Professional Lives and Identities Of

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD RA SARGEANT THE IMPACT OF MARKETISATION ON THE PROFESSIONAL LIVES AND IDENTITIES OF BLACK PRACTITIONERS IN UK FURTHER EDUCATION A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION 2007 THE IMPACT OF MARKETISATION ON THE PROFESSIONAL LIVES AND IDENTITIES OF BLACK PRACTITIONERS IN UK FURTHER EDUCATION RICHARD ATHELSTAN SARGEANT A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD MARCH 2007 ABSTRACT The extent to which marketisation has impacted on the professional lives and career development of black practitioners within UK further education has been largely overlooked. Most studies have assumed a homogeneity of experience of the managerialism which resulted from the enactment of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Using a phenomenological approach, this study explores the experiences of ten black educators within further education, interpreted from their narrated professional life stories. The respondents revealed the clash between race and markets and the impact which this had both on their own careers, and on the opportunities offered to black students within further education. The research reveals the professional identities taken up by the ten respondents in response to marketisation, and develops a new typology of black professional identity which demonstrates the plurality of responses amongst black educators, and the consequences of taking up particular identities on career development. This study also reveals that, despite national initiatives which claim to be designed to increase the diversity of the further education workforce, most respondents were either leaving, or were seeking to leave, the further education sector. This study gives voice to the changes to policy and practice which respondents considered essential if race equality is to be delivered within further education, and seeks to render visible the experiences and concerns of a largely overlooked cohort within the further education workforce. DEDICATION For all those members of my family and friends who have encouraged and supported me in undertaking this work, and for all black professionals within the further education system. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor William Richardson for his guidance and support in relation to the early development of this study, and Dr Melanie Walker for her advice, support and encouragement through the later stages. My particular thanks go to the ten respondents who contributed to this research. Despite their busy professional lives, they willingly gave their time and commitment to enable me to collect the data on which this study is based. My thanks go also to all those other black educators who showed interest in the research, and whose belief in its value and importance encouraged and sustained me. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION PAGE Chapter 1: Introduction to the Research Origins and Purpose of the Research 1 The Research Focus 1 The Research Aims 2 The Research Questions 3 The Rationale for the Study 5 The MethodologicalApproach 6 The Structure of the Thesis 7 PART II: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Chapter 2: Experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic Pupils Introduction 10 Situating Race and Educational Research Historically 11 Assimilation and Integration Policies 16 The Emergence of Multiculturalism 21 Demonstrating and Portraying Racism through New Forms of Educational Research 27 Still Invisible 30 Turning to Further Education Studies 32 Antiracism and its Critics 34 Chapter 3: Experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic Teachers and Educators Introduction 38 Black and Minority Ethnic Professionals: Research, Policy and Careers 39 Barriers Faced by Aspiring and Newly Qualified Black Teachers 42 Early Career Experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic Teachers 46 Summing up 50 Black Professional Narratives 51 Black and Minority Ethnic Educators within UK Higher Education 55 Race, Research, Careers and Studentship in UK Further Education 57 Chapter 4: Marketisation, Race and Research Introduction 69 Interrogating the Concept of Marketisation in English Education Policy and Reform 70 Impact of Marketisation on Further Education 73 Professional Identity and Performativity 82 Debating Neoliberal Reforms in Education 87 Critiquing 'Choice' 90 Interrogating Discourses around Race, Staffing and Markets 94 Interrogating the Role of Race within Research Discourses dealing with the Effects of Marketisation on School and College Settings 96 Further Education, Marketisation and Race 101 Race, Consumers and Provider Perspectives on Further Education 106 Race and Consumer Perceptions and Behaviour within a Local Post-16 Education and Training Market 109 PART