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23 SES 16 A: Europe
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23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Paper The Europeanisation of Social Inclusion Policies. A Comparison of Policy Transfer between France, Italy and Slovenia University of Strasbourg, France Presenting Author:The proposal compares public policies (Hassenteufel, 2005) of three European member States - France, Italy and Slovenia - at the crossroads of social inclusion and education. The study analyzes transformations of categorizations, legislation, actors, and knowledge in this policy area, and how these emerge in the three States, as well as how the European strategy linked to the paradigm of social investment is translated and enacted in national contexts. We give an explanation of the convergences and divergences in the implementation of the European strategy concerning social inclusion in education. Several research questions are addressed: how have discourses and institutions evolved and impacted these member States throughout Europeanisation? Who are the actors that participate in the enactment of these policies, as well as their transformation? How does the policy transfer of the European strategy impact on ongoing policies in France, Italy and Slovenia? To address these questions, we are inspired by political sociology, and, more precisely, the French sociology of public action and policy instruments (Lascoumes & Le Galès, 2005). We take some concepts from the cognitive analysis of public action, such as the construction of public problems (Gusfield, 1981/2009 ; Cefaï, 1996), as well as from governmentality studies (Foucault, 2004 ; Tremain, 2005 ; Miller & Rose, 2008). We analyze how policy solutions to «public problems» are formulated at European level and then adapted and translated in France, Italy and Slovenia. Furthermore, we provide a sociology of actors in differentiating programmatic (Genieys & Hassenteufel, 2012), intermediate (Nay & Smith, 2002) and peripheral ones. This approach allows us to elaborate national maps of these distributed actors, as well as their differences and similarities from one country to another. Using also the theoretical framework of policy transfer developed by Dolowitz and Marsh (1996, 2000), we further discuss the extent of the European strategy in national policy spaces. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The research work is based on different methods. First of all, we present a genealogy to better understand the similarities and differences in the enactment of social inclusion policies in education in the three countries. We thus use primary and secondary sources related to the field of education and welfare policies that refer to social inclusion and education. Laws, statistics, historical and official documents from the three countries and the European Union were analyzed. We enriched this corpus by interviews with some actors that were involved in policy changes. We also used network ethnography (Ball, 2016) to follow actors on the local, national and European scales. We created different maps of actors with the software Gephi, coupled with 31 interviews that helped us to better understand and explain policy networks in social inclusion in education. We also observed and analyzed several events and conferences related to this policy area. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings On the basis of the collected data, it is possible to reveal some similarities and differences in the Europeanisation of social inclusion policies in education in France, Italy and Slovenia. In adopting European standards, national solutions and responses vary. We conclude that what we observe in this policy area is not really a complete process of Europeanisation. We show the emergence and role of private actors, such as various associations financed by the European Union, as well as other international organizations, fundations, and philanthropists, in the process of implementation of diverse European ideas, programmes and projects. However, the sustainability, the coherence and the scaling-up of these European projects remains at stake, while State policies seem to remain predominantly autonomous from the European trends. References Ball, S. (2016). Following policy: networks, network ethnography and education policy mobilities. In Journal of Education Policy, pp. 1-18. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1122232 Cefaï, D. (1996). La construction des problèmes publics. Définition de situation dans des arènes publiques. In Réseaux. Communication - Technologie - Société. Vol. 14, nº 75, pp. 43-66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/reso.1996.3684 Dolowitz, D., & Marsh, D. (1996). Who Learns What from Whom: a Review of the Policy Transfer Literature. In Political Studies, vol. 44, issue 2, pp. 343-357. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1996.tb00334.x Dolowitz, D., & Marsh, D. (2000). Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy-Making. In Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration, Vol. 13, nº1, pp. 5-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/0952-1895.00121 Foucault, M. (2004). Sécurité, territoire, population. Cours au Collège de France. 