The Relationship Between Performativity and Education

Instructional use of performance supports the capability of minimizing some of the social challenges that people are facing both at school and at their workplaces. Some performativity theories try to explain how teacher gain their identities. This paper aims at discussing performativity, personalization, awareness of interaction, performance, performativity and second language identities.

Introduction 

Performativity has been defined in different aspects as authors try to bring out the art of education both in schools and workplaces. Stephen Ball relates performativity with the society’s obsession with grades and goals in the education systems. Additionally, Ken Robinson (2016) compares this to the killed aspect of innovation in education. To ensure that people perform in their daily activities it is advisable to enhance creativity in line with change. Developing the cultures of performativity calls for the development of systems where teachers are expected to ‘perform' and the individuals become more accountable. The accountability can be achieved through inspection, competitive performance, target setting among other creative practices. Based on artistic innovations, there is the need for the introduction of advanced skills teachers. In this, the experience of teachers in work, commitment to work and their identities are being considered to fuel the creative initiatives. Performativity is associated with origins, processes, and effects that make it govern liberally. Practitioners are required to manage themselves in line with making responses to tests and targets through an existence of calculation. The personal beliefs and opinions are set aside for the individual practitioner to be able to achieve excellence. The whole concept can be applied in many fields such as linguistics , philosophy , anthropology , law , gender studies , performance studies , and economics . With an aim changing the worlds social actions.

Literature Review 

Performativity according to John Austin (2013) is the capacity of speech in an attempt to bring out an action. Being a philosopher of language, Austin explains the actions that are brought out by communication and speech to be inclusive of an individual making promises, a leader calling for action, a judge pronouncing a verdict among others. He bases this as a descriptive language that can either be true or false. According to Judith Butler (2014), a gender theorist some forms of communication and speech are defined to be performative. The theorist based the argument while considering Austin's case on descriptive language where she argues that gender is socially constructed through these form of communications that can define and maintain identities. According to Jean-François Lyotard (2012), performativity can also be modeled to bring out some meaning in line with inputs and outputs. He argues that through this concept performativity gains the power to govern the articulation, funding, and conduct of contemporary research and education. Based on Stephen Ball’s (2015) argument, this is a theory that cuts across the teacher-subject study with reforms being directed towards the American education system. To acquire successive standards and accountability, he bases his arguments on two ideas where he discusses the teacher's profession and subjectivity when it comes to class work. The first study is done in the career of English teachers when making considerations of the No Child Left Behind Act. These teachers viewed themselves from the aspect of professionalism, and practice. The second one reflects on the implementation of value-added teacher assessments. This group of teachers majors their quality in education through accountability mechanism (Marshall, 2012). The two studies are used to show a conflict between the teachers and the government mechanism of accountability. It also brings out the definition of three types of teachers when it comes to enhancing performance in class work. This is the marketized teacher, the managed teacher, and the performative teacher. All these approaches are derived from the speech-act theory and given diverse meanings depending on the life occurrences. This can work best in non-totalizing systems that face reality about performance (Ruitenberg, 2012). A good example is the education sector.

Performativity and Personalized Learning 

These two ideas are among the recently adopted terms in the education system in the past few decades. However, there is little agreement on their meaning and importance when placed in the education system context because different authors view them from different perspectives. The relation of the society's view on grades, statistics and tests is what brings out the background of terror for teachers when administering education to students. The ideas of both teaching to test and to lower the mark standards to increase the number of ‘successful' students is as a result of this terror. When viewed from a negative perspective performativity has fueled the killing of creativity in both the class work and activities at the workplaces this is because the teachers are working towards teaching students on how to achieve some fixed education target or goals rather than tackling the real challenges in education. The ability to think from a personal ground is no longer effective hence few chances of creativity. When teachers become more concerned on meeting the test outcomes the learning process becomes ineffective yet it is the most beneficial (Butler, 2014). More dangers are realized when the goals set are of low standard to be able to cover the unsuccessful student who is not willing to put more effort in performance. On lowering of the standards the knowledge becomes facts that students are expecting the teachers to test while the learning process becomes the attained progress while moving from one level to the other in the education system. On the same educational grounds, personalized learning can be described as the aspiration of learning that educators had to be familiar with when handling their teaching career. For greater understanding of the aspect of personalization in performativity in school a study can be performed. The research can yield the best results when the students involved come from different backgrounds, race, and attended different schools based on ethnic and class definition. Students from a particular school can be taken to represent a low-level standard lifestyle where there are treated as minorities while another one can be taken to reflect on the areas faced with immigration, high-levels of unemployment, middle- class people, high-class people among others. The unifying factor for them all is education where performativity is based on the personal choices that each person makes to create a difference. The choices made are what connects the idea of personalization and performativity in education and in the recent life situations.

