From marketising to empowering: Evaluating union responses to devolutionary policies in education

Abstract Major reforms in education, globally, have focused on increased accountability and devolution of responsibility to the local school level improve efficiency quality education. While emerging research is considering implications these changed governance arrangements at both a system level, little attention has been afforded teacher union responses devolutionary reform, despite teaching being highly union-organised profession endurance decentralising-style education for over 40 years. Drawing upon power resources approach, this article examines cases reform populous Australian state. Through analysing evolving policy discourse, from anti-bureaucratic, managerialising rhetoric ‘post-bureaucratic, empowerment’ agenda, contributes understandings resisting decentralising, neoliberal agendas by exposing limits public sector unions mobilising traditional arguing strengthening discursive symbolic power.