1977-1978. Paris: Gallimard, Le Seuil Genieys, W., & Hassenteufel, P. (2012). Qui gouverne les politiques publiques? Par-delà de la sociologie des élites. In Gouvernement et action publique, Vol. 1, nº 2, pp. 89-115. DOI: 10.3917/gap.122.0089 Gusfield, J. (1981/2009) La culture des problèmes publics. L’alcool au volant: la production d’un ordre symbolique. Paris: Economica Hassenteufel, P. (2005). De la comparaison internationale à la comparaison transnationale. Les déplacements de la construction d’objets comparatifs en matière de politiques publiques. In Revue française de science politique, Vol. 55, nº1, pp. 113-132. DOI : 10.3917/rfsp.551.0113 Lascoumes, P., & Le Galès, P. (eds.), (2005). Gouverner par les instruments. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po Miller, P., & Rose, N. (2008). Governing the Present. Administering Economic, Social and Personal Life. Cambridge, Malden: Polity Press Nay, O., & Smith, A. (2002). Le gouvernement du compromis: courtiers et généralistes dans l’action publique. Paris: Economica Tremain, S. (ed.). (2005). Foucault and the Government of Disability. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Paper Exploring the Contribution of NGOs to European Education Governance through Social Network Analysis 1University of Verona, Italy; 2University of Verona, Italy Presenting Author:This presentation explores the characteristics of the envisioned networks of a Brussels-based NGO involved in shaping European education policy, and it contributes to the literature on interest groups active at the European level. Interest groups contribute to public policy shaping and decision-making within and across political domains at national and European levels (Bevir & Phillips, 2019). Hence, “the organisation, aggregation, articulation, and intermediation of societal interests that seek to shape public policies” (Beyers, Eising & Maloney, 2008, p. 1103) has received increased attention in European studies. Depending on normative frameworks and scholarly interests, different terms depict interest groups, especially non-state actors, across studies (Schoenefels, 2021). Interest groups interacting with EU institutions are “generally considered legitimate elements of EU governance” (Schoenefels, 2021, p. 586) and shall be listed in a Transparency Register. These encompass all organisational structures that mediate between public authorities and citizens through a democratic process to serve a general interest, like NGOs. NGOs specialise in a narrow policy domain or issue around which they can network and gather information (Costa & Müller, 2019), act as intermediary organisations (Ainsworth & Sened, 1993), and are perceived as independent “defenders of public interests” (Grant, 2001, p. 338, cited in Beyers et al., 2008). Since the start of the European integration process (1950s-1960s), interest groups have grown exponentially in Brussels, with a growing number of NGOs (Eising & Kohler-Koch, 2005). Expanding EU governance into new policy areas has stimulated the mobilisation of a more diverse set of interests. Accordingly, the potential for NGOs to influence decision-makers and policy outcomes in the EU has increased since the 2010s and with the establishment of the European Semester (Costa & Müller, 2019). Compared to other interest groups (e.g. business), NGOs may have more difficulties in mobilising and gaining access to EU policymaking (Dür & Matteo, 2016). However, they are well-represented in closed-access procedures involving the establishment of bodies within EU institutions and agencies gathering a limited number of stakeholders over a relatively long period – like European Commission expert groups and advisory committees (Arras & Beyers, 2020). Particularly, NGOs based in Brussels that are European or international in scope have privileged access to permanent European Commission expert groups (Rasmussen & Gross, 2015). According to the EU Transparency Register, in April 2023, there were 4,439 registered NGOs, networks and similar entities, of which 1,453 represented interests in education to some extent, and 393 had their headquarters in Belgium – typically in Brussels. Some of these NGOs surfaced in our previous analyses of European education network governance (Milana, Klatt, & Tronca, 2020) and on political mobilisation and agenda-setting in European adult learning (Milana, Mikeluc, 2023). Yet, dedicated attention to NGOs contributing to policy-shaping in European education is still spare. This study focuses on NGO1, a unique Brussels-based organisation representing a broad interest in education. Established upon the initiative of a few European networks and Brussels-based NGOs, in 2023 it comprised over 40 associate members, not-for-profit legal entities that are either European networks or federations of organisations from more than one country, half of whom have headquarters in Brussels. We adopted a structural interactionist approach (Tronca & Forsé, 2022) to understand how the actors involved in NGO1’s networks interacted, determining its network governance (Jones, Hesterly & Borgatti 1997). Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used Information was self-reported by NGO1 and collected through two surveys, enabling a Whole and a Personal Network Analysis (two types of Social Network Analysis), respectively. The first survey gathered data on the intra-organisational network of relations among NGO1’s members through two questions aimed at capturing, over the period 2019-2023, the presence of any collaborative activities (e.g., participation in working groups, writing of joint documents) among each pair of NGO1’s members. The second survey collected data on the inter-organisational network of relations held by an NGO behind its constituency through two more questions related to the same period: the first, a name generator, enabled the seizing of collaborative activities between NGO1 and any other organisation (including but not limited to its member organisations); the second, a name interrelator, enabled the identification of collaborations between each pair of the mentioned organisations. Both surveys were presented in person to staff from NGO1’s secretariat on 19 May 2023, and responses were returned by email on 24 June 2023. As with any self-reported information, there were limits to the data. Not all activities that occurred among its members may be known to NGO1’s secretariat. However, those known to NGO1’s secretariat can be considered the most visible in the Brussels bubble and constitute NGO1's perception of the structural dimension proper to its relational reality. Thanks to an exploratory analysis of NGO1’s intra-organisational and inter-organisational networks it was possible to investigate the overall social cohesion of each of these networks, the centrality of single organisations, and the presence of highly cohesive subgroups. As measures, we used ‘density’ to determine the level of social cohesion, the two connectivity measures of ‘local centrality’ (i.e., Degree and its normalised measure) and ‘global centrality’ (i.e., Betweenness and its normalised version, Freeman 1979) with their relative levels of centralisation (Ibid.), and the ‘cliques’ or indicators for highly cohesive subgroups (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). For each network (intra-organisational, inter-organisational), we started from a 1-mode matrix. The intra-organisational network included 42 member organisations (or nodes) while the inter-organisational network included 96 organisations (or nodes). For each network (intra-organisational, inter-organisational), we started from a 1-mode matrix. The intra-organisational network included 42 member organisations (or nodes). The inter-organisational network included 96 organisations. For each 1-mode matrix, one symmetric and binary matrix was obtained and used to produce one simple graph for each network. We used the Ucinet 6 software (Borgatti, Everett, & Freeman, 2002) to perform the analyses and the NetDraw software (Borgatti, 2002) to obtain the graphs. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings This study's two types of Social Network Analysis (Whole and Personal Network Analysis) yielded a rather clear picture of NGO1’s network governance and collaborative networks. At the intra-organizational level, graph density is quite high, as it is 0.741, and it emerges that in the most relevant structural area of governance, only one-third of the actors are part of the NGO1’s board. A relevant number of cliques emerges, as many as 157, and a set of nodes (NGO1’s members) with great capacity to belong to multiple cliques. It is then noted that in a structural context where hierarchical phenomena are highly unlikely due to its high density: (i) there are nonetheless two particularly relevant actors, compared to all others, to the structural dimension of NGO1's governance; (ii) these two actors are not part of NGO1’s board. At the inter-organisational level, it emerges that the density of the simple graph is 0.216. This low-density level coincides with a high-level centralisation of the simple graph: for degree centrality: graph centralisation (as proportion, not percentage) = 0.801; for betweenness centrality: network centralisation index = 18.95%. This means it is a substantially hierarchised network, and analysing the organisations’ centrality level is extremely important. The analysis of the local and global levels of centrality of individual nodes brings to light different levels of node centrality, from the analysis of which it is observed, overall, that in particular three nodes that are European bodies tend to be very central. In sum: (i) while network governance, emerging from NGO1's intra-organisational network, is connected to a dense structure, within the network there are actors capable of playing a structural coordinating role; (ii) NGO1’s network of inter-organisational collaborations also appears, to some extent, characterised by a phenomenon of structural coordination, strongly connected to some specific attributive characteristics of the nodes. References Ainsworth, S., & Sened, I. (1993). The role of lobbyists: Entrepreneurs with two audiences. American Journal of Political Science, 37(3), 834–866. Arras, S., & Beyers, J. (2020). Access to European Union Agencies: Usual Suspects or Balanced Interest Representation in Open and Closed Consultations? Journal of Common Market Studies, 58(4), 836–855. Bevir, M., & Phillips, R. (Eds.) (2019). Decentering European Governance. London: Routledge. Beyers, J., Eising, R., & Maloney, W. (2008). Researching interest group politics in Europe and elsewhere: Much we study, little we know? West European Politics, 31(6), 1103–1128. Borgatti, S. P. (2002). NetDraw: Graph visualization software. