Abstract:

Values are at the heart of all thoughts norms and attitudes (Halstead, Taylor, 2000) and actions, fitting in with them and giving tasks the right purpose and direction (Fullan, after Haydon 2007). In the definitions of values, their motivational value is also important, which favours undertaking developmental actions (Fullan, after Haydon 2007, Ulatowska, 2015). From this perspective, the thread of values seems particularly interesting. The aim of this article is to present research what values guide academic teachers in scientific and didactic work in times of progressive commercialization of educational services and parameterization of scientific achievements. What is important for us is the contemporary context of work at the university, determined to a large extent by neoliberal discourse. An important aspect of the research is to compare what values they declare, and what values they implement, or have to implement due to system requirements, academics from various European countries. Comparative research was conducted among Polish academic teachers, as well as in Finland, Great Britain and Germany. The research group included a group of 110 teachers.

Therefore, the main research problem focused on identifying the most important values in a group of academics, and then examining which of them are actually implemented in everyday work. The neoliberal socio-economic context, with its emphasis on commercialization and parameterization processes, is a space for negotiation of values: academics with university credentials therefore seem to be forced to negotiate between the values they consider right and those they are expected to implement as educators or scientists. The results showed interesting differences between university teachers in different countries, which are certainly influenced by culture, social changes but also by educational policies of countries. Furthermore, the findings reveal how the covid -19 pandemic has affected the value system among teachers.

Keywords:

Values, Education, Academic teachers, parameterization processes.