Jeannine Wishart

This paper explores the impact of edu-businesses on literacy education in schools and the implications for initial teacher education. Decades of neoliberal education policies, the valorisation of high stakes testing and consequent dataphilia, has resulted in a plethora of commercial products flooding the education market. These products promise to improve literacy data and edu-businesses have positioned themselves in a commercially lucrative relationship with education authorities. Thus they work with governments to create education policy that addresses the ‘crisis,’ and profit through selling solutions. These private companies restrict the use of their products to schools who have purchased their packages. This commodification of education de-professionalises teachers, foregrounds teachers’ time and leaves little room for critical literacy work. Moreover, this deprofessionalisation impacts teachers’ perceptions of belonging and their identities as teachers. Our research highlights the impact that branded literacy tools are having on initial education students’ pedagogy, professional practice, and perceptions of teacher identity.