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies. Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Freeman, L. C. (2002). Ucinet 6 for windows: Software for social network analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies. Costa, O., & Müller, P. (2019). Une Liaison Transnationale: Exploring the Role of NGOs in EU Foreign Policy-making on the ICC. Comparative European Politics, 17(5), 696–713. Dür, A. and Matteo, G. (2016). Insiders versus outsiders: Interest group politics in multilevel Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eising, R. and Kohler-Koch, B. (2005). ‘Interessenpolitik im europaischen Mehrebenensystem’, in Rainer Eising and Beate Kohler-Koch (eds), Interessenpolitik in Europa (pp.11–75). Baden-Baden: Nomos. Freeman, L.C. (1979). Centrality in social networks: Conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1(3), 215–239. Grant, W. (2001). Civil Society and the Internal Democracy of Interest Groups, paper presented at the PSA Conference. Aberdeen: April. Jones, C., Hesterly, W.S., & Borgatti, S.P. (1997). A General Theory of Network Governance: Exchange Conditions and Social Mechanisms. The Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 911–945. Milana, M., Klatt, G., & Tronca, L. (2020). Towards a network governance of European lifelong learning: a structural analysis of Commission expert groups. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 39(1), 31–47. Milana, M., Mikulec, B. (2023). Setting the new European agenda for adult learning 2021-2030: Political mobilisation and the influence of advocacy coalitions. RELA -The European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 14(2), 205–228. Rasmussen, A. & Gross, V. (2015). Biased access? Exploring selection to advisory committees. European Political Science Review, 7(3), 343–72. Schoenefeld, J. J. (2021). Interest Groups, NGOs or Civil Society Organisations? The Framing of Non-State Actors in the EU. Voluntas, 32, 585–596. Tronca, L. & Forsé, M. (2022). Towards a Sociology of Reasonableness: Structure and Action in the Structural Interactionist Approach. Italian Sociological Review, 12(3), 1035–1063. Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis. Methods and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Paper Governing learning outcomes in the European Union 1Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain; 2Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy Presenting Author:The paper will introduce the concepts, hypotheses and workplan for the analysis of interviews and documents on the official definition of learning outcomes in eight EU member states. The main goal is exploring in which ways the prevailing understandings of learning consider the life course of students, the intersectional inequalities that constrain their opportunities and the regional disparities within the Union. It is an initial and provisional output of the CLEAR Horizon- Europe research project (Grant Agreement N. 101061155). The paper will outline the main theoretical arguments that underpin an institutional analysis of learning outcomes and will introduce a few methodological considerations. The bulk of the literature on this theme focuses on the processes and outcomes of individual learning in schools and some other educational settings. However, the growing complexity of education and training strongly recommends considering how learning outcomes are defined in the different educational programmes that individuals undertake during their life. Although school performance is a milestone, other issues are also extremely relevant, not least the transition to higher education and VET, adult learning and qualifications frameworks (Parreira do Amaral et al, 2019; Benasso et al, 2022). An array of theoretical insights on the life course, policy design and implementation as well as space underpin our decision to focus on learning outcomes beyond the realm of individual schools and similar educational institutions. Firstly, the rich strand of life course research has convincingly argued that most themes of educational and social research require longitudinal or at least narrative approaches that take both institutional trajectories and subjective changes into account (Furlong, 2009; Mayer, 2009). While other outputs of the project will focus on subjective changes, in this paper we will explore how policymakers and educators construe the trajectories of 18- to- 29-year-olds in Europe. A key insight of this literature is that not only education, but also social protection and active labour market policies significantly contribute to pattern such trajectories (Walther, 2017). Secondly, we will draw on the growing strand of research that applies historical institutionalism to education policy (Emmenegger, 2021). Political scientists gather under this label a variety of studies that spell out the interests and the ideas whereby policy actors trigger changes amid several routines and normative orderings (i.e., institutions). This approach coincides with sociological approaches to structuration and morphogenesis (Archer, 2000) as well as with the concept of the politics of education in comparative education research (Dale, 2000; Steiner-Khamsi, 2009). Our main research questions will investigate the institutional trajectories that establish educational and employment opportunities through this lens (see below). Thirdly, our research will be particularly sensitive to space and territory. Several sociologists of education have proposed to include this dimension in the standard theoretical frameworks in the field (Ball, S.J.; Maguire, M.; Braun, A.; Hoskins, K.; Perryman, 2012; Robertson, S. & Dale, R., 2008). Our research will mostly inquire to what extent morphogenesis and similar concepts account for the social construction of regions (Löw, 2016) so much so that education and training influences the location of people in space and enacts process that delimit territories (Rambla and Scandurra, 2021). In a nutshell, these premises suggest the following research questions for our investigation:
