Fault Line: Educational Discourse and Teachers' Work Gloria Lee A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIESIN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO MAY 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de ('edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-68328-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-68328-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Abstract This dissertation probes the fault line between institutional discourses and the lived classroom realities of teachers' work. Using Institutional Ethnography, a method of inquiry pioneered by Dorothy Smith (1987 1999), I examined through the fault line how teachers' work was ensnared in, and circumscribed by the assumptions and contradictions embedded in institutional discourses and practices, and exposed the disjunctures therein. I examined, described and analyzed the taken- for-granted, often invisible complex of social relations that "organize, coordinate, regulate, guide and control contemporary society" (D. Smith 1987, p. 152). Data from interviews of a Student Achievement Officer, teachers (19) and administrators (3) in three schools in a large metropolitan area in southern Ontario reveal the technologies of control and the curriculum reforms in the flesh. The practitioners' voices inform us not only of their ambivalences, frustrations, anxieties and despair but also of the myriad ways institutional procedures, routines and priorities impact their work and classrooms, and of their own ways of coping with the new demands and realities. iv This dissertation places the change in educational discourse in its social, economic and political contexts. It will be shown that it was the social-economic maelstrom that had Ontario in its grip that provided the milieu for the radical changes spawned by the three macro forces of neo-liberalism, globalization and managerialism. The changes affected not only the educational discourses, but also directly teachers' professional confidence and professionalism which in turn impact on the classroom experiences for students. I examined how the discourse of blame that managed to convert an economic problem into an educational one prepared the ground for a frontal assault on teachers and schools in the subsequent discourse of derision. These discourses combined to provide the background for the current focus on standardization, assessment and accountability. Conclusion and implications: The educational discourse of assessment, accountability and continuous Improvement is not value-neutral nor is it the engineering solution it is dressed up to be. It has changed the nature of teachers' work and transformed their status to that of a managed professional whose work is subject to surveillance, control, continual display and audit. v Acknowledgements First and foremost, I offer my heart-felt thanks to all my informants whom for reasons of confidentiality I cannot name. Nonetheless, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to them. I thank them for their candour, their generosity and their confidence in me and my project, and for believing in the importance of this kind of inquiry and critique in advancing a just and caring education for our children. I must also pay tribute to their professionalism and their dedication to duty even under very trying circumstances. As a group, they have given me cause for optimism and hope. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Alison Griffith who, in the manner of great teachers since Socrates, knew just exactly when to proffer tea and sympathy and when to turn the thumb-screw. Her influence on me has been incalculable, and my indebtedness is clearly evident throughout the pages of this dissertation. It is no exaggeration to say that without her scholarship, generosity, guidance, patience and encouragement, this dissertation would not have come to fruition. To my committee members, Drs. Didi Khayatt and Karen Krasny, a sincere thank you. I have benefited from their helpful comments, insights and encouragement. I am especially grateful for the respect shown me, my ideas and project right from the start—respect I had not yet quite earned. vi I wish to acknowledge the excellent services rendered me by the Library Services at York University. From Resource Sharing to Disability Services, I have received professional, expert, courteous and efficient services for which I am very grateful. I thank my sons, Ian and Warren, not only for their technical wizardry but also for the joy they and their family have given me. The thought of them and my pride in them have sustained me in all my undertakings through the years. To Heidi, my daughter-in-law, who has been working on her own dissertation, my thanks for the sympathy, understanding and support only a fellow sufferer could offer. To my long-suffering husband, Chyang, who despite his own grave misgivings about my peculiar ideas of retirement in general, and my project in particular, has been unstinting in his support, thank you. Through all my travails, from late-night runs to the library to countless digital search- and- rescue missions, he has been my staff and my rock. Vll Table of Contents List of Tables xii Preface ,...xiii Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1 Structure of the dissertation 13 Chapter 2 Methodology 18 The Conceptual Framework 18 Data Sources 20 Text 21 Webcasts 22 Interviews 22 Informants 24 Data Collection 24 Situating the Inquiry: About the author 28 The Researcher's Stance 31 The Research Experience 33 Chapter 3 A Tale of Three Schools 37 School A 38 The Principal 40 The Staff 42 School B 43 The Principal 44 The Staff 44 School C 47 The Principal 49 The Staff 50 Chapter 4 Disjuncture: What teachers say 53 School A 55 School B in contrast to School A 63 School C 76 Distance Diagnosis and Prescription 90 , Discussion 97 Chapter 5 Teachers' Work in historical context: Disjuncture and Changing Expectations 106 Chapter Overview 106 The Formative years in Ontario's School System 106 Where did the teacher stand? 110 Curriculum 112 Accountability and control 113 Growth and expansion 115 A Breath of Fresh Air: Restructuring the schools and teachers 115 Progressive Stirrings 116 The Restructuring of education: Hall and Dennis Report and Child-centred Education 119 Official Knowledge: Child-centred education 119 The Discourse of Natural Development 123 • The role of the teacher 127 Child-centred education on the ground 128 Accountability and control 131 Middle- class mothers and schooling: The Mothering Discourse 132 Summary and Implications 137 Chapter 6: Teachers under siege: The Changed context of Education 139 Chapter Overview 139 Socio-economic upheaval 140 Macro Forces of Neo-liberalism, globalization and New Public Management (NPM) and their impact on teacher professionalism.... 144 Neoliberalism, globalization 144 New Public Management 151 Chapter 7: Teachers under siege: The Political and cultural context for the change in discourses in education 154 The political milieu 154 Shaping the context of standardization 159 The Radwanski Report