The capability of an individual to make the ‘best choices' is what defines performativity, creativity, and personalized learning policies. Creating a performativity culture call for an evaluation of personal performance based on the school's different activities. To be able to calculate the value that an individual is worth in his/her school performance can be done through evaluation of one’s ability and flexibility. There was a recent analysis done on creativity while dressing the performativity issues of an individual school. The teachers, pupils, and educators of the institution reflected positivity in their commitments toward ensuring creative learning. However, there were some noted aspects of other educational demands that interfered with their ideas on the same. These aspects formed a common ground that related all of them to the lack of connectivity in personalized education and performativity when it came to school knowledge, resource allocation and application of appropriate practices in the learning activities. In this whole process, both the teachers and the students are involved to be able to differentiate the actor from the defined act (Butler, 2014). The issue is addressed from the point where the grades of each are examined and classified depending on performance rather than setting satisfaction grade levels that most people can meet with no struggle.

Performativity in Education 

Research based on the upper education system in Sweden was done with two groups of participants being involved. One was considered to be successful while the other one was unsuccessful. The data produced was based on the learning practices and the learner identities for twelve years of study. The study tried to understand these groups of students and their school activities in the process of education development over the years. Three projects were discovered in the research process to bring out the aspects of performativity, personalization, and creativity. The first one was a policy that was carried out after the introduction of Upper Secondary Reform act which involved seventeen national academic programs and some other locally designed programs to specifically address the issues in the upper education system. The bill dealt with personalization in education with the aim of extending social inclusion in education (Creese, 2015). The practice failed with some great aspects of social class selection and reproduction being noted in the education system. The reason for this was because of choices made in education, social class background, and professional anticipation. From this study, performativity in school was related to the act of having desirable behaviors for individuals that would help maintain a good image while making educational choices. The success that is realized from the input of such actions in the classroom brings about a competitive situation where the number of successful students will be increased. To be able to go through the education system and get a good job an individual must have the ability to manage choices, show interest, do good work and ensure responsibility initiative. There were some aspects of competitive consumerism that was based on interest and being ambitious that were discovered in the group of successful individuals. Majoring on the performativity of pupils it is essential to make consideration on investment thinking, having professional teachers, the distinct vision of the teachers, intelligence of students, ability and a high level of maturity for the students. These are the distinguishing factors when it comes to defining performativity in education where one is classified as either successful or not.

Based on the other two ideas of personalized learning and creativity the aspects of performativity cultures in school, individual enterprise and selfish accumulation are explored further. In an attempt to acquire educational success, these aspects are not defined as they appear because there is a particular unspoken class dimension in line with these issues. The research identified that the historical groups of race and class could define performance in class. The notations that are gained from the media and political debates are what increases or lowers the understanding and activation of class and race groups among people. Those people who are devalued and denied space of participation in the society can raise themselves up by showing their values. This can be done through creating a sense of respect, understanding, and identity to the other society members (Imai & Wulf, 2015). The idea of personalized learning and creativity comes in when people challenge the negative values made against them and come out successful to prove the other societies that they are not weak as they are defined. The protection of self-worth for individuals comes along when people first set their goals, learn from each other and influence the society to think positively about them. This can be described as the undisrupted performativity. A good example is the group of hip-hop musicians that created their image of being successful learning subjects rather than the school failures which was the form that the society viewed them for many years while treating them as a minority. Their creativity, performativity demand of schools was the voice through the efforts that they put in the lively hip-hop music.

