Secondary school arts teachers’ practice autonomy perceptions in New Zealand and England

Abstract

is a senior lecturer in education, specialising in secondary school music education and initial teacher education. A former secondary school teacher and in-service teacher-educator, her research interests include secondary school curriculum, the relationship between creativity and assessment, and teacher identity.Dr Victoria Kinsella is senior research fellow in education researching arts education and creativity. She has worked on a number of creative arts research projects in various contexts including schools, prisons, galleries, arts centres and with educational agencies. Her research interests include creativity, partnership and assessment. Secondary school arts teachers' perceptions of their practice autonomy in New Zealand and England.New Zealand has its educational roots in 19 th and 20 th century British educational systems with close similarities between English and New Zealand secondary school education structures. In the last two decades, however, secondary school education in both countries has experienced multiple and sometimes radical reforms. Educational policy has diverged markedly at times. In this article, we present the findings of research into the professional autonomy of 15 secondary school music, art and drama teachers from England and New Zealand. The aim was to explore whether educational policy impacts arts teaching practice, and to what extent teachers in both countries believe themselves to be professionally autonomous. Findings suggest despite similarities between jurisdictions, England teachers report a highly performative regime that restricts, governs and isolates them and the subject in school. This contrasts a progressive, even permissive, professional environment where the New Zealand teachers believe their students' needs come first and feel primarily accountable to their local and disciplinary communities.

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“…In England, the effects of performativity remain pervasive. It even impacts teachers of non-core subjects, as illustrated by Thorpe and Kinsella (2021) in their comparative study in England and New Zealand of arts teachers' autonomy and perspective of whom they are accountable to.…”

New Zealand violin teaching contexts and their impact on teacher practice in private studios and out-of-hours music centres.

“…Teacher B's sayings indicated much the same with an obligation to help her students achieve to the best of their abilities. While the contexts are vastly different (Thorpe & Kinsella, 2020) and there is a lack of curriculum regulation in the PS, the teachers appeared to demonstrate similar behaviour in being responsively accountable to the student at hand. It is important to note the difference in ease in the PS-a context in which the teachers had no national regulatory body nor large classrooms that would impact the teacher's ability to be responsively accountable towards their students.…”

“…Responsive accountability is more student-focussed, with obligation towards the student rather than an external body (Halstead, 1994;Thorpe & Kinsella, 2020). Thorpe and Kinsella (2020) found New Zealand secondary school arts teachers to be responsively accountable to their students, with teachers feeling more obligated to their students than external structures. The interview data indicated the teachers felt more accountable to their students in the PS.…”

“…There are more regulations regarding teacher qualification in a public music education setting (Upitis et al, 2017;Bridges, 1988). Many public music settings are measured and monitored by external bodies such as government agencies and curricula (Thorpe & Kinsella, 2020;Bridges, 1988), with many of these settings having access to professional development (Bridges, 1988). The observed OoHM centre did not provide professional development for their teachers, seemingly leaving teachers to rely heavily on their inherited and past education experiences.…”

New Zealand violin teaching contexts and their impact on teacher practice in private studios and out-of-hours music centres.

“…Contractual and responsive accountability (Thorpe & Kinsella, 2020) played a large role in the teacher's practice, with the context affecting who the teachers were accountable to. In the PS, teachers were contractually accountable to the parents.…”