The influence of neoliberalism on graduate student teaching preparation: a structural, interactionist study
Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education
ISSN: 2398-4686
Article publication date: 7 September 2020
Issue publication date: 1 December 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study initially was to explore how graduate teaching assistants’ (GTAs) peer-to-peer interactions in a teaching development seminar (TEAC 530, offered at Midwestern State University) shaped their experiences in the seminar. However, as this study unfolded, the author learned that the neoliberal social structure enveloping TEAC 530 informed how GTAs interacted with their peers. It became necessary to interrogate how the seminar, against a neoliberal backdrop, shaped GTAs’ interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an ethnographic methodological approach, this inquiry drew from fieldnotes from 21 different TEAC 530 sessions, with collection occurring over the course of 15 months. This project also drew upon 18 semi-structured interviews and analysis of relevant documents.
Findings
Neoliberalism’s influence on TEAC 530’s structure and learning goals created conditions that did not forge strong GTA peer connections; the extent to which GTAs got to know each other and build relationships was questionable. Fruitful working peer relationships were inconsistent, making it challenging for GTAs to learn and contrast their experiences and understandings about teaching with peers.
Originality/value
Neoliberalism’s influence on TEAC 530 undermined the seminar’s community of practice design, limiting the scope and depth of GTAs’ peer interactions, which in turn limited the facilitation of GTAs’ teaching preparation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Mahauganee D. Shaw Bonds and James S. Bielo for their guidance with this research. The author dedicates this work to the memory of Peter M. Magolda.
Citation
Robinson, K.S. (2020), "The influence of neoliberalism on graduate student teaching preparation: a structural, interactionist study", Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 295-310. https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-09-2019-0076
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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