Examining how two public school teachers in the politically charged landscape of Texas made sense of policymakers’ reforms: a case study

Becoming and remaining a public-school teacher in the United States is overwhelming and complex. Adding to this is the continued assault by policymakers on public education. In states like Texas, they are expanding upon earlier neoliberal reforms by enacting such policies as only funding highly structured curricula or limiting children’s access to books. Many teachers struggle with the issues these policies create and decide to opt out of the profession. Yet, their retention is essential. To consider how teacher educators and others can better support teachers, I share findings from a qualitative case study that examined how a first-year and a veteran elementary school teacher in Texas’s public schools made sense of the impact of policymakers’ neoliberal reforms on their teaching, profession, and tenure in the field. Examining their sensemaking reveals how such reforms as the standardization of their workload and teaching environment appeared to restrict their teaching as well as their descriptions of their tenure in the profession. Analyzing and interpreting their experiences illuminates opportunities for change in teacher education and potentially policy. Such transformation appears necessary to ensure all educators have the experiences and knowledge required to navigate and survive the realities of teaching in neoliberal contexts.