Navigating the neoliberal university: reflecting on teaching
practice as a teacher-researcher-trade unionist
Article (Accepted Version)
http://sro.sussex.ac.uk
Evans, Matthew (2020) Navigating the neoliberal university: reflecting on teaching practice as a
teacher-researcher-trade unionist. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41 (4). pp. 574-590.
ISSN 0142-5692
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Author:
Matthew Evans
Affiliations:
School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Department of Political
Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6464-5161
Title:
Navigating the Neoliberal University: Reflecting on Teaching Practice as a Teacher-Researcher-Trade
Unionist
Abstract:
This article reflects upon the neoliberalisation of higher education and its effects on teaching
practice. It is argued that a neoliberal discourse of teaching excellence has the effect of working
against, and potentially undermining, the emancipatory potential of higher education. The article
reflects upon attempts to navigate disciplinary power in the neoliberal university and considers
whether critical, emancipatory praxis is possible or if complicity in, and co-option by, neoliberalism is
inevitable. Ultimately, it is concluded that individual teachers have some scope to pursue
approaches which counter neoliberal dominance but that this is heavily constrained. A broader,
collective, project will therefore be necessary if alternative (critical, emancipatory) visions of
teaching and learning in higher education are to successfully challenge neoliberal hegemony and the
negative effects of this in the academy.
Keywords:
Higher education; trade unionism; teaching; neoliberalism; disciplinary power; resistance
Biography:
Dr Matthew Evans is a Lecturer in Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex and Visiting
Researcher in Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. He completed a Postgraduate
Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at Sussex in 2018 and is a Fellow of the
Higher Education Academy. He is the author of Transformative Justice: Remedying Human Rights
Violations Beyond Transition (Routledge, 2018) and editor of Transitional and Transformative Justice:
Critical and International Perspectives (Routledge, 2019).
Acknowledgements:
An earlier version of this article was submitted in partial fulfilment of a Postgraduate Certificate in
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the University of Sussex. Thanks must also go to the
anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
Word count: 8000
Matthew Evans, “Navigating the Neoliberal University: Reflecting on Teaching Practice as a Teacher-Researcher-Trade Unionist”, British Journal of Sociology of Education.
Author's accepted manuscript.
Accepted 25 March 2020.
Page 1 of 36
Navigating the Neoliberal University: Reflecting on Teaching Practice as a Teacher-
Researcher-Trade Unionist
Abstract
This article reflects upon the neoliberalisation of higher education and its effects on teaching
practice. It is argued that a neoliberal discourse of teaching excellence has the effect of working
against, and potentially undermining, the emancipatory potential of higher education. The
article reflects upon attempts to navigate disciplinary power in the neoliberal university and
considers whether critical, emancipatory praxis is possible or if complicity in, and co-option
by, neoliberalism is inevitable. Ultimately, it is concluded that individual teachers have some
scope to pursue approaches which counter neoliberal dominance but that this is heavily
constrained. A broader, collective, project will therefore be necessary if alternative (critical,
emancipatory) visions of teaching and learning in higher education are to successfully
challenge neoliberal hegemony and the negative effects of this in the academy.
Page 2 of 36
Introduction
Despite the claim that neoliberalism is so nebulous a concept as to be analytically useless (Dunn
2017), key elements can be discerned and interrogated (Hall 2011; Gilbert 2013; Davies 2014).
Neoliberalism, of course, is ‘not one thing’ (Hall 2011, 12; Davies 2014). Broadly, however,
neoliberal processes encourage (including by state intervention) ‘individualistic, competitive,
acquisitive and entrepreneurial behaviour’ (Gilbert 2013, 9), through, for example,
privatisation and marketisation.
1
Neoliberalisation of higher education has received widespread
attention (and criticism) in recent years (see Parfitt 2018; Cruickshank 2016; Soo Tian 2018).
Considering the ways neoliberalism manifests in universities, here I reflect on the
interrelationship of different scholarly identities and practices – as a researcher, teacher and
trade unionist.
The next section discusses background and methodology. I then consider the purpose of
education, arguing for a critical, emancipatory vision, in contrast with neoliberal approaches.
Next, I explore neoliberal processes in universities, focusing on credentialisation,
marketisation and audit culture – arguing that a neoliberal discourse of teaching excellence
works against the emancipatory potential of higher education (Soo Tian 2018, 33-34; Moore et
al. 2017; Wood and Su 2017; Collini 2012). I then link this to the experience of studying for a
Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (PGCertHE).
Following this, I reflect on how identities and practices as a researcher, teacher and trade
1
The (self-described ‘neoliberal’) Adam Smith Institute, for instance, highlights its work on ‘privatization,
deregulation, and… advocacy of internal markets in healthcare and education’ (Adam Smith Institute 2019; see
also Gilbert 2013: 11-12; Davies 2014, 310; Bulpitt 1986; Hall 2011).
Page 3 of 36
unionist overlap and influence one another in navigating neoliberal processes, focussing
especially on taking strike action and the influence this had on my teaching. I conclude with
implications for practice, suggesting that whilst individual teachers have some scope to pursue
approaches which counter neoliberalisation, they are heavily constrained in this regard, and
that a broader, collective, project is necessary to promote critical, emancipatory education.
Background and methods
This began as an essay submitted for the PGCertHE at the University of Sussex (a research-
intensive university in the south of England, founded in the 1960s). The issues explored, and
approach taken, are shaped by this. For instance, the article is reflective – not entirely by choice:
the assessment required reflection. This inspired reflection upon the experience of taking the
course itself. This, in turn, led to reflection upon the ways such courses, and experiences of
participants, link to wider (neoliberal) processes in the university, and in society. In providing
this reflection on reflection, my aims are severalfold but related: to provide an account of the
lived experience of a teacher, researcher and trade unionist in the neoliberal university; to link
this to a critique of neoliberal processes and explore ways of responding to these; to
problematise and disrupt the notion of teaching excellence, and the favoured ways of pursuing
this promoted in the university.
Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the potential benefits of reflection (and
reflective writing), including for university teachers (see, e.g., Gibbons 2018; Miettinen 2000).
Furthermore, reflection on personal experiences and narration of these has increasingly been
developed as the research method of autoethnography, with advocates pointing to many