The European Union’s governance of teachers and the evolution of a bridging issue field since the mid-2000s

Sorensen, T. B. and Dumay, X. (2024) The European Union’s governance of teachers and the evolution of a bridging issue field since the mid-2000s. European Educational Research Journal, 23(2), pp. 237-260. (doi: 10.1177/14749041241234695) (PMID:38495622)

Abstract

Concerned with European Union (EU) governance of teachers since the mid-2000s, this paper makes an empirical as well as theoretical contribution to education policy studies in the context of EU governance. Drawing on neo-institutional field theory and an empirical material of policy documents and interviews, the paper analyses the consolidation and evolution of a field at the EU level that is focused on the governance of the teaching profession. We argue that this field constitutes a bridging issue field, spanning several policy domains, including education, employment and economy, and characterised by non-linear and relatively slow change. We demonstrate how the field since the mid-2000s has become elaborated via the strategic framing of teacher skills and careers as policy issues, the mobilisation of actors and networks, and an expanding institutional infrastructure of mechanisms and policy instruments. Theoretically, the paper advances the debate on EU governance by highlighting the epistemic gains of neo-institutional field theory in making sense of soft governance contexts and their trajectories as an outcome of the interplay between issue framings, different types of actors, and institutional infrastructure.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This article has been prepared thanks to the support and funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 714641).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Sorensen, Dr Tore
• Authors: Sorensen, T. B., and Dumay, X.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Journal Name: European Educational Research Journal
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1474-9041
• ISSN (Online): 1474-9041
• Published Online: 05 March 2024
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2024 The Authors
• First Published: First published in European Educational Research Journal 23(2):237-260
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License