Working in a Survival School: Exploring Policy Tensions, Marketisation and Performativities

Working in a Survival School explores how global educational policies influence school cultures and the lives of educators and educational leaders. It documents the experiences of educators at a Catholic college in survival mode, revealing the school as a bounded space subject to competing forces. The book highlights the discursive and material effects of policy on educators and how leaders engage in stratagems to promote the school. It is of interest to educators, school leaders, and academics in educational policy studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 172 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Working in a Survival School delves into the profound impact of global educational policies on school cultures and the lives of educators and educational leaders. Through extensive research, the book traces the everyday work and experiences of educators within an all-boys Catholic college facing an unprecedented decline in enrolment numbers, placing the school in a state of survival.

Drawing upon Dorothy Smith's scholarship on Institutional Ethnography, the authors meticulously document how the school operated and how its survival efforts shaped the daily routines of educators. Institutional ethnography unveils the school as a complex space, influenced by a multitude of historical, political, and economic forces at play. By exploring the discursive and material effects of policy on the work and identities of educators, the authors shed light on how the marketization of education shapes the everyday experience of being an educator and how leaders employ strategic measures to promote the school as a vehicle of educational excellence and quality to attract students.

Building upon existing scholarship in educational policy studies and new public management, Working in a Survival School critically examines how the global marketization of education systems manifests in a school fighting for its survival. This book holds immense interest for educators, school leaders, and academics passionate about understanding the intricacies of policy enactment and its profound effects on educational institutions.

Weight: 500g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032354569