Conference Agenda

Teachers in Cyprus have been traditionally appointed to public schools through the appointment system of ‘Epetirida’ (Yearbook), which put candidates in a chronological waiting list ordering the mainly on their year of graduation. However, since the 1980s, there have been several discussions around the qualification of teachers appointed to public schools. Also the number of teacher candidates in the Yearbook was large in relation to the appointment needs of the state, resulting in most of them waiting for many years (even decades) until their appointment. In this context, and after a series of negotiations between different stakeholders, the appointment system changed. More particularly, the New Appointment System in Education (NASE), was legislated in 2015 and has been implemented from 2017 onwards. In this study the NASE is theorized as a governmental technology through which the state regulates and controls the teachers who want to work in public schools. This paper argues that the NASE is a governmental technology mobilized by the state to choose a particular kind of teachers as professionals for public education. In this way, the state can govern education and its teachers, since as Foucault (2012) points out governance, for a certain historic period, was aimed exclusively at the prosperity of the state, subjecting teachers to the ideas of the state about education. Moreover, in this paper the body is theorized as a surface on which events are recorded and the subject is created by sacrificing the body (Butler, 2009). It is argued that NASE governs teachers to shape them as ideal subjects by transforming them into submissive bodies. More specifically, the teachers who expect to be appointed to the public education have to conform to the requirements of NASE. The purpose of this paper is to trace the emergence of a new type of an ‘ideal’ professional subject: the primary school teacher who can succeed in this specific recruitment system, including its written examinations. NASE changed the way teachers were appointed in the public sector, introducing additional criteria and written examination processes of teacher selection by the state. These criteria and processes mark an increase in the regulation and control by the state of the knowledge, qualification, and nature of professionalism anticipated by the ‘ideal’ teachers.

Within this governmental technology, the written examination formulates a specific technique, since NASE requires passing a written examination by candidate teachers (who need to be university graduates to be eligible for the exam) before they can be considered for appointment to public schools. Primary teachers are tested on the official school curriculum of two subject-areas (Greek Language and Mathematics); on General Didactic Skills; and on their Knowledge of the Greek Language; the last two components are required for all candidates). Those candidates who pass the exam, can enter a new waiting list (per level of education), in which they are ranked along other criteria: their first Degree’s GPA (8%), additional qualification (e.g. Master degree/Phd 9%), professional experience in education (20%), graduation year (10%) and military service (3%). The written examination is conducted every two years and any teacher planning to take it has to declare their interest and later pay a fee. Four examination procedures have been conducted since the introduction of the NASE in 2015. Before each examination, the examinable content is provided, for every level of education, subject-area and educational specialty and provides general information to the candidates regarding anything new about the legislation, or the procedure they have to follow, through a web-site dedicated to NASE. In a similar way, after every examination procedure the solutions to the tests and the results are shared.

Education is a fundamental element of our society and accompanies every person

from the very beginning and spans the entire lifespan. It is a potential opportunity for integration for all levels of society with all its diversity. It aims to promote participation in society, the development of individual potential, democratization, the development of human capital and human ontogenesis. However, educational processes also harbor the potential for selection and the prevention of developments. Education therefore has a decisive influence on society.

Empirical educational research now provides reliable evidence that individual developments and transitions in the education system as well as in the employment system are significantly and sustainably influenced by the actions and decisions of teachers and thus have an impact on individual life courses as well as on the realization of tasks for society as a whole (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al., 2009).

Teachers are therefore one of the greatest influencing factors on the quality and the corresponding 'outcomes' of the education system (ibid.; Hattie, 2013). For this reason, their professionalism is increasingly being publicly discussed and scientifically investigated. On this basis, validated competence models have been developed (e.g. Baumert & Kunter, 2006), which can depict professional competences in teaching contexts in a structured way.

In times of uncertainty and transformation, however, the question also arises in this context (see current debates in professional society) as to which changes must be considered and which adjustments are considered adequate, which processes this requires and which results (like future skills) should be achieved (e.g. Ehlers, 2020; Stifterverband & McKinsey, 2021; OECD, 2021).

The current crises and transformations in our society (globalization, digitalization, individualization and the climate crisis, among others) are changing educational processes as well as social processes. Specifically, this affects educational participants, all stakeholder groups, the starting conditions and educational goals. If education continues to serve the participation in the (also future) society of its education participants, this goal is also constituted from the crises or transformations of society and the corresponding uncertainty. This fundamental assumption results in a new professional and competence profile for teachers and thus also the need to adapt previously established and validated competence models.

Based on this, three process steps were developed in this doctoral project:

The 1st process step research question is: 'What is sustainable teaching professionalism? For this purpose, previously validated competence models for teaching contexts were expanded with the results of current future skills research (ibid.) and the facets of the structural core of professional action (e.g. Helsper et al. 2000). The result is a profession-oriented competence model for sustainable teaching (Möller, 2023), which is to be tested as a theory-based thesis in a research process.

The 2nd process step research questions are: 'How do groups involved in educational processes describe sustainable teaching professionalism? Which facets are prioritized by which group? What indications can be derived from this for teacher (further) training?

This serves to record the currently perceived competence requirements in the various groups, to compare these on the basis of the competence model (validated by experts), to examine a theory-practice-gap and as a basis for deriving group-specific recommendations for teacher (further) training.

The 3rd process step research question is: 'Which reflection processes contribute to the future-oriented professionalization of teachers?‘

The thesis developed here is based on the assumption that the model developed, with its presentation and description, provides a broader view of the complex structure of a professional ability to act in the teaching context and a deeper understanding of these competence facets and thus stimulates a comprehensive reflection on one's own future-oriented teaching.