Howard Stevenson | University of Nottingham (original) (raw)

Papers by Howard Stevenson

Educational Review, 2018

The 2007-2008 global financial crisis and associated recession placed the national economies of a... more The 2007-2008 global financial crisis and associated recession placed the national economies of all EU Member States under extraordinary pressure. With fears over the long-term sustainability of public finances in the region, the European Commission and the EU-27 1 took measures to stabilise debt and consolidate fiscal deficits. These actions led to a curtailment of public sector spending and a re-prioritization of funding towards crisis-hit areas such as health and social protection. So, whilst public investment in high quality education and training was considered vital to renewed economic growth, productivity and competitiveness, somewhat paradoxically, the education sector was affected considerably by these wider budgetary constraints (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2013).

Research Papers in Education, 2017

The teacher preparation landscape in England has been subject to radical policy change. Since 201... more The teacher preparation landscape in England has been subject to radical policy change. Since 2010 the policy agenda has repositioned initial teacher preparation as a craft best learnt through observation and imitation of teachers in school settings. Simultaneously a market based approach to the recruitment of pre-service teachers has led to significant changes for prospective entrants to the profession. In the enactment of policy between 2010-2015, the roles of universities and voices of prospective teachers were systematically silenced. Using critical discourse analysis we demonstrate how both actors have been positioned in, and have accommodated and resisted, the current policy discourses. These findings highlight the importance of problematizing and understanding these emerging issues at local and international levels.

FORUM, 2013

Teachers in England and Wales are involved in the largest campaign of industrial action since the... more Teachers in England and Wales are involved in the largest campaign of industrial action since the mid-1980s. At the heart of their grievances are government plans to abolish a national framework for teachers' pay and the removal of important safeguards relating to working conditions. Wider questions of workload and pensions are also involved. This article argues that the changes to teachers' pay and working conditions cannot be divorced from the wider objective of establishing a largely privatised system of state-subsidised schooling. Such a goal is based on a much-changed vision of teaching, which in turns assumes a low-cost, flexible and fragmented workforce. The article seeks to link the changes proposed to teachers' pay and conditions to wider changes in the nature of teaching as work and the future of teaching as a profession. It argues that the teachers' pay dispute opens up important possibilities to interrupt the trajectory of current policy and to create spaces to present alternative visions of the future of teaching and what a democratic and public education system might look like.

Journal of In-Service Education, 2008

Teacher education and continuing professional development have become key areas of controversy in... more Teacher education and continuing professional development have become key areas of controversy in England since the period of school-sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently, teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the government's 'standards agenda'. However, the emerging discourse of 'new professionalism' has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and, together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachers' access to continuing professional development. This article argues, however, that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsci's notion of the 'organic intellectual', the article argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas-creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged.

Education policy is high on the agenda of governments across the world. global pressures focus in... more Education policy is high on the agenda of governments across the world. global pressures focus increasingl attention on the outcomes of education policy and on their implications for economic prosperity and social citizenship. The experience of each individual learner is therefore decisively shaped by the wider policy environment. However, there is often an underdeveloped understanding of how education policy is formed, what drives it and how it impacts on schools and colleges. This book explicitly makes these connections and links these to the wider challenges of educational leadership in a contemporary context. Education Policy: Process, Themes and Impacts is divided into three sections and explores and links three key aspects of policy: 'Policy and Education' focuses on the development of policy at the level of both the nation-state and the individual institution. 'Themes in Educational Policy' explores the forces that shape policy with a particular emphasis on the themes of human capital theory, citizenship and social justice and accountability. 'The Impact of Educational Policy' illustrates how policy develops in practice through three research-based case studies, which highlight the application of policy in a range of situations from the development of school-based policies in multi-ethnic communities to the formulation and implementation of strategic policy and planning in international contexts. This book is dedicated to Sue and Kate in appreciation of their tolerance and support and to Steven, Georgina and Tom with best wishes for their future Contents List of illustrations xi Series editors' foreword xii Acknowledgements xiv Introduction: education policy, themes and impact 1 PART I Policy and education 5 1 What is education policy? 7 2 Investigating the sites of policy development PART II Themes in educational policy 3 Educational policy and human capital 4 Education policy, citizenship and social justice 5 Accountability, autonomy and choice PART III The impact of educational policy 6 Policy, strategy and leadership (with Daniel Chan) x Contents 7 Reconciling equity and economy: a case-study of Educational Action Zones in England 8 Citizenship and social justice: developing education policy in multi-ethnic schools 9 Conclusion Bibliography Index We would like to acknowledge the help given to us in writing this book by all our colleagues at the Centre for Educational Leadership and Management, School of Education, University of Leicester. We are very grateful to Bernard Barker and Ann Briggs for their perceptive comments on earlier drafts. Thanks are also due to our students for their helpful suggestions. We are especially grateful to

