What effects do profit, performativity, and competition have on the day to day experiences of teachers in an international school in Taiwan?Tools Svendsen, Martyn Nils (2018) What effects do profit, performativity, and competition have on the day to day experiences of teachers in an international school in Taiwan? [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
AbstractThe for-profit educational model, which originated out of neoliberal market ideologies, has had steady growth within the international educational landscape for the past twenty years. Imbedded within this system is a competitive ethos that aims to prove itself through performative, audit based initiatives. It is the purpose of this paper to analyze how performativity, competition, and standardization have impacted the individual realities of teachers working within a for-profit international school in Taiwan. The data was generated out of five in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews that were conducted at the end of the final semester of school. The interviews were recorded digitally and then transcribed for analysis. Key themes that arose out of the data pointed to a lack of trust given to the teachers to be self-determining educators able to have an active involvement in the direction of the school. This left a number of participants feeling disenfranchised to the point that, in some instances, they felt forced to fabricate practices to meet the perceived needs of parents and administration. They also suggested a lack of structure directed by a leadership that was not educationally focused but rather made decisions based on profit maximization. Resultantly, the participants were increasingly antagonistic towards administrators and also other teachers within the school. Arguably, the for-profit education model, with is over emphasis on individual entrepreneurialism, competition, and accountability is not conducive to creating a community focused educational environment. What is crucial is a supportive leadership that acknowledges the efforts of its teaching staff. Though the study is small in scale, and would benefit from a deepening of breadth and context, it does support and strengthen similar research in the field.
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