The visibility and invisibility of performance management in schools

Page, Damien

doi:10.1002/berj.3185

Cited by 29 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…One stream of research draws upon Foucault's writings on disciplinary power (see e.g. Ball, , ; Perryman, , ; Clapham, ; Page, ). In this stream, a well‐rehearsed argument is that performative technologies work as a form of surveillance technique (O'Leary, ; Page, ,) that brings about a form of ‘mesmerising gaze’; a form of (post)panopticism that ‘imposes on those whom it subjects a principle of compulsory visibility’ which, in turn, tends to maintain ‘the disciplined individual in his subjection’ (Foucault, , p. 187).…”

Section: The Cmis‐frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

Englund

Gerdin

2019

British Educational Res J

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Critical educational literature suggests that an increased reliance upon performative technologies is currently transforming the very foundations from which teacher subjectivities are constructed. Arguably though, the number of studies pointing to this risk or tendency is considerably larger than the ones theorising why this should be the case. Further, in those cases where the relationship between performative technologies and teacher subjectivities is theorised, the psychological mechanisms that the technologies appeal to are seldom brought to the fore. Based on this, the purpose of this article is to theorise the psychological mechanisms that performative technologies appeal to and work through, by means of identifying, systematising and elaborating extant understandings of such mechanisms in the critical educational literature. The results are presented in the form of a conceptual framework (referred to as the CMIS‐framework) which suggests that one and the same performative technology may play many different roles, where each such role appeals to and works through a particular psychological mechanism. Importantly, depending on the type of psychological mechanism that is appealed to, the CMIS‐framework suggests that this will lead to teachers (un)consciously conducting particular forms of subjectivising work upon themselves, here referred to as compliance, mirroring, identification and self‐realisation (CMIS).

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Section: The Cmis‐frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

Englund

Gerdin

2019

British Educational Res J

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“…Therefore, just as surveillance in general has become increasingly sophisticated and integrated into the fabric of everyday life, so has the surveillance of teachers. Where once surveillance was temporal, focused on specific times and activities, teachers now work within an environment of normalised visibility (Page, 2015). Where once control was achieved via the potential of being watched -the panoptic uncertainty -schools and colleges are now metaphorically (and often quite literally) glass organisations (Gabriel, 2005 and where surveillance is continuous and visible, with teachers aware that they are being surveilled at all times.…”

Section: Contemporary Surveillancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 'simulation model structures the event's production and meaning, and passes judgement in advance' (Bogard, 2014, p36). Put simply, if a teacher is considered unsatisfactory during the simulation of inspection-readiness, rather than allowing them to risk damaging the future inspection outcome, they can be disciplined or, more commonly, offered a 'compromise agreement' (Page, 2015).…”

Section: Surveillance As Simulation In Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…such as Ofsted (the schools inspectorate for England) inspections, one week every 3-5 years of intense scrutiny, now teachers operate in a context of normalised visibility (Page, 2015) where they are surveilled from the moment they swipe their staff card to the moment they leave the premises, the multiple strategies of surveillance working together in assemblage. This proliferation of teacher surveillance, from learning walks to parental networks, is driven by a preoccupation with risk: the risk of a poor inspection, poor exam results, poor league table ranking, negative parental attention, bad press in the media.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The surveillance of teachers and the simulation of teaching

Page

2016

Journal of Education Policy

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Just as surveillance in general has become more sophisticated, penetrative and ubiquitous, so has the surveillance of teachers. Enacted through an assemblage of strategies such as learning walks, parental networks, student voice and management information systems, the surveillance of teachers has proliferated as a means of managing the risks of school life, driven forward by neoliberal notions of quality and competition. However, where once the surveillance of teachers was panoptic, a means of detecting the truth of teaching behind fabrications, this article argues that surveillance within schools has become a simulation in Baudrillard's terms, using models and codes such as the Teachers' Standards and the Schools Inspection Handbook as predictors of future outcomes, simulating practice as a means of managing risk. And if surveillance in schools has become a simulation then so perhaps has teaching itself, moving beyond a preoccupation with an essentialist truth of teaching to the hyperreality of normalised visibility and the simulation of teaching. This article argues that surveillance -including external agencies such as Ofsted -no longer exists to find the truth of teaching, the surveillance of teachers exists only to test the accuracy of the models and codes upon which the simulation is based. IntroductionA teacher arrives at school, swipes into the staffroom with her keycard and settles down at her desk within the open plan office as her colleagues -who arrived earlier -smile at her then look at the clock. She logs in to her PC, clicking 'OK' on the statement of permitted internet use reminding her that her activity is monitored and accesses the files containing her lesson plans for the morning lesson, entered onto the standardised lesson plan proforma that was designed by the Director of Teaching and Learning after consultation from an external inspector. After a quick check of the curriculum requirements for the topic, she prints off her last entry to the performance monitoring of her class, noting the patterns of attendance, behaviour and achievement. She walks down the glass corridor, waving at her colleagues who are already ensconced within their glass classrooms, and settles at the teacher-desk within the open plan learning space where she will facilitate learning next to the class facilitated by her Head of Department. The learning outcomes projected onto the interactive whiteboard, she begins the lesson, only marginally disturbed by the late arrival of two students who say sorry Miss but they were with the Deputy Head who was conducting a student voice session. The class settle down to student-directed learning (an external inspector in a partner school told their Executive Headteacher this was the way forward), the teacher takes pictures of each students' work and uploads it on her mobile phone to the classes' achievement website for their parents' viewing. Halfway through reviewing and recording student progress, the Headteacher arrives on a learning walk, briefly questioning her about the ...

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“…Yet technology and the mass media have engendered such massive changes in surveillance since Foucault that while surveillance theory cannot ignore the panopticon, it can more beyond it, 'accept [ing] the panoptic presence, even if only as the ghost lurking within the post-panoptic world' (Lyon, 2006, p10). While the panoptic has been regularly invoked in educational literature, especially in regards to Ofsted, more recently there is a move towards post-panopticism in understanding surveillance within education contexts (Courtney, 2014;Page, 2015). What is missing so far is a conceptualisation of the surveillance of teachers, one that is founded upon the wider surveillance studies literature (a body of literature that has moved beyond panopticism for some time).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualising the surveillance of teachers

Page

2016

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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Schools are risky places: the risk of a poor Ofsted report, the risk of sliding down league tables, the risk of teachers abusing children, the risk of teachers being falsely accused of abuse. As a result of risk anxiety and the ever increasing sophistication of technology, the surveillance of teachers has proliferated, becoming a future-oriented pursuit to manage this risk. Drawing on the surveillance studies literature, this article attempts to theorise the surveillance of teachers. Firstly it argues that there are three types of teacher surveillance: the vertical perpetuated by Ofsted and senior schools leaders such as teaching observations and learning walks, but also students recording their teachers on mobile phones; horizontal surveillance enacted by peers in terms of concertive control but also parental surveillance via online and offline networks; finally, intrapersonal surveillance embracing reflective practice, data reporting and self-policing proximity from children. The article concludes by arguing that while surveillance in schools embraces the themes of modern surveillance in general, by doggedly retaining the proximal and the interpersonal, it should be considered a hybrid form between traditional and modern forms of surveillance.

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The visibility and invisibility of performance management in schools

Cited by 29 publications

References 38 publications

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

The surveillance of teachers and the simulation of teaching

Conceptualising the surveillance of teachers

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