Educational austerity and critical consciousness: English primary school leaders wrestling with educational policy shifts

Linda Hammersley-Fletcher
Education and Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, Royaume-Uni

Abstract :

Education systems across much of Europe are going through a period of challenge around growing and globalised market pressures. Governments have shifted towards a market-based understanding of education which sees competition and freedom within tightly regulated accountability measures as solutions to problems within the education system. This paper considers the perspectives of English primary school head teachers in relation to educational austerity and explores the degree to which they can operate critical consciousness, which Freire viewed as essential for emancipation and transformation. The paper argues that rather than being subject to the deregulation of education with greater autonomy devolved to schools, English primary head teachers are experiencing what Helgøy et al. (2007) describe as the re-regulation of education and a reduction of autonomy which these head teachers find increasingly difficult to align with their educational values.

Keywords :

Educational Austerity ; English Primary Schools ; Critical Consciousness ; Autonomy ; Head teacher

Pays étudiés : Angleterre