More morphostasis than morphogenesis? The ‘dual professionalism’ of English Further Education workshop tutors

An international repositioning of vocational teachers in relation to knowledge and the workplace is reflected in English Further Education through the terminology of ‘dual professionalism’. Particularly in settings most closely linked to specific occupations, this discourse privileges occupational expertise that vocational educators bring from their former employment alongside pedagogic expectations of the teaching role. In a qualitative study of recently qualified teachers employed substantially in workshop settings, using the analytical framework of Margaret Archer, workplace skills and generic attributes provided a basis for claims to expertise, extending to a custodianship of former occupations. Further augmentation of educator roles, however, appeared constrained by market approaches to development and employment insecurity in the sector and beyond. In Archer’s terms, the current environment appears to cast ‘dual professionalism’ as morphostasis, drawing on former practice at the expense of teacher identity in the face of insecurity. Morphogenesis into enhanced professional teacher identities, for example, developing coherent vocational pedagogies informed by research into advances in knowledge, appears the less likely outcome in the current and emerging sector.

An international repositioning of vocational teachers in
relation to knowledge and the workplace is reflected in
English Further Education through the terminology of
‘dual professionalism’. Particularly in settings most closely
linked to specific occupations, this discourse privileges
occupational expertise that vocational educators bring from
their former employment alongside pedagogic expectations
of the teaching role. In a qualitative study of recently qualified
teachers employed substantially in workshop settings, using
the analytical framework of Margaret Archer, workplace skills
and generic attributes provided a basis for claims to expertise,
extending to a custodianship of former occupations.
Further augmentation of educator roles, however, appeared
constrained by market approaches to development and
employment insecurity in the sector and beyond. In Archer’s
terms, the current environment appears to cast ‘dual
professionalism’ as morphostasis, drawing on former practice
at the expense of teacher identity in the face of insecurity.
Morphogenesis into enhanced professional teacher identities,
for example, developing coherent vocational pedagogies
informed by research into advances in knowledge, appears
the less likely outcome in the current and emerging sector.