Renegotiating reflective and ethical practice in a liquid education system

Skourdoumbis and Bennett draw attention to the constantly changing 2 global environment in which education systems are embedded and to which they 3 have been required to respond. Drawing on Zygmunt Bauman’s characterisation of 4 the apparently ‘liquid’ economic, social and political environments that characterise 5 late modernity in which it seems nothing is solid, irreplaceable, permanent or in a 6 sense deeply trustworthy and dependable, they discuss the consequences for educa-7 tion. The global response has been widely described as a neo-liberal response with its 8 characteristic demands for accountability, efficiency and compliance with standards 9 monitored through management and policy strategies that require measurable out-10 comes. The consequences for teachers’ work in this environment of increasingly rou-11 tine procedures and decreasing professional autonomy are deeply troubling. Teachers 12 are increasingly drawn away from the personal, humane and community relations 13 that they still know are the fundamental characteristics of their daily work and are 14 confronted with ethical issues, if not crises, arising from the apparently contradictory 15 discourses of audit, accountability and compliance that constrain them. The authors 16 illustrate these moments of ethical confrontation with reference to typical challenges 17 faced daily by teachers as they strive to retain a sense of authentic endeavour.