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The paper will discuss some preliminary findings of ongoing reviews of grey literature in sixteen European regions as well as the design of a survey addressed to experts in the eight EU member states where these regions are located. It is a small piece of a bigger research design that has adopted the following decisions. Sampling: The research will focus on diverse regions in terms of economic specialisation and recent trends (e.g., big cities, declining or stagnating localities, rural industrial districts and a few rural areas). In each region, the literature review will look for references to three branches of VET that correspond to different economic sectors. The survey has been circulated among experts in these areas too. Health services, the IT industry and the hospitality industry have been selected insofar as the socio-economic background of the labour forces is disparate in sectors, with a increasing presence of workers with a low-socioeconomic status and a higher prevalence of social vulnerability from the former to the latter. Literature review: The research consortium has looked for the prevailing definitions of learning outcomes in an array of official documents. School, adult, vocational and higher education have been included. Currently, the researchers are comparing the definition of learning in all these programmes across the countries and the regions. Survey: The survey proposes experts to ponder several scenarios of future education and training in their country and region. These scenarios have been designed so that the observed trends in both education and training systems and labour markets are noticed. At the same time, they give leeway for the interviewees to add their personal interpretation. Interviews: Although the paper will not discuss any interview, the research project foresees to interview about 100 professionals and 160 young adults who are enrolled in education and training programmes in the regions. Besides controlling for socio-economic background, gender and the meaningful ethnic markers in the region, the interviews will prioritise the youth that suffer from circumstances of social vulnerability. Research questions and methodology: Roughly, we expect to provide some clues on the definition of learning by means of the literature review. At the same time, the survey and a few conclusions of the literature review will shed light on the spatial dimension of adult learning in the EU. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Our abstract can hardly mention any conclusions at this stage of project implementation. Instead, here we will only hint a few observations that some initial data suggest. • The official definitions of learning outcomes are biased so that the concerns of young adults with a lower socioeconomic background are not fully recognised by the current education and training systems in the EU. Thus, most baccalaureates are designed as a natural continuation of school trajectories while transitioning to VET entails an institutional rupture. Similarly, the ongoing endeavours to foster the validation of prior learning do not really implement full-fledged institutional systems beyond the core of regions that have developed large apprenticeships in Germany and the neighbouring countries. In a similar vein, the VET branches and economic sectors that endow workers with higher occupational positions such as health services draw on very clear, hierarchical and school-based definitions of learning. At the other extreme, a sector with a much more diverse labour force as the hospitality industry so far has established more blurred concepts of learning. • Cities and regions are not similarly cohesive across the European Union. Certainly, their socio-demographic and socio-economic structures make a big difference. But additionally, while some cities and regions are very visible realities for experts, in other locations policymakers and educators struggle with vague and evanescent notions of what is the relevant region for education and training policy. References Archer, M. (2000). Being Human. The Problem of Agency. Cambridge University Press. Ball, S.J.; Maguire, M.; Braun, A.; Hoskins, K.; Perryman, J. (2012). How Schools Do Policy. Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools. Routledge. Benasso, S.; Buillet, D.; Neves, T.; Parreira do Amaral, M. (Eds.), (2022) Landscapes of Lifelong Learning Policies across Europe Comparative Case Studies. Palgrave- Macmillan. Dale, R. (2000). Globalisation and Education: Demonstrating a “Common World Education Culture” or Locating a “Globally Structured Educational Agenda”? 