ABSTRACT

This article examines the processes underlying the formation of the identity of teachers as entrepreneurs in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India. Drawing on interactions with 38 schoolteachers in two private schools in Dehradun, this article explores why and how educators adopt specific entrepreneurial strategies to navigate precarious, competitive market conditions. It subsequently illustrates how, in their pursuit of career advancement, educators commodify their knowledge and skills and promote the market logic of choice and freedom. By elucidating the mechanisms through which educators reproduce the processes and practices that nudge their search for promising career opportunities in the formal education system and the tuition industry, this article argues that teacher-entrepreneurs are both products and carriers of the neoliberal agenda. It introduces the concept of teacher-entrepreneurialism, a manifestation of neoliberalism, which shapes educators’ entrepreneurial dispositions; it suggests that teacher-entrepreneurs sustain neoliberalization in its varying forms and bolster its legitimacy. By illustrating the variegated, processual existence of neoliberalism, this article makes a case for investigating education as a neoliberalizing space in the increasingly profit-centric, market-driven, and performance-oriented schooling sector that prevails across societies, particularly in contemporary India.

摘要

本文考察了当代印度新自由化教育空间中教师作为企业家身份的形成过程。本文通过与德拉敦两所私立学校 38 名教师的互动，探讨了教育工作者为何以及如何采用特定的创业策略来应对不稳定、竞争激烈的市场条件。它随后说明了在追求职业发展的过程中，教育工作者如何将他们的知识和技能商品化，并促进选择和自由的市场逻辑。通过阐明教育工作者重现推动他们在正规教育系统和补习行业寻找有前途的职业机会的过程和实践的机制，本文认为，教师企业家既是新自由主义议程的产物，又是其载体。它引入了教师创业主义的概念，这是新自由主义的一种表现形式，它塑造了教育者的创业倾向；它表明教师企业家以各种形式支持新自由主义并加强其合法性。通过说明新自由主义的多样化、过程性存在，本文提出了一个案例，将教育作为新自由主义空间进行调查，在日益以利润为中心、市场驱动和以绩效为导向的教育部门中，这种教育在各个社会中普遍存在，尤其是在当代印度。它表明教师企业家以各种形式支持新自由主义并加强其合法性。通过说明新自由主义的多样化、过程性存在，本文提出了一个案例，将教育作为新自由主义化空间进行调查，在日益以利润为中心、市场驱动和以绩效为导向的教育部门中，这种教育在各个社会中普遍存在，尤其是在当代印度。它表明教师企业家以各种形式支持新自由主义并加强其合法性。通过说明新自由主义的多样化、过程性存在，本文提出了一个案例，将教育作为新自由主义化空间进行调查，在日益以利润为中心、市场驱动和以绩效为导向的教育部门中，这种教育在各个社会中普遍存在，尤其是在当代印度。