Abstract:
Before the democratic revolution in 1990, Mongolian teachers had highly respected social status and a greater degree of professionalism. After 1990, many postsocialist countries attempted to improve the quality of education through various approaches. However, these often involved reducing teacher wages, increasing workload, and intensifying competition. Education reforms use buzzwords such as decentralisation, liberalisation, privatisation, marketisation, pluralism, etc. Unfortunately, these measures have been shown to undermine teacher professionalism and create high-stress teaching and learning environments. As a post-socialist country, Mongolia has undergone a series of policy changes and education reforms, resulting in a significant decrease in teachers' salaries, social status, and the overall reputation of the teaching profession over the past three decades. However, little academic research has focused on explaining why this change has occurred.
This paper aims to answer this question from an educational policy perspective, focusing on how education policies have changed teachers' roles and subjectivities. Mongolian education policies aimed to transform the highly structured and rigid socialist system into a marketised and privatised one, developed through collaboration between multilateral financial organisations such as the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), NGOs such as JICA and Soros Foundation, and numerous local actors. The influence of these international organisations on education reform policies, especially on teachers’ work and subjectivity, needs further investigation. To analyse these policies, Rizvi and Lingard’s policy analysis framework and thematic analysis approach were utilised. One major government policy from each educational reform phase was selected, and education laws and amendments were considered depending on their connection to the selected policies and relevance to the teachers and the teaching profession in general.
Based on this analysis, it is argued that since the democratic revolution, international financial organisations, such as the WB and the ADB, have exerted significant control over education policy in Mongolia, resulting in 'structural adjustments' of the teaching profession. Additionally, Mongolian education policies and reforms were based on neoliberal principles of free market domination, personal choices and economic freedom. As a result, Mongolia's education system is deeply divided based on socioeconomic background, and teaching has become a less desirable profession among young people, leading to a severe shortage of teachers and related issues. This stark reality highlights the urgency and significance of education research in a transitioning nation in a constantly changing world.
This paper aims to answer this question from an educational policy perspective, focusing on how education policies have changed teachers' roles and subjectivities. Mongolian education policies aimed to transform the highly structured and rigid socialist system into a marketised and privatised one, developed through collaboration between multilateral financial organisations such as the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), NGOs such as JICA and Soros Foundation, and numerous local actors. The influence of these international organisations on education reform policies, especially on teachers’ work and subjectivity, needs further investigation. To analyse these policies, Rizvi and Lingard’s policy analysis framework and thematic analysis approach were utilised. One major government policy from each educational reform phase was selected, and education laws and amendments were considered depending on their connection to the selected policies and relevance to the teachers and the teaching profession in general.
Based on this analysis, it is argued that since the democratic revolution, international financial organisations, such as the WB and the ADB, have exerted significant control over education policy in Mongolia, resulting in 'structural adjustments' of the teaching profession. Additionally, Mongolian education policies and reforms were based on neoliberal principles of free market domination, personal choices and economic freedom. As a result, Mongolia's education system is deeply divided based on socioeconomic background, and teaching has become a less desirable profession among young people, leading to a severe shortage of teachers and related issues. This stark reality highlights the urgency and significance of education research in a transitioning nation in a constantly changing world.