427–448. Emmenegger, P. (2021). Agency in historical institutionalism: Coalitional work in the creation, maintenance, and change of institutions. Theory and Society, 50(4), 607–626. Furlong, A. (2009). Revisiting transitional metaphors: reproducing social inequalities under the conditions of late modernity. Journal of Education and Work, 22(5), 343–353. Löw, M. (2016). The Sociology of Space. Materiality, Social Structures, and Action. Palgrave Macmillan. Mayer, K. U. (2009). New Directions in Life Course Research. Mannheimer Zentrum Für Europäische Sozialforschung, 122. Parreira do Amaral, M.; Kovacheva, S.; Rambla, X. (2019). Lifelong Learning Policies for Young Adults in Europe. Navigating between Knowledge and Economy. Policy Press. Rambla, X.; Scandurra, R. (2021). Is the distribution of NEETs and early leavers from education and training converging across the regions of the European Union? European Societies, 23(5), 563–589. Archer, M. (2000). Being Human. The Problem of Agency. Cambridge University Press. Ball, S.J.; Maguire, M.; Braun, A.; Hoskins, K.; Perryman, J. (2012). How Schools Do Policy. Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55783-4 Dale, R. (2000). Globalisation and Education: Demonstrating a “Common World Education Culture” or Locating a “Globally Structured Educational Agenda”? 427–448. Emmenegger, P. (2021). Agency in historical institutionalism: Coalitional work in the creation, maintenance, and change of institutions. Theory and Society, 50(4), 607–626. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-021-09433-5 Löw, M. (2016). The Sociology of Space. Materiality, Social Structures, and Action. Palgrave Macmillan. Mayer, K. U. (2009). New Directions in Life Course Research. Mannheimer Zentrum Für Europäische Sozialforschung, 122. Robertson, S., & Dale, R. (2008). ‘Making Europe’: state, space, strategy and subjectivities. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 6(3), 203–206. Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2009). Knowledge-Based Regulation and the Politics of International Comparison. Nordisk Pedagogik, 29, 61–71. Walther, A. (2017). Support across life course regimes. A comparative model of social work as construction of social problems, needs, and rights. Journal of Social Work, 17(3), 277–301. 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Paper Challenges Narrated by Postdoctoral Researchers Working in Temporary Positions at Spanish Universities University of Almería, Spain Presenting Author:Neoliberal policies worldwide have shaped higher education systems, where regulations dictate the working environment. In the Spanish context, ANECA (Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación/National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation) is an external evaluation agency that determines the accreditation of the role of teaching staff working at public universities. This agency has established a system of three professional roles followed by 50 state universities, offering a progressive pathway towards a permanent position, including postdoc positions. Through a qualitative narrative study employing semi-structured interviews, this research explores the perceptions of professional identity and collective learning communities developed among 18 university teachers. This group of purposefully selected staff works in each of the three existing roles as they strive for a permanent position in a Spanish state university. The research results reveal a sense of distress among the participants due to the constant demands for accountability in publishing, which requires significant effort. Due to a long research path on many occasions with years working abroad, scholars are empowered to work in a community together, trying to develop a new working environment in which solidarity, gender rights, and the feeling of fighting for a balance in their mental health are shared goals. In a hostile external working environment, they desire long-term vocational and work-life stability, often at the expense of feeling empowered in their personal career development. The life narratives of early career professionals provide a unique perspective of a highly competitive system on the professional identity development of higher education teachers. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used Embracing a qualitative case study approach (Merriam, 1988), this study conducted 18 semi-structured interviews (Horton et al., 2004) with postdoc teaching staff actively seeking permanent university permanent positions. Following the conceptual approach of recognising professional identity as a developmental process throughout one’s career (DeCorse & Vogtle, 1997), an interview guide was employed to facilitate a narrative-based exploration of participants’ experiences from their undergraduate studies onwards. The research participants were purposefully selected (Coyne, 1997) based on their possession of the first ANECA (National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain) accreditation and their more than five years tenure in academia. The participants were selected purposefully, considering criteria such as affiliation with the same university, a minimum of five years of experience, possession of a