Policy and Ideology in ELT: The Impact of Educational Reforms on the Quality of Language Education

School reforms are sweeping like tornadoes across Europe and the world, all supposedly aimed at improving quality education, although teachers and their emotional reactions are seldom considered. Wishing to reverse this tendency, Italian primary school teachers’ emotional reactions were examined via a questionnaire and interviews, in order to assess the impact of recent language education reforms and suggest future directions. By listening to the teachers’ opinions and emotions relating to the last four educational reforms in Italy, the necessity emerges of informed dialogue between policy-makers, teachers, learners, parents and school managers, to overcome the general disappointment and frustration caused by mystifying and unnecessary changes, deriving from a neoliberal/marketing view of education. Only reform policies which spark learning opportunities for the teachers themselves are received constructively, and explicitly articulating pedagogical purpose is crucial for any given reform to work. Standardised tests are also seen as limited, and must be creatively perfected.