III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Chapter 5: Methodological Approach Introduction and Overview 112 Justification for the Research 113 Positioning the Research in Relation to the Fieldwork 114 Race of Interviewer Effects 118 Research Instruments 120 Ethical Issues 124 Research Respondents 126 Analysing the Narratives and Producing Data 139 Summary 141 PART IV: FINDINGS Chapter 6: Reforms, Markets, and the Experiences of Black Practitioners Introduction 142 The Accession Phase - Becoming a Further Education Practitioner 143 Incumbency Phase - Experiences as a Black Educator in Further Education 148 Career Development during Incumbency 154 Impact of Isolation and Hostility 158 Impact of Marketisation and Managerialism 162 Divestiture The Phase - Envisioning the Future 168 Changes to Policy and Practice - Voices of Black Professionals 176 Chapter 7: Responses to Managerial and Market Forces Introduction 181 A Typology of Black Professional Identity within UK Further Education Settings 181 Nancy and Black Strategic Conformity 189 Anthony and Black Survivalism 198 Henderson and Taking up of an Identity as a Black Outsider 201 Jane and Black Collectivism 210 Summary 219 PART V: CONCLUSIONS Chapter 8: Marketisation and the Futures of Black Practitioners within UK Further Education Introduction 220 The Implementation Effects of Marketisation on the Employment Experiences and Career Development of Black Practitioners 223 Interpreting the Responses of Black Further Education Practitioners to Marketisation 226 Theorising the Dynamics Surrounding the Taking Up of Black Professional Identity 228 Marketisation, Black Professionals, and Future Research 233 Giving Voice to Black Practitioners - Policy and Practice Issues to Promote Race Equality in Further Education 236 Final Reflections 238 REFERENCES APPENDICES APPENDIX TITLE Letter to Respondents Introducing the Research Project Questionnaire Interview schedule LIST OF TABLES TABLE TITLE PAGE Introducing the Respondents 129 2 Respondents' Career Paths in Further Education 133 3 Respondents' Future Career Intentions 169 4 Policy and Practice - an Agenda for Change 176 5 Analysis of Respondent Identities 184 LIST OF CHARTS CHART TITLE PAGE Age and Gender of Respondents 129 2 Positions Held by Respondents at the Time of Being Interviewed 130 3 Number of Years Respondents had Worked in Further Education at the Time of Being Interviewed 131 4 Subject Areas Taught by Respondents 131 5 Qualifications Held by Respondents 132 GLOSSARY OF PHRASES AND ABBREVIATIONS Wlevel GCE Advanced level qualification Access courses Provision for adult returners in further education wanting to gain equivalent qualifications to GCSE and 'A' level Black Person who is a member of a black or minority ethnic community FE Further Education GNVQ General National Vocational Qualification, a vocational qualification broadly equivalent to three'A' levels HE Higher education Head of School A middle management position with responsibilities for managing a budget, a team of staff and the related curriculum areas PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education Programme Manager A first step management position with responsibilities for organising courses in a specific curriculum area Section 11 Home Office funding stream supporting special short term projects promoting race equality Visiting teacher/ Hourly paid part time further education lecturer lecturer 730 City and Guilds Certificate Number 730, which is the initial teacher training qualification for further education lecturers CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH Origins and Purpose of the Research This study originates in my own biography as a black professional educator working in the further education sector within the UK over a period of some twenty years. The term 'black' is used throughout this study to mean people who belong to minority ethnic groups, although the fieldwork focused mainly on professionals from the Afro Caribbean communities. The period of my experience spans the introduction of market led reforms, which have dramatically changed the primary focus within further education from student centred provision, within which lecturers defined their professionalism around teaching, learning and supporting their students, to a culture of market imperatives wherein meeting the needs of employers has superseded the previous teacher professionalism, and managerialism has become the predominant discourse to replace it (Ainley and Bailey 1997, Shain and Gleeson 1999). Given the impact of these changes on my own experiences within further education, and given the experiences amongst other black professionals within the further education sector whom I knew through professional networks, I became convinced that the impact of marketisation on black educators was a phenomenon which merited further

Load more