PhD, and active pursuit of a permanent position. The initial indicators evaluated at the start of the interviews included age group, gender, chronology of earned degrees, employment history, years of experience, and years in their current profession. The first author of this study was a visiting scholar at the institution and was assisted by two research students. Together, they sent invitation emails to all postdoc staff working in areas such as Health Sciences, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Humanities, and Economic Sciences, and they accepted their participation by signing a consent form. Data collection occurred between March and May 2023, with participants invited to a shared office within the health department. Tape recorders were utilised during the interviews, which involved two interviewers, and notes were taken to ensure comprehensive data capture. We decided to listen to the participants in pairs as we wanted to be sure that we were following the entire interview guide, and we decided that this situation would lead to a detailed discussion during the data analysis process. The thematic analysis (Gibbs, 2007) was applied to analyse the interview data by three rounds of shared coding of the entire data (Clarke et al., 2015). Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Within the Spanish academic landscape, our participants’ experiences reflect the profound impact of neoliberalism on their professional trajectories. As highlighted by scholars such as Carvalho and Rodrigues (2006), neoliberalism’s emphasis on market-driven social relations and the commodification of knowledge has penetrated the realm of education, creating formidable challenges for educators and teachers. The audit and ranking systems, as described by Berg et al. (2016), contribute to the production of anxiety and intensify competition among academic faculty members in Northern European universities, echoing the experiences faced by our participants. Furthermore, the neoliberal policies and financial constraints examined by Caretta et al. (2018) resonate with the challenges encountered by our informants, including the pressure of heightened competition and limited resources. The lack of protocols aligning individuals’ capabilities and competencies with available job positions, as highlighted by Di Paolo and Mañé (2016). Staff members have shared their narratives of a decade-long journey in which they often felt undervalued. All participants expressed a common sentiment that, upon acquiring the role of ayudante doctor, they finally gained the ability to choose the subjects they teach, coordinate within their areas of expertise, and participate in research teams. They also took on roles as tutors and mentors for master’s and PhD students. Participant 15 further highlights that while working abroad, she experienced greater autonomy in selecting the subjects she wanted to teach, emphasising the hierarchical and restricted nature of the Spanish system. The dichotomy between personal and professional values and the structural and power influences on workplace learning has been extensively discussed (Trede et al., 2012). As described by Cruess et al. (2019) and supported by Steinert et al. (2019), the identities of tertiary education teachers as professionals and researchers are well-recognised by universities. However, there needs to be more recognition of their identities as teachers. References Berg, L. D., Huijbens, E. H., & Larsen, H. G. (2016). Producing anxiety in the neoliberal university. The Canadian Geographer/le Géographe Canadien, 60(2), 168–180. Caretta, M. A., Drozdzewski, D., Jokinen, J. C., & Falconer, E. (2018). “Who can play this game?” The lived experiences of doctoral candidates and early career women in the neoliberal university. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 42(2), 261–275. Carvalho, L. F., & Rodrigues, J. (2006). On markets and morality: Revisiting fred hirsch. Review of Social Economy, 64(3), 331–348. Cruess, S. R., Cruess, R. L., & Steinert, Y. (2019). Supporting the development of a professional identity: General principles. Medical Teacher, 41(6), 641–649. Di Paolo, A., & Mañé, F. (2016). Misusing our talent? Overeducation, overskilling and skill underutilisation among Spanish PhD graduates. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 27(4), 432–452. DeCorse, C. J. B., & Vogtle, S. P. (1997). In a complex voice: The contradictions of male elementary teachers’ career choice and professional identity. Journal of Teacher Education, 48(1), 37–46. Gibbs, G. R. (2007). Thematic coding and categorizing. Analyzing Qualitative Data, 703, 38–56. Horton, J., Macve, R., & Struyven, G. (2004). Qualitative research: Experiences in using semi-structured interviews. In C. Humphrey (Ed.), The real life guide to accounting research: A behind-the-scenes view of using qualitative research methods (pp. 339–357). CIMA Publ., ISBN 0-08-048992-3. - 2008. Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. Jossey-Bass. Steinert, Y., O’Sullivan, P. S., & Irby, D. M. (2019). Strengthening teachers’ professional identities through faculty development. Academic Medicine, 94(7), 963–968 Trede, F., Macklin, R., & Bridges, D. (2012). Professional identity development: A review of the higher education literature. Studies in Higher Education, 37(3), 365–384. | ||