Amid the increasing digitisation of schools, relatively little work has examined the ways in which digital technologies are reconfiguring the work of school principals. With an approach based on the sociology of work, this paper draws on 19 in-depth interviews with Australian school principals to examine their everyday experiences of digital…

Drawing upon data from an Australian study, this book gives voice to beginning teachers navigating their way through their first year of teaching and discovering what it means to be professional learners. The chapters within provide rich insights into the ways in which beginning teachers make sense of the new and challenging experiences they face…

The work of teachers is often understood primarily in relation to student learning rather than as a form of labour for the worker in question. While such a focus is understandable, it can fail to recognize the relationship between conditions of work and the character or nature of that work. In this article, we engage with the issue of teachers'…

This paper explores perceptions of work intensification around the world. Underpinning this analysis is C. Wright Mills' (1959) argument that many personal troubles are public issues, and the notion that a significant dimension of the privatisation of public education, a concern of public education advocates worldwide, is the ways in which school…

This paper explores the hyper-performative expectations of early career teachers (ECTs) in the context of neoliberal education assemblages. The need to support and retain beginning teachers is a salient issue in the context of troubling rates of teacher attrition. The study explores how ECTs perceive teacher identities in response to national…

Early career teachers are increasingly required to be 'classroom ready' upon graduation and to demonstrate capabilities that match their more experienced colleagues. They are also joining a profession that is characterised by increased scrutiny and accountability driven by standards that seek to identify the hallmarks of good teaching. This…

One aspect of instructional leadership is the work principals undertake in supporting and developing teachers' skills and capabilities. This paper examines this aspect of school leadership within a climate characterised by increased principal workloads, heavy external accountabilities, pressure to improve student results, and heightened autonomy…

News media coverage on education plays a "uniquely important role in shaping public opinion", can influence educational policy, and can affect and concern teachers. Yet, research examining how teachers have been represented in the news is scarce. What is particularly scarce are investigations with a historical dimension. The study…

Globally, a range of new schooling accountabilities have created a complex and often contradictory context in which school leaders work. For principals of low socio-economic status (SES) and disadvantaged schools, they must balance the accountability, performance and reporting requirements against the other needs of their communities. These…

Universities in many western nations are experiencing increasing performance measures for academic accountability. This paper maps the pitted pathway that has led Australian universities from mentoring to monitoring and from performance enhancement to performance evaluation, and reviews implications for teaching and learning in higher education.…

Summarizes a case study of dilemmas facing a Western Australian secondary headteacher involved in restructuring his school. Analyzes his methods of coping with intractable situations (like school expansion and performance management) and outcomes. Dilemmas offer both opportunities and challenges for visionary, proactive, and creative school…

The regulatory environment in which long daycare centres are required to operate plays a key role in determining what early childhood professionals do and how they go about doing it. This paper reports findings from a state-wide survey undertaken in New South Wales, Australia, which shows how early childhood professionals position themselves on…

A case study of Queensland, Australia, elementary principals found their jobs significantly affected by school-based management. Principals are expected to lead their communities through the change process and facilitate cultural change while responding to greater accountability demands from the system. Managerialism has eclipsed educational…

This book presents the results of a study that examined major changes in academic work in recent years and how staff in universities have experienced these changes, along with a discussion of how to increase learning at universities. Data were obtained from an international survey of 161 academic staff in Australia and the United Kingdom. Results…

Globalization has brought market and business practices into universities, but with serious negative ramifications. Interviews with 253 U.S. and Australian faculty, plus additional data drawn from New Zealand and Canadian studies, focused on the rise of performance-based accountability and corporate managerialism and their effects on faculty…