Valencia, España
Madrid, España
New Public Management practices in education promote systems of standardisation and datification of student and teacher performance. These dynamics intensify teacher accountability for academic performance in contexts of competitive schooling. Such mechanisms can affect professional autonomy and influence teachers’ perceptions of identity. This paper aims to understand the impact of quantification and accountability policies on teachers’ professional identity. To do so, the inductive method is used from a hermeneutic perspective. A theoretical sampling is delimited that reaches saturation with the participation of 30 informants and the semi-structured in-depth interview strategy is employed to access data of interest. For the analysis of the data, the qualitative design defined in Grounded Theory is followed. The results indicate that teachers perceive a limitation in their professional autonomy. The intensification of the elements of quantification and the dynamics of control confront a teaching practice that differs from the professional judgements and motivations claimed. This generates ruptures between the claimed professional identity and the impositions of the neoliberal agenda. As a result, teachers end up implementing a practice they do not believe in, which deteriorates their experience, restricts their work and conditions their satisfaction.