Feeling Obligated: Teaching in Neoliberal Times

“Phelan and Janzen’s book enables us to bear witness to teachers’ sense of obligation in neoliberal times characterized by the narrowing of personhood in schools and social disinvestment by governments. Their textured analysis gives teaching the rich theoretical treatment the profession warrants. It is necessary reading for anyone invested in the ethical worlds of teachers.” Doris Santoro, Professor of Education, Bowdoin College

“In this vital text, Phelan and Janzen powerfully critique neo-liberal social and education policies. Relatedly, they highlight their interviews with twenty-four teachers who, in response to these de-humanizing policies, variously grapple with ‘feeling obligated.’ The authors thus freshly theorize ‘obligation’ not as a burdened duty, but rather as an ethos, a call. This call concurrently re-invigorates Huebner’s early conceptualization of ‘teaching as vocation.’ Never denying myriad questions and difficulties in enacting these concepts, Phelan and Janzen nevertheless challenge us to live our vocation as one that refuses unethically codified reductions of unpredictable and unmeasurable teachings and learnings.” Janet L. Miller, Professor Emerita of English Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

“Feeling Obligated effectively connects the material and discursive conditions of life in schools to the psychic and social dimensions of a teaching life. This book will provoke conversations about the changing context of life in schools nationally and otherwise, purposes of education, teacher lives, ethical responsibility, teacher attrition, and so on. The scholarship is well-supported, drawing on a philosophical framework and exploring the psychic dimensions of teachers’ lives and lived experiences through diverse lenses.” Avril Aitken, Professor in the School of Education, Bishop's University

“There are few authors who could be as well-versed in the literature as Anne M. Phelan and Melanie D. Janzen are. Feeling Obligated brings to bear their deep knowledge of ethics in teaching and especially the work of John Caputo, whose theoretical perspective and insights inform the book as a whole. Eloquent and masterful, this book will be of interest to scholars and graduate students in the fields of teacher education, curriculum theory, and philosophy of education.” Teresa Strong-Wilson, Associate Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University