Teachers’ work and the marketisation of international schools: A quantitative analysis of teacher control,fulfilment,and buffering from business influences

Abstract

This research investigates how marketised school contexts affect the work of teachers. In the growing sector of international schools, especially for-profit schools, the marketising influences in education may significantly impact how teachers experience their work. A questionnaire was administered to teachers in different types of schools including a large sample of teachers working in for-profit international schools. Rasch analysis and path analysis were used to construct scales and investigate the relationships between the scales. The scales were tested for fit, differential item functioning (DIF) and reliability. The main themes researched were teachers’ feelings of a lack of control over their work, the fulfilment they experience, and the buffering from business influences. These were analysed along with scales of business influences on teachers’ work and the extent to which their school was run as an EduBusiness. Teachers seem to experience a loss of control over their work as they experience more business influences on their work, especially those working in schools run as EduBusinesses. Buffering from those influences is an important aspect of teachers’ feelings of fulfilment, and more buffering and fulfilment are related to fewer feelings of a lack of control. The contribution this research makes is to understanding the patterns of the marketisation of schools and how teachers’ feelings of fulfilment and control are related to the extent that a school is run as a business and the business influences on their work.