Bridging the extremes of policy research: a narrative exploration of the impact of national education policy on teacher constitution of self

Bridging the extremes of policy research: a narrative exploration of the impact of national education policy on teacher constitution of self

In this article, we draw on Foucault’s concept of rapport á soi to examine how teachers constitute themselves in response to a national schooling reform agenda. We explore this through the use of composite narratives of teacher interviews in the post-qualitative tradition of storying. The narratives stem from conversations with 25 teachers across different schooling sectors in Queensland, Australia, and relate how teacher engagement with national policy has been affected by their limited knowledge of national policy, their perception that it lacks teacher voice, and because the ‘why’ of policy is not shared with them. Each of these themes affects how teachers constitute themselves within education policy reform regimes, which provide insights into the ways in which policy flows from national level to the subjective constitution of teachers.