TY - JOUR
T1 - Further education and mental health during the pandemic
T2 - the moral impasse of meritocracy
AU - Gadsby, Jonathan
AU - Smith, Rob
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023/5/24
Y1 - 2023/5/24
N2 - Since 2010, government policy in England has positioned further education almost exclusively as employment-orientated training for school leavers whilst also imposing severe budget cuts. During this period, values-based pedagogies that foreground social justice for students, many of whom come from low-income households, have been undermined. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence that the mental health and well-being of further education students has suffered but little is known about the pandemic?s effects on teachers. This paper presents analysis of primary research data drawn from interviews with a small sample of further education teachers and managers in the English West Midlands about their mental health and well-being during the pandemic. The paper frames the research data by acknowledging that both mental health nursing and further education teaching are currently riven by contradictions with an epistemological basis anchored in meritocratic and neoliberal policy. Using Lefebvrian theory, our analysis suggests that for further education staff, the pandemic has sharpened the tensions experienced in an already precarious professional role. Key findings were that the further education funding regime drove a ?business as usual? management attitude during the pandemic, and an intensification of work and the erosion of pedagogical practice negatively affected staff?s mental health.
AB - Since 2010, government policy in England has positioned further education almost exclusively as employment-orientated training for school leavers whilst also imposing severe budget cuts. During this period, values-based pedagogies that foreground social justice for students, many of whom come from low-income households, have been undermined. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence that the mental health and well-being of further education students has suffered but little is known about the pandemic?s effects on teachers. This paper presents analysis of primary research data drawn from interviews with a small sample of further education teachers and managers in the English West Midlands about their mental health and well-being during the pandemic. The paper frames the research data by acknowledging that both mental health nursing and further education teaching are currently riven by contradictions with an epistemological basis anchored in meritocratic and neoliberal policy. Using Lefebvrian theory, our analysis suggests that for further education staff, the pandemic has sharpened the tensions experienced in an already precarious professional role. Key findings were that the further education funding regime drove a ?business as usual? management attitude during the pandemic, and an intensification of work and the erosion of pedagogical practice negatively affected staff?s mental health.
KW - further education
KW - Lefebvre
KW - Mental health
KW - meritocracy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160443345&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85160443345&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/14339
U2 - 10.1080/02671522.2023.2212011
DO - 10.1080/02671522.2023.2212011
M3 - Article
SN - 0267-1522
JO - Research Papers in Education
JF - Research Papers in Education
ER -