The Institute of Network Cultures and the Learning Community Critical Making are proud to present the Post-Precarity Zine, a toolbox for beginning artists.Times have changed. The art world and the creative economy are no longer the ones we used to know. The digital economy, the pandemic, and the cuts within the cultural field are some of the many factors that influence our practices and the way artists live nowadays. While some claim that the golden eras are gone, and maybe they are, a community of young artists and thinkers meets to discuss the ways in which the narrative around art and its practices has changed and can be geared towards the future.What does it mean to be an artist today? How to survive as a cultural worker while making what you want to make? How can we use contemporary platforms to turn our anger into transformative power? What are the many strategies of organization and obstacles artists have to face nowadays for their practice to remain? By better understanding the structures of the art world and its economies, how can we counteract them and use them to our benefit and create sustainable and collective actions?It is with such questions in mind that the first Post-Precarity Precarity Autumn Camp was organized by the Institute of Network Cultures, Platform BK and Hotel Maria Kapel from September 27th until October 1st, 2021. This zine collects extracts of texts, testimonials, precious reports, summaries of our daily programs, quotes, drawings and notes from the many participants, references to relevant sources, an open letter to Dutch art academies with four demands for change, an essay on principles for post-precarity, and exercises you can do at home to recalibrate your ‘artistic biotope’. With this mumble jumble, we give you a window to our inspiring week, a toolkit, and a fragmented manifesto. We hope to inspire you with our critical reflections, optimism, and the actions taken during the Post-Precarity Autumn Camp!
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Recent studies have identified that the teacher is the most important factor influencing the quality of education. Following this line of reasoning, it is likely to assume that the teacher educator is the most important factor influencing the quality of teacher education. Although many research studies and policy documents attempt to identify the qualities of teachers, only a few publications address the quality of teacher educators. This paper examines the contemporaryEuropean policy debate on the quality and status of teacher educators. Two issues will be addressed. Firstly, to what extent is teacher educator regarded as a profession? Secondly, what actions and measures are proposed to maintain or increase the quality and status of the teacher educator profession? Based on literature on professions and professionalism, a framework has been developed to guide our examination of European policy documents on teacher education to identify to what extent these documents express notions of teacher educators as professionals.
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Beginning teachers encounter a lot of challenges when they start to work in their first job as a teacher (Kessels, 2010; Pillen, 2013). In this study, the support and coaching of beginning teachers in schools is the central issue. What kind of support do beginning teachers receive, what topics are discussed and what kind of support do they perceive as beneficial for their development as a teacher? A questionnaire for both beginning teachers and their coaches was used to investigate the support offered in schools. Results show that allmost all beginning teachers are engaged in informal conversations as well as in more formal coaching moments. Topics that are adressed have to do with teaching and workload. The results of this study can be useful for schooldirectors who want to develop an induction trajectory for their starting colleagues and help them choose which forms of support should be included.
