Grouplised Schools in China: Teacher Agency under Neoliberal Influences

By: Guopeng Fu

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Synopsis: This book presents how neoliberal trends, as reflected in the grouplised school structure, affect teachers’ professional learning and daily practice, and discusses how teacher agency is enabled and constrained at both individual and collective levels. The author interviewed teachers and administrators from eight different grouplised schools. He argues that the neoliberal trends in high-stakes accountability largely constrained teacher agency. School grouplisation was generally top-down, and a bottom-up structure is needed to support teachers' professional growth. Collective agency and administrator support could protect students against the neoliberal trends in education by enabling teachers to make conscious, moral decisions and take actions in their daily practice. He further identifies principles of invoking collective agency among teachers and proposes suggestions for educational reform implementation in neoliberal contexts. Policymakers, school administrators and teachers interested in grouplised schools and collective agency may find this book insightful.