Outcomes of High Stake Performativity in Education 

To be able to acquire educational success the idea of developing a performativity culture in school as well as a good definition of normal behaviors in instances of personal investment is required. Making of choices by the students are focused on the idea of knowledgeable and reflexive agents when in the context of skilled choosers. When considering the decisions of the semi-skilled, the selections are viewed as conditioned and contingent processes of selection. From this, the skilled choosers are reflected to be the successful students who realize the high economic and cultural returns out of the informed choices they make. The semi-skilled choosers are considered to be less successful. The choices made by the two groups reflect on how people make decisions depending on different motivations such as experiences and commitments in education (Ferguson, 2012). The performativity actions associated with the two groups is what brings about differences in treatment in real life situations. The skilled chooses are categorized as those who obtain elite positions in life as well as income and status. Most of them are associated with the fashionable colleges where they attend their classes and can make more informed life decisions. Some of the ethnic and class-related feminine traps that are seen in people's lives are associated with the attendance of ‘local' universities and colleges where the ability to make better choices is not fully enhanced.

The aspect of having different social factors also brings out choice rationales where both groups base their choices on the life experiences. This brings out the different education purposes for individuals. Some include the care for others, immigrant working towards getting a job to support family members, working towards getting a decent job when one is from a poor background among others. From research, the population of the vocational higher student is rising at a high rate. They commonly involve the adult students and those from non-traditional study backgrounds. It is important to consider the choices made in the current performativity culture when people are working toward the anticipation of getting better jobs. The choices made by an individual are what bring a difference in the education, labor markets and social status for individuals Jeffrey & Troman, 2012).

Portfolios: Assessment in Language Arts 

There are various forms of portfolios depending on the group of people involved. Art students handle portfolios for an art class, client's portfolio for stockbrokers, among others. All these forms can be defined as samples of work which include typical or best work, which can be used to access performance. Based on the language arts portfolio, assessment of student literacy development is done. When these portfolios are collected over a period, they become essential in planning within the classroom activities and even in the acquisition of skills necessary for life situations. Based on the tests that students take every day in life one can advance by developing responses to realistic conditions. This means that even though schoolwork involves writing down of responses, other issues lie beneath the answers. The ability of a student to compare and contrast, describe themes, have flows of a particular story among others have a more realistic focus on life situations. Taking an example of when a teacher asks a student to write a letter to advise a fellow friend on how to solve a problem. From the life point of view, this gives an indicator of how best the student can handle even the issues that are outside class work. When studio performance through portfolio development is linked with school work for students, it should portray artistic growth and development. This is because of the portfolio format majors on quality, concentration, and range of answers. They address the specific issues that a student might have struggled with throughout the academic year. This can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses that one has, and how they can be managed in the life situations. The idea that students are required to use multiple resources in their work, apply their knowledge, construct responses rather than identifying correct answers, reveals the ability of the student to handle even other personal life issues.

Performance, Performativity and Second Language Identities 

The research done on these aims at answering the question- how can we know the actor from the act? The studies reflect on the field of second language learning where both the teachers and students are involved in forming a formative classroom. The two groups of performers are considered to be linguistically diverse. From the research, the bilingual learners were offered a different learning discourse in their last year of study. It was shown that the immigrant students who were in the learning process performed in some practices while they resisted in the others. Bilingual student often has some challenges in education when their cultural means of communication are marginalized by learning institutions (Wulf, 2013). Additionally, a similar problem is usually experienced by the Non-native English speaking (NNEST) teachers in the higher education systems of America. These subjects are marginalized and subjected to discrimination where they are viewed as less educated when it comes to western ways of education and lifestyle. A high rate of increase in the multilingual classrooms have been reported in most American states due to the intensive immigration shifts to the regions. To be able to close the gap between the native and non-native persons the language educators play the central role. This is done by improving the means of social interaction between the two groups with the similarities between the two being embraced more than the differences. Disrupting the power of differential between the two teams can make it more efficient. A good example is the collaboration of two authors who wrote about the second language identities producing a common paper. The journal Linguistics and education (2015) is written by Ruth Harman who is an English speaking professor and Xiaodong Zhang who is a Chinese NNEST. This is a reflection of some of the advantages that can be realized through the collaboration of the two groups without discrimination (Wulf, 2013).

