Flying under the radar: Secondary school arts teachers’ perceptions of their practice autonomy in New Zealand and England

Thorpe, Vicki and Kinsella, Victoria (2020) Flying under the radar: Secondary school arts teachers’ perceptions of their practice autonomy in New Zealand and England. Journal of Curriculum Studies. ISSN 0022-0272

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Abstract

New Zealand has its educational roots in 19th and 20th century British educational systems with close similarities between English and New Zealand secondary school education structures. In the last two decades, however, secondary school education in both countries has experienced multiple and sometimes radical reforms. Educational policy has diverged markedly at times. In this article, we present the findings of research into the professional autonomy of 15 secondary school music, art and drama teachers from England and New Zealand. The aim was to explore whether educational policy impacts arts teaching practice, and to what extent teachers in both countries believe themselves to be professionally autonomous. Findings suggest despite similarities between jurisdictions, England teachers report a highly performative regime that restricts, governs and isolates them and the subject in school. This contrasts a progressive, even permissive, professional environment where the New Zealand teachers believe their students’ needs come first and feel primarily accountable to their local and disciplinary communities.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1080/00220272.2020.1767215
Dates:	Date Event 8 May 2020 Accepted 19 May 2020 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	arts, teaching, professionalism, performativity, assessment, autonomy
Subjects:	CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-01 - education
Divisions:	Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > Centre for Study of Practice and Culture in Education (C-SPACE)
Depositing User:	Victoria Kinsella
Date Deposited:	14 May 2020 13:41
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2022 17:02
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/9233

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