Teacher-entrepreneurialism: a case of teacher identity formation in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India
Teacher-entrepreneurialism: a case of teacher identity formation in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India
This article examines the processes underlying the formation of the identity of teachers as entrepreneurs in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India. Drawing on interactions with 38 schoolteachers in two private schools in Dehradun, this article explores why and how educators adopt specific entrepreneurial strategies to navigate precarious, competitive market conditions. It subsequently illustrates how, in their pursuit of career advancement, educators commodify their knowledge and skills and promote the market logic of choice and freedom. By elucidating the mechanisms through which educators reproduce the processes and practices that nudge their search for promising career opportunities in the formal education system and the tuition industry, this article argues that teacher-entrepreneurs are both products and carriers of the neoliberal agenda. It introduces the concept of teacher-entrepreneurialism, a manifestation of neoliberalism, which shapes educators’ entrepreneurial dispositions; it suggests that teacher-entrepreneurs sustain neoliberalization in its varying forms and bolster its legitimacy. By illustrating the variegated, processual existence of neoliberalism, this article makes a case for investigating education as a neoliberalizing space in the increasingly profit-centric, market-driven, and performance-oriented schooling sector that prevails across societies, particularly in contemporary India.
Neoliberalization, Teacher-entrepreneurialism, contemporary India, private schools, teacher identity formation, tuition industry
422-438
Gupta, Achala
a30fa79d-e9dc-4237-93d4-bdaf8816780a
8 August 2021
Gupta, Achala
a30fa79d-e9dc-4237-93d4-bdaf8816780a
Gupta, Achala
(2021)
Teacher-entrepreneurialism: a case of teacher identity formation in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India.
Critical Studies in Education, 62 (4), .
(doi:10.1080/17508487.2019.1708765).
Abstract
This article examines the processes underlying the formation of the identity of teachers as entrepreneurs in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India. Drawing on interactions with 38 schoolteachers in two private schools in Dehradun, this article explores why and how educators adopt specific entrepreneurial strategies to navigate precarious, competitive market conditions. It subsequently illustrates how, in their pursuit of career advancement, educators commodify their knowledge and skills and promote the market logic of choice and freedom. By elucidating the mechanisms through which educators reproduce the processes and practices that nudge their search for promising career opportunities in the formal education system and the tuition industry, this article argues that teacher-entrepreneurs are both products and carriers of the neoliberal agenda. It introduces the concept of teacher-entrepreneurialism, a manifestation of neoliberalism, which shapes educators’ entrepreneurial dispositions; it suggests that teacher-entrepreneurs sustain neoliberalization in its varying forms and bolster its legitimacy. By illustrating the variegated, processual existence of neoliberalism, this article makes a case for investigating education as a neoliberalizing space in the increasingly profit-centric, market-driven, and performance-oriented schooling sector that prevails across societies, particularly in contemporary India.
Text
AG CSE - Accepted Manuscript
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 19 December 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 December 2019
Published date: 8 August 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National University of Singapore [Graduate Research Support Scheme]. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the journal editor for meaningfully engaging with the manuscript and for providing me with critical and constructive comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Neoliberalization, Teacher-entrepreneurialism, contemporary India, private schools, teacher identity formation, tuition industry
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 451103
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/451103
ISSN: 1750-8487
PURE UUID: a9a8b453-b5b3-4e56-8085-bbfb5c24bfd4
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Date deposited: 07 Sep 2021 16:35
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:49
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