The Circumstances of School Teachers' Deprofessionalization in Modern Russia

The policy technologies of market and managerialism shape the face of the modern school education system in Russia. The teaching profession is described in market terms: education is a service, while a teacher is its performer. New institutional and semantic frameworks challenge the professional values, mission, ethics and self-understanding of Russian teachers. Some social researchers consider that the teaching profession is being deprofessionalized in those states where the school system is subject to the new public management. However, there are studies that show that under the influence of these institutional forces professionals still manage to maintain the legitimacy of their claims to autonomous work. There is a need to clarify the conditions for the deprofessionalization of labor groups on the example of school teachers. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the conditions for the deprofessionalization of school teachers in modern Russia. Macro-theoretical approaches to the study of occupations and professions are not sensitive to the variety of micro-meanings and micro-actions that are important for the existence of labor groups. Therefore, this master's thesis presents an interpretation of the phenomenon of the deprofessionalization of labor groups within the theoretical apparatus of microlevel sociology. The research findings are based on secondary data provided with research companies, four-year participant observation, and nine interviews with school teachers. The work shows how the institutional infrastructure of the school education system simultaneously limits and supports the labor autonomy of educators. Pedagogues and school administrators through formal rituals retain the ability to act in accordance with their professional symbol and use it to autonomize their own work. Certain changes in institutional conditions reduce the number of rituals available for them and contribute to the deprofessionalization of pedagogical workers.