Teachers, performative techniques and professional values: how performativity becomes humanistic through interplay mechanisms

Abstract

In recent years, research has pointed to the development of ‘post-performative’ teachers and cultures within the education system. This article provides explanations for how it is possible that teachers marked by performative rationality also hold and enact seemingly humanistic professional values. The study points to three interplay mechanisms that reconstitute teachers’ understandings of the role that the techniques and values play, including a reconstruction of professional values in performative terms. Thus, the article provides an explanation for the alignment of performativity and humanism in ambiguous school contexts.