Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to extend Bunnell’s (2016) thesis that international education teachers (IETs) are forming a ‘global educational precariat’. The paper draws upon interview data from a larger study of international teachers in two international schools in Shanghai, China. In order to substantiate and develop Bunnell’s thesis, narrative inquiry was employed as a guiding methodology, which ensured that data analysis remained rooted in the participants’ lived experience but also allowed for triangulation, thereby enhancing validity. Findings confirm Bunnell’s thesis by highlighting a lack of agency, financial insecurity, and the marginalisation of professional identities as common experiences of IET precarity. The findings also challenge the notion of a global educational precariat by arguing that it may be more appropriate to conceptualise IETs in terms of a localised educational precariat rather than a global class in and of itself. The paper ends by sketching a research agenda that would involve comparing teachers’ experiences in different types of international schools in China and other contexts. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 60-76 |
Journal | Journal of Research in International Education |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | Mar 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2019 |
Citation
Poole, A. (2019). International education teachers’ experiences as an educational precariat in China. Journal of Research in International Education, 18(1), 60-76. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240919836489Keywords
- International education teachers
- International education precariat
- The precariat
- China