Examination of teachers' opinions on the reflections of neoliberal policies on the teaching profession

This research examines the effects of neoliberal policies on the teaching profession; It aims to describe the transformation in the meanings and functions attributed to teaching based on teachers' original experiences. It has been tried to determine to what extent the transformative effect of neoliberal education policies on the teaching profession has been understood by teachers, whether they can keep up with this change, their attitudes towards change, and the experiences they have gained through their own educational experiences. The study is a case study in which qualitative research methods are applied. The research was carried out with 40 teachers working at different levels in public schools in various regions of Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. Participants were determined through maximum diversity sampling. In the research, the features that provide diversity; gender, professional seniority, type of school, branch, union membership, socioeconomic-cultural structure of the region-province where they work. Thus, as much as possible, it was tried to include teachers working in different economic environments and working conditions and having different seniority in the research. In this study, "semi-structured interview technique" was used to collect data. The interview form consists of two parts. In the first part, there are 13 questions to determine the personal information of the interviewed teachers, and in the second part, nine questions to reveal the effects of neoliberal policies on the teaching profession and sounding questions for each of these questions. The research data were obtained from in-depth interviews conducted through the zoom program (between 25 December 2020 - 3 March 2021) with teachers at different levels in public schools in various regions of Turkey. Interviews; minimum 45 minutes, maximum 5 hours. Total call time is 78 hours. All of the interviews were recorded over the zoom program and analyzed by the researcher. According to the results of the research, teachers think that there is a relationship between neoliberal policies and the change/transformation experienced by the teaching profession. This perception of change/transformation is generally seen not as a result of differentiation brought about by dynamic social processes, but as a requalification of the teaching profession as a result of the commercialization trend of the capitalist globalization process, which also includes the field of education. According to the research findings, it is thought that many regulations, from teacher training studies to exam-oriented approach, from the use of curriculum and guidebooks to teacher performance measurement studies, were created within the framework of market logic, forcing teachers to act with instruction, and aimed at breaking up teacher organization. Keywords: Change/Transformation, Neoliberal Policies, Teaching Profession, Commercialization