Mētis: a framework for understanding tactics of resistance

Teachers’ negative experiences of high-stakes accountability have been documented extensively, but the ways in which teachers are able to engage in tactics of resistance in response are less well known. This is most especially true in terms of the subtle, covert forms of resistance which occur through the practice of teachers’ everyday working lives. This paper contributes through a novel exploratory application of ‘Mētis’, a framework for understanding tactics of resistance derived from the thought of Detienne and Vernant (1978). When Mētis is harnessed alongside de Certeau’s (1984) notion of the practice of everyday life, it provides an innovative means of exploring the complex, elusive and intricate ways in which teachers pursue tactics of resistance within a context of high-stakes accountability. By so doing, it demonstrates how teachers are able to evade or resist high-stakes accountability in order to pursue their own educational goals. Thus, the article also adds to an understanding of the gap between policy formulation and its enactment. This initial exploratory study contributes to the literature by offering a transferable conceptual approach which is recommended for broader use while identifying some important considerations which attend the empirical application of Mētis.