High stakes testing has been long established in the English school system. In this article, we s... more High stakes testing has been long established in the English school system. In this article, we seek to demonstrate how testing has become pivotal to securing the neo-liberal restructuring of schools, that commenced during the Thatcher era, and is reaching a critical point at the current time. Central to this project has been the need to assert increased control over teachers' work and this is being achieved through a pincer movement of marketisation and managerialism. Both of these 'policy technologies' require the value of individual teachers' work to be measured and quantified, and in this article we seek to demonstrate how high stakes testing underpins these processes. The article concludes by making the case for reclaiming teaching as a professional process, within the context of education, as a public good and conducted in a public space.

Leadership and Policy in Schools, 2016

The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. I... more The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.

Peabody Journal of Education, 2017

Teachers face considerable and increasing pressure in their working lives. Labor intensification ... more Teachers face considerable and increasing pressure in their working lives. Labor intensification compels teachers to work faster, harder and longer. However, teachers also experience increasing external control over what they teach and how they teach. These processes are increasingly made possible by the "datafication" of teaching, whereby the educational process is increasingly transformed into numbers that allow measurement, comparison and the functioning of high stakes accountability systems linked to rewards and sanctions. Whilst there is no question that being able to use student assessment data to support learning has an important place in teachers' repertoire of skills, "datafication" refers to the use of data in a way that has become increasingly detached from supporting learning and is much more concerned with the management of teacher performance as an end in itself. This article presents two currents of critical thought in relation to teachers' work, labor process theory and post-structural analyses grounded in the concept of performativity, and discusses them as a way of "making sense" of teachers' work and the "datafication" of teaching, with a particular focus on questions of control and resistance. It seeks to understand why, despite the pressures on teachers, teacher resistance has seldom developed in ways, at times, or on a scale, that both experience and theoretical insight might have predicted. There are clearly significant differences between the two perspectives presented in this article, not least in the ways they conceptualize and explain "resistance." However common ground is identifiable and the two theoretical approaches can be bridged in a form that can be productive for those seeking to "speak back to the numbers." In looking to broker this theoretical divide, I argue that frame theory, rooted within the sociology of social Running head: THE "DATAFICATION" OF TEACHING 4 movements, can offer a fruitful way of theory bridging, whilst also providing the basis for a wider politics of transformation. The article offers several examples of grassroots initiatives formed to oppose standardized testing in England and which provide practical examples of this "ideas work" in action.

School Leadership & Management, 2003

Teachers are highly unionised workers and their trade unions exert an important influence on the ... more Teachers are highly unionised workers and their trade unions exert an important influence on the shaping and implementation of educational policy. Despite this importance there is relatively little analysis of the impact of teacher trade unions in educational management literature. Very little empirical research has sought to establish the impact of teacher unions at school level. In an era of devolved management and quasi-markets this omission is significant. New personnel issues continue to emerge at school level and this may well generate increased trade union activity at the workplace. This article explores the extent to which devolved management is drawing school-based union representation into a more prominent role. It argues that whilst there can be significant differences between individual schools, increased school autonomy is raising the profile of trade union activity in the workplace, and this needs to be better reflected in educational management research.

