in England, the striking fragmentation in career types and forms of commitment that we can directly relate to teacher policies in terms of the fragmentation of labour markets, the flexibilisation of work conditions, and the multiplication of teacher training models (Mathou et al, 2023b). In France, analyses indicated the rising precariousness of employment linked to the developing dualisation and the gradual destandardization of employment relations and work conditions (Bertron et al., 2023).
Regarding [1], we found empirical support for EU teacher policy as a bridging issue field, characterised by relatively slow and non-linear change, and demonstrate the elaboration of issue framings and institutional infrastructure, as well as the mobilisation of actors and networks, since the mid-2000s (Sorensen & Dumay, 2024). We also demonstrated the limited capacity of teacher unions and professional associations in this field despite their intensified activities (Sorensen & Dumay, 2023), which contrasts with the increased regulatory capacity of the EC based on the EU Semester. At the domestic level, we found highly contrasted trajectories of teacher policies in England and in France. England has since the mid-1980s undergone a process of de-regulation and increased marketisation under a strong neo-liberal logic that has been largely triggered by the state (Helgetun & Dumay, 2021), while in France, teacher policies follow a neo-statist path characterised by the harmonization of training structures and the strengthened protection of the state-regulated internal labour market and teachers’ careers (Pons, 2021).
Regarding [2], we compared evolutions in internal and external forms of employment flexibilisation in both systems from 2005 to 2020. We found in England that the internal flexibility is more pervasive than any forms of external flexibility (Mathou et al, 2022, 2023a). We also demonstrated that the development of internal and external forms of flexibilization reflects distinct organisational and social dynamics, which have important implications for educational inequalities. Although the external flexibilisation is low on average, we found it is prevalent in low SES schools, or in under-performing schools having been forced to convert as academies. In contrast, we also found that hiring teachers working part-time is much more common in high SES schools and converter academies which indicates more voluntary forms of flexibilisation. For France, we demonstrated the strong development of external flexibilisation of teacher employment relations (e.g. contract teachers) in line with the hypothesis of dualisation of the employment regime (Bertron et al, 2023; Dumay, 2024). We also found that teachers employed on the basis of non-standard employment relations have been progressively desegregated over time, with strong implications for the status of the teaching profession and the quality of teaching on average.
Regarding [3] and [4], we demonstrated, in England, the striking fragmentation in career types and forms of commitment that we can directly relate to teacher policies in terms of the fragmentation of labour markets, the flexibilisation of work conditions, and the multiplication of teacher training models (Mathou et al, 2023b). In France, analyses indicated the rising precariousness of employment linked to the developing dualisation and the gradual destandardization of employment relations and work conditions (Bertron et al., 2023).
In the end, the TeachersCareers project has significantly advanced the research field by:
- theorizing mechanisms of globalization/europeanisation of teacher policies based on the types of fields theory (Zietsma et al, 2017);
- demonstrating the impact of the employment liberalization pathways on the work and employment precariousness in the education sector in England and in France;
- developing a comprehensive typology of the teaching profession regulation integrating the teachers’ education, employment and governance (Voisin & Dumay, 2020), and the effects that different types of teaching profession regulation have on teachers and the teaching workforce.
- theorizing mechanisms of globalization/europeanisation of teacher policies based on the types of fields theory (Zietsma et al, 2017);
- demonstrating the impact of the employment liberalization pathways on the work and employment precariousness in the education sector in England and in France;
- developing a comprehensive typology of the teaching profession regulation integrating the teachers’ education, employment and governance (Voisin & Dumay, 2020), and the effects that different types of teaching profession regulation have on teachers and the teaching workforce.