ABSTRACT
I stated in Chapter 4 that there are a variety of factors that might shape, infl uence, and construct the values and identities of the teachers in this study. Two such factors that emerged were the formal and informal types of monitoring of teaching that take place in the schools where these teachers work. Olssen et al. (2004) have discussed these forms of accountability in relation to the concept of ‘trust,’ which they argue has been eroded with neoliberal accountability practices of monitoring, reporting, recording, and surveillance associated with aspects of economic globalisation. As with other writers in the fi eld (e.g., Troman 2000; Winch and ForemanPeck 2000; Fetchenhauer et al. 2006), they distinguish between external low-trust accountability based on direct forms of line management and internal high-trust accountability based on professional responsibility. Teachers’ views in this study about the different forms of monitoring they experience show that formal and informal mechanisms are deployed differently in each of the countries under examination. By focusing on these mechanisms, this chapter draws attention to some of the ways in which teachers’ values are constructed in different national contexts and institutional settings. I look fi rst at the Norwegian, then the German, and fi nally at the English settings.