Professional Development in Education

Workplace a Journal For Academic Labor, Sep 17, 2010

Workplace has traditionally been concerned with issues relating to the university sector and high... more Workplace has traditionally been concerned with issues relating to the university sector and higher education more generally and this invitation from the editors represents a welcome recognition of the need to link developments across educational sectors. It is important to look at how we can learn from each other, and ultimately how we can develop collective capacity for progressive change by making connections, not perpetuating divisions.

Journal of School Choice, 2015

FORUM, 2009

The global capitalist crisis is impacting dramatically across nation states and their economies. ... more The global capitalist crisis is impacting dramatically across nation states and their economies. Although a complete collapse of the system appears to have been avoided by decisions to take co-ordinated interventionist action to shore up short term demand, governments have generally rejected the more radical actions required to address the fundamental issues posed by the crisis. This is likely to have significant and long term consequences for education policy. In this article the importance of understanding the relationship between education policy and the wider economy is emphasised, as is the extent to which the shape of the former is increasingly driven by the imperatives of the latter. The article begins by exploring the relationship between education policy and the economy, and then identifies ways in which the current economic crisis is likely to shape education policy in the short and medium term. It argues that whilst the consequences for education policy are likely to be deeply damaging, there are new opportunities to reassert the case for education as a public good based on the values of local democracy and economic stability.

Work, Employment and Society, 2012

Early attempts to examine the labour process of teaching concentrated on the processes of de-skil... more Early attempts to examine the labour process of teaching concentrated on the processes of de-skilling and proletarianization and were largely ignored. Subsequent attempts to amend the approach have had similarly limited impact. This article examines the restructuring of teachers’ work during the last Labour government under the auspices of ‘workforce remodelling’, a policy intended ostensibly to reduce workload pressures on teachers. Rather than this outcome, the result was the further division of labour and increased intensity and control of teachers’ work through the extension of managerial hierarchies within schools. These developments, it is argued, are best captured and explained by an analysis informed by labour process theory. The account is based on the results of two years’ funded research involving extensive interviews with education officials and trade union officers at national and local authority level, and head teachers and other staff in 12 schools located in three co...

Journal of Educational Administration, 2006

... This deficit is likely to worsen therefore as structural pressures push societal expectations... more ... This deficit is likely to worsen therefore as structural pressures push societal expectations inexorably upwards, whilst economic and other constraints ensure that the resources sufficient for the task are rarely available. ... Beck, U. (1992), Risk Society: Towards a New ...

Journal of Educational Administration, 2007

Purpose – This paper explores how school leaders seek to promote social justice agendas within th... more Purpose – This paper explores how school leaders seek to promote social justice agendas within the context of multi-ethnic schools in England. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on data from five case-study secondary schools in England. Qualitative data was derived from interviewing principals in each institution together with interviews with staff, students and members of the wider community. Findings –

Professional Development in Education, 2012

Teacher leadership has become an area of significant interest in research and policy terms in rec... more Teacher leadership has become an area of significant interest in research and policy terms in recent years. However, as a form of leadership it remains orthodox and conservative, rooted in largely traditional managerialist hierarchies, and disconnected from a critique of the wider policy imperatives that shape the contexts in which leadership is constructed. This article reports on an evaluation study

ABSTRACT: In the United Kingdom, teachers' professional associations and labor organizations... more ABSTRACT: In the United Kingdom, teachers' professional associations and labor organizations, notably in the form of trade unions have historically been involved in education and training in the workplace. Recently, in the United Kingdom this activity has gained greater credence and importance due to the emergence of trade union learning representatives who are a new category of unpaid lay representation with statutory rights who operate within the workplace. They are part of the present UK government's drive to ...