Chapter 1 Introduction and Method Chapter 1 Introduction and method 5 Chapter 1 Introduction and Method Introduction This thesis aims to investigate how globalisation and the restructuring of industry in Australia have impacted on employment patterns and gender relations in the education industry in New South Wales, Australia. In particular it examines the impact of globalisation on the decision-making processes of high school teachers with non-standard working patterns, particularly casual employment. Globalisation is a much debated and somewhat contested concept. There are many myths surrounding its processes and its effects. The term encompasses the rise of supranational political and economic institutions that constrain the actions of the governments of nation states; the increasing interconnection of economic processes such as production, consumption, trade, capital and monetary flows; increasingly global forms of culture such as the media, technology and communication, and their impact on local cultural identities; and the rise of neoliberalism as a hegemonic policy discourse. That is, the processes of globalisation include discursive and material components with political, economic, cultural and ideological aspects. Globalisation is also a highly gendered process. The institutions and structures of globalisation, such as international relations, international trade and global markets and the supranational political and economic organisations are highly gendered. Globalisation may have differential impacts on men and women at the local level in terms of access to stable employment, welfare services and other resources. While many feminists and gender theorists have begun to examine the gendered nature of globalisation, very few globalisation theorists have incorporated gender into their analyses. This thesis brings the gendered aspects of global restructuring into focus. In terms of the education industry, particularly at the secondary school level, the direct impact of the global labour market is less obvious than in 6 Chapter 1 Introduction and Method other economic sectors. School education cannot be shifted off-shore, nor can it be shifted to a more capital-intensive basis. School teachers are relatively highly skilled, yet teacher shortages have not resulted in increased occupational rates of pay. These factors seem to suggest that less direct processes of globalisation may be at play within the industry. Indirect processes of globalisation may include economic restructuring and the ideological constructions associated with restructuring, such as neoliberalism or economic rationalism. In Australia, these processes can be seen at work in the economic restructuring of trade and investment, industry and production, as well as in the restructuring of the state. A particular aspect of restructuring in Australia has been labour market restructuring. Under labour market restructuring the Australian labour market has changed from a highly collectivised, centralised system to a system that is more highly individualised and decentralised. These restructuring processes may have differential impacts on men and women and their access to employment. This thesis addresses the ways in which economic and labour market restructuring have impacted on gender relations both in the workplace and in the household for workers in the secondary education sector. Feminists argue that women’s unequal power in society is, in part, due to their position in the labour market (Game, Pringle, & Grace, 1983; Walby, 1990; Van Krieken et al., 2000). Women’s unequal pay and poor access to rights and entitlements have been linked to the gender division of labour and gender segregation (O'Donnell & Hall, 1988; Pocock, 1998). With the ongoing process of labour market restructuring a number of writers identify an extra layer of disadvantage for women in the labour market, the peripheralisation of women’s employment (Walby, 1997). That is, women are increasingly concentrated in non-standard forms of employment or in part-time, temporary or casual work. These forms of work both peripheralise women from the decision-making processes within the workplace and create a secondary status in terms of employment rights and entitlements. In this thesis the changes in the 7 Chapter 1 Introduction and Method Australian labour market over the last 30 years are examined to identify whether non-standard forms of employment have had such an impact on teachers working within the secondary education sector. In response to the contention that labour market restructuring is peripheralising women within the labour market, the Howard Coalition Government has argued that women today have greater choice to combine a career and family responsibilities through casual, part-time and temporary employment, and that it is the operation of individual choice that has led to increases in non-standard forms of employment (Reith, 2000). This thesis addresses the question of whether global, structural economic and labour market change or individual decision- making processes have greater impact on the employment patterns of men and women working in the education industry. Globalisation, through the ideological component of neoliberalism, has also led to public sector reform. Reform in public education has resulted in an embrace of free-market principles in education, leading to changing approaches to staff selection and employment practices. Free-market principles also lead to the use of language emphasising individual choice for parents. However, public education is not merely a site of the implementation of neoliberal and market-based agendas. Public education may also be a site of resistance to such agendas. This thesis investigates how casual teachers may resist changes to workplace relations driven by global imperatives. This thesis examines various models of globalisation seeking a theoretical framework which may help to explain the changing nature of employment in the education industry in Australia. It reviews the process and patterns of structural change within Australia and the changing patterns of employment, overall and in the education industry. It examines how the changing management practices and policies in the New South Wales public sector and the education sector have impacted 8 Chapter 1 Introduction and Method on employment practices and gender relations. It explores the personal experiences of casual teachers in dealing with these inputs. The thesis investigates the implications of non-standard forms of employment and the intersection between gender relations in the household and gender relations in the workplace. It addresses the issue of whether such gender relations further peripheralise women in the education industry and prevent them from participating in employment on an equal basis with men. It examines the organisational, cultural and personal factors which shape the patterns of employment among women and men within the education industry in New South Wales, as well as canvassing the broader models developed to explain the increasing casualisation of work globally. Chapter structure Chapter one provides an introduction and discussion of method. Chapter two examines a number of theoretical models for understanding globalisation and considers the particular relationships between globalisation and the education industry in Australia. It examines globalisation models such as: Wallerstein’s “world systems” analysis, Lash and Urry’s theory of disorganised capitalism, post-modernist approaches, and the theory of reflexive modernity proposed by Beck, Giddens and Lash. A gender critique of these theories is made and their relevance to Australia is evaluated. Chapters three, four and five group together structural factors that frame employment decisions and working patterns of the case study teachers. These chapters trace the impact of globalisation on the experiences of individuals through national and state policy responses. Chapter three examines the issues of globalisation and the agency of the nation-state. The chapter maps the dimensions of structural change in Australia, and examines the role of the state in the globalising 9 Chapter 1 Introduction and Method process, delineating the role of government policy in “opening” the economy to globalised competition and in restructuring the state. The chapter also examines the social restructuring of class and gender in Australia achieved through globalisation and government intervention. Chapters four and five examine particular aspects of the restructuring process in Australia. Chapter four analyses changes in the social relations of work and the growth of non-traditional employment. It identifies change in the institutional structures of the Australian labour market and examines the implications of labour market restructuring for employment practices and remuneration of school teachers at the local level. Chapter five examines the ideological underpinnings of public sector reform. It maps the changing parameters of the public sector and analyses new-managerialist techniques used for implementing change. It examines the implications of public sector reform for gender relations in employment and for the public education system. Chapters six, seven and eight focus on the individual experiences of casual teachers interviewed in the field study. Chapter six examines the respondents’ experiences of casual teaching. It outlines the nature of casual work in public education, providing details of the types of casual work