European Schoolteachers’ Work and Life Under Restructuring

Abstract

This chapter was written using data produced as part of an EU-funded project, Professional Knowledge – Restructuring Work and Life between the State and Citizens in Europe (Profknow). This project aimed to compare educational restructuring in seven countries (England, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Finland and Sweden). The Profknow project juxtaposed policy narratives of restructuring with primary teachers’ own work-life narratives of reform. This comparison highlighted the extent to which policy narratives were accepted, contested or resisted by teachers in each national context. This was a way of exploring how restructuring policy narratives have influenced teachers at the chalkface or have simply been refracted at various levels in the different national contexts.