Teacher subjectivation in the quality dispositive: the example of VET in Austria

Abstract

Current reforms in vocational education and training (VET) are characterised by a constant striving for quality assurance and improvement. To this end, a powerful reform network has emerged that shapes the subjectivation processes of teachers. Drawing on Foucault (1980), we term this complex formation a ‘dispositive’. The paper introduces dispositive analytics as an innovative approach for educational research. Taking Austria as an example of a ‘broader understanding’ of VET (Avis 2014) we address the question of how VET teachers’ subjectivity is shaped by the quality dispositive. The study investigates subject positions that refer to the ways teachers should be and act. Furthermore, qualitative interviews with VET teachers were conducted to examine which dispositional quality logics they tend to internalise and which forms and strategies they express to subvert the quality dispositive. The analysis reveals that the current reform network creates tensions in the subjectivation processes leading to experiences of de-professionalisation.