In this month’s newsletter, we would like to introduce PhD student, Peter Mader from the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work. His supervisors were Dr Andrew Bills and Dr Bev Rogers.
Peter’s recently submitted thesis, “Principal associations: the struggle for political agency in neoliberalising policy regimes” received outstanding results from the examiners.
We asked Peter to share more about himself, what led him to a PhD and what he has been up to since his PhD completion.
What was your research about?
My thesis investigates the contested terrain of public education policy in South Australia (1995-2020) between the bureaucracy that formulates it and principal associations that advocate for its improvement. Using Bacchi’s ‘what’s the problem represented to be’ framework (2009) as a theoretical foundation for a genealogy, I reveal how principals have been constituted, and constituted themselves, by expanded accountabilities and diminished autonomy across three major reforms. Despite being constrained by this rendering, school leaders contested and resisted this subjugation through the political work of principal associations.
What led you to undertake a PhD? What inspired or motivated you?
My specific motivation for this research was to understand more deeply the effects of neoliberal policy regimes and new managerial practices (in particular, performativity) on the role of public school principals and, in turn, how this impacted the political work of principal associations (as the organised and collective voice of principals). In a broader sense, I had become increasingly concerned by the way our elected politicians, in the absence of a crisis, often introduced harmful policies against the advice of the professions, despite having demonstrated a propensity to rely upon expert professional opinion during a crisis (e.g. the COVID pandemic).
How did your supervisors support you during your candidature?
Without the reassurance, guidance and wisdom provided by my supervisors, my project might not have made it to completion. Indeed, it was their enthusiastic backing that convinced Flinders University I would be a viable PhD candidate, despite not having undertaken a Masters by Research Degree. Their intellectual challenge and scholarly support, together with a professional camaraderie, made my PhD journey as enjoyable as it was enriching.
Tell us about yourself
I was a secondary school principal for 14 years and, after this, was the President/Chief Executive of the South Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (SASPA) for 7 years. I have recently moved interstate and am now settled in the Tamar Valley in northern Tasmania.
What have you been doing since you completed?
I am currently working on some articles (suggested by my thesis) that I hope will be accepted for publication in the Journal of Educational Administration and History (JEAH). As an industry project, I have just completed a report, Rethinking and Redesigning the Role of the School Principal, for the SA Secondary Principals’ Association (SASPA) and the SA State School Leaders Association (SASSLA).
Have you published anything?
To date, my only thesis related publication is a book chapter I co-wrote with Dr Chris Dolan, Managing Tension: Agonism and alliance in an ethos of democratic participation.