Recently, there is the idea of connecting performativity with the exploration of second language identities which revolves around issues such as adult language learning and teacher identity. To study on the same research was conducted by Wulf (2012) involving nine NNEST from the Spanish origin and teaching in Georgia. The teachers were from grade six to twelve in different public schools in the state. The results based on how they acted on their second language identities the results showed that the teachers had a hard time when fighting with their second identities whenever they were caught up in the native/non-native discussions. However, they also felt empowered on instances that they were able to connect to the linguistic cultures of both languages. Some performance activities are considered best to use when trying to create a medium when individuals are representing themselves in different scenarios. In a situation where a role-play involves both the teacher and the student, the performers examine the discourse as it is emerging and creating significance in the speech itself. To encourage the aspect of performativity as a social activity, it is essential to create an image and forum that will support the native communities as being viewed as a minority from both the local and national perspective. An example is the Boalian theater techniques which are termed as a ‘theatre of the oppressed.' It was introduced by theorist Paulo Freire and aimed at promoting social and political change. Here, the audience is advised to be active like the "spect-actors” where they venture into their lives, explore, analyze and face the reality in which they are living. The word ‘spect-actor’ is used to mean the audience that is involved in the theatre forum (Marshall, 2012). The audience is characterized by two features where they are both the actors and the spectators. They are expected to act and at the same time draw conclusive meaning from the action that they are performing. The action that is always in question involves oppression and being treated as a minority where the spectators come together to get a solution together. Techniques such as brainstorming can be used to be able to come up with an idea of how to fight the social challenges faced by the group. This idea is a rehearsal of revolution where involved participants free themselves as well as they think and act for themselves (Creese, 2015).

The issue is also addressed in other ways of performance still in an attempt to development of Theatre of the Oppressed in line with second language identities. Some of them include:

Image theatre- this is a performance that involves the use of actions and touches without the assistance of words to bring out some meaning. This method of theatre is used to portray thoughts in a concrete form where each makes interpretations on a personal basis. The aim is to show that ideas can be better understood when displayed rather than being spoken.

Forum theatre- in this case, ha audience would be watching a play where an act of oppression is taking place. They would then stop the play and provide a solution of how the character in the play should be treated. The actors would then take action and perform as advised. This theatre aimed at involving members into the performance and include their input ideas in the play that they are watching. Even though the acting in more of fiction than reality, the members of the audience get to learn of the best paths to take through examining of all the possible ways to stop the oppression of the character. This can be done in real life situations where members are treated as a minority due to their second language identities or other factors, and they come together and suggest ways of how they should be addressed to fit in the society. In real life situations, members who have participated in the forum theatre activities will have the courage to break stressful situations in life (Jeffrey & Troman, 2012).

Invisible theatre- this is a performance that is enacted in a place where the public guess that it is the best. It addresses the issues of oppression and social issues where the actors place it like it is those who wish to participate in its benefit.

Legislative theatre- works by opening up a discussion between the citizens and institutional entities, where the public is given a chance to voice their issues to ensure the flow of power between the two groups. It works the same way as the forum theatre but appears different in the aspect that there is a proposed law that is to be passed. The spect-actor are given a chance to share their opinions regarding the same, and they end up participating in the implementation of the laws. The idea behind this is to ensure that even those minority groups participate in the primary activities of a country or institution to minimize the cases of oppression.

Performances and displaying of attitudes by participants is an efficient way of attempting to claim or assign social identities. The interaction between participants according to the context of culture and situation with theories of performativity and performance can be used to build on the framework professional identity and creativity (Robinson, 2016).

Conclusion 

The information that is obtained on the idea of personalization from the education institutions seems to be inclined to the aspect of personalized learning and the media. The schools that are involved in the research are considered to be general although they are strategically chosen to fit in the study. The factors that fuel the idea of personalization in educations are associated with the high stake performativity for both the successful and non-successful groups of students. The study is done to fit in the current education systems and social contexts that are visible in the 21 st century. Education is currently claimed to possess the nature of a commodity. A commodity is an item that is produced for exchange. This character is brought out when individuals are placed in public education institutions where they possess the ability to tailor the form of education that the institution offers in line with their needs. The commodity form of schooling seems to dis-favor those students who are from poor backgrounds. In most countries, the relationship between poverty and education is what brings out the aspects of ethnicity and class.

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