Governance and Evaluation - consequences for teaching culture and teacher profession

Abstract

This article examines, whether contemporary teaching culture and the teaching profession are being transformed as a result of demands for evaluation and visibility, and what the consequences of this may be. We identify dominant education policy discourses that impact teachers and teaching, following which we show how the concept of ‘quality assurance’ has shaped contemporary evaluation demands. The paper then argues that we must challenge existing worries that evaluation initiatives have instrumental and mechanical consequences for teaching practices. Inspired by existing research and building upon empirical studies of Danish educational practices (upper secondary schools and universities), we show that indirect, so-called performance paradoxes may occur. This is because the effort to make one thing visible, often renders other aspects difficult to access. From these considerations, we discuss, which impact evaluation and visibility demands may have on the teacher profession and teaching culture. The article only points out tendencies, wherefore, we argue the need for more knowledge about how various evaluation demands impact teaching practices.