Governing Schools and Developing Professionalism : Complementory or Contradictory Tasks in Teacher Education (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Construction, Formation and Development of the Professional Teacher
University In order to become the 'professional' teacher we must first consider how this 'professional' might be constructed, formed and developed within ITT and beyond. Focusing on the views of professionalism held in consensus by ITT's and both novice and experienced teachers who traverse the broader sector, we might be posited to consider the affect the textual and socio-political representation of 'professionalism' might impact on practice. Textual representation directly relating to this discourse is sparse, yet within the studies outlined, a clarity is presented in regards to the values, beliefs and dualistic responsibility of the sector that results in the increasing conflation of 'professionalism'-holding in contention the survival of the teaching profession in regards to the highly mediatised 'exodus' of practitioners. In surveying the academic literary culture on education and notions of professionalism, Johnston presents an overview of her doctoral research on the impact of terms used synonymously to professionalism. She falls short of attempting to define this contested term by stating that it is often viewed as a " euphemism for quality and reform " (Johnston, 2014:299). This statement is progressed further within her critical theory study in an attempt at prompting fresh debate on " the reification of professionalism […] and the unintended consequences for teachers and schools " (Ibid, p.300). She suggests that since the millennium the accountability of teachers has increased, and within the decade between then and this study, in affect to
Teacher Professionalism: subverting the society of control
FORUM, 2014
The past 30 years have seen a series of major shifts in English education. Central to these changes has been the growth of data systems which now measure and control the work of teachers to a huge degree. This form of data-led surveillance was predicted in the work of Gilles Deleuze, a totalising process where data become more important than the individuals to which they relate. This article considers the ramifications of the development of a 'Society of Control' within education before arguing that teachers have begun to identify and occupy nomadic spaces capable of subverting State narratives and building new opportunities for professionalism. The development of teacher-led professional development and the use of social media have both led to new opportunities for professional dialogue and debate which are important in counteracting policy developments enacted by those outside the profession. Finally, it is suggested that responsibilities come with the creation of new spaces for professional dialogue and development if teachers are to move centre stage in the wider educational debate.
Articulating, reclaiming and celebrating the professionalism of teacher educators in England
European Journal of Teacher Education, 2019
This paper examines the cumulative effects on teacher educators of a series of ideological and policy changes in the English teacher education landscape since the early 80s. We argue that these rapid changes have marginalized the role of the university in teacher learning and resulted in narrower, more instrumental forms of teacher education. Within this landscape we see a distinct need to restate (and reinstate) the importance of higher education-based teacher educators, and to reclaim and celebrate their practices and the nature of the professionalism involved. We invite the reader to rethink teacher educator professionalism as what is enacted by teacher educators, as engaged in their professional activities. A view of enacted professionalism gives central stage to and trusts the professional judgement of teacher educators to do what they deem is good, appropriate, or best-understood in a broad sense-to support the professional learning of newcomers in the profession.
Professionalism and Practice in Teaching and Teacher Education
2012
This paper seeks to understand recent changes in the professional status of teachers and teacher educators in Europe, discussing the contribution of women to teaching and teacher education and noting that the proportion of women in education professions is not regarded as disadvantageous or problematic. The paper discusses gendered concepts of professionalization and the various arguments proposed concerning the so-called feminization of teaching (and teacher education). In view of the largely negative perspectives, the paper highlights two aspects: (1) the material opportunities and possibilities for action in the public sphere offered to women by the education professions; and (2) the particular commitment of female teachers to educational values and to practice. The final section of the paper considers the position of women in teacher education, what implications the feminization of teaching has for them, and their responses. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/SM) Reproductions su...
Revista Tempos e Espaços em Educação, 2016
Through looking at the process of Norwegian curricular change from the 1990's reforms till today, we discuss how the different curricula in different ways affect the possibilities teachers have to act as professional agents in the classroom. Using Bernstein's concept of the pedagogical discourse and how knowledge produced at the micro level, the level of pedagogical research and practice, we discuss how knowledge gets transformed and recontextualised as it becomes part of the curriculum, the 'official field' in Bernstein's terms, and instead acts as mechanisms for controlling the teachers' practices. In this paper we argue that curricular change affects the teachers' potential for professional and autonomous action in the classroom. Furthermore, we point to the implications this has for teacher education, and the need for giving the students the competency to transcend and critically act and reflect on the implications the curricula have for their future teacher professionalism.
Schooling Teachers: Professionalism or disciplinary power?
Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2013
Since public schooling was introduced in the nineteenth century, teachers in many western countries have endeavoured to achieve professional recognition. For a short period in the latter part of the twentieth century, professionalism was seen as a discourse of resistance or the 'enemy' of economic rationalism and performativity. However, more recently, governments have responded by 'colonizing' professionalism and imposing 'standards' whereby the concept is redefined. In this study, we analyse transcripts of interviews with 20 Queensland teachers and conclude that teachers' notions of professionalism in this second decade of the twenty-first century are effectively reiterations of nineteenth century disciplinary technologies (as proposed by Michel Foucault) yet are enacted in new ways.
Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 2018
Drawing on data from a larger doctoral study, this paper specifically explores influences on the discourses of professionalism amongst a sample of highly engaged members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO). Based on the assumption that discourse takes shape within a highly politicized system of socialization where language plays a significant role in the maintenance of particular power structures and the cultures that support them (Hilferty, 2004), the case suggests that the professionalism discourses of teachers and their unions and those of government are not necessarily as mutually exclusive as they are often presented in the literature.
Unbecoming teachers: towards a more dynamic notion of professional participation
Journal of Education Policy, 2007
This paper considers teacher professionalism from a neglected perspective. It analyses assumptions about the dynamics of professional participation implicit within competing academic and policy constructs of professionalism, including the currently iconic concept of 'communities of practice'. All entail notions of becoming and being a professional. However, data from the project 'Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education' (TLC) reveal significant instances of 'unbecoming': a majority of the tutors participating in the project were heading out of further education (FE) teaching. This illuminates a broader problem of exodus from the sector, in a political context which privileges economic goals and targets at every level, and in which the current climate of performativity increasingly impacts upon pedagogical relationships-contextual conditions which are also highly relevant to schooling and higher education. Drawing on exemplar case studies of two tutors, and on the theorization of learning cultures emerging from the TLC project, we develop a Bourdieusian analysis of these dynamics in terms of the interaction of habitus and fields, and we critique 'communities of practice'. Paying particular attention to policy-driven changes in and to the field of FE, and to the cross-field effects in FE of policies in other sectors of education and beyond, we argue for a more dynamic notion of professional participation. This might underpin 'principles of procedure' for improving teaching and learning, and policies to support diverse forms of teacher professionalism throughout the education system.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 1994
The more recent calls for school reform have focused on a re-visioning of the work of teachings and teacher education. A central rhetoric in the current climate is related to the professionalization of teaching. We can view the public discourses as not simply a formal mechanism for describing events but as part of their context serving to align loyalty and social solidarity with particular values and social interests. My intent in this discussion is to raise questions about how the word, professionalization, is used within the social and political contexts in which teaching occurs. At the same time, I propose that there are certain issues in teaching that professionalization can address. In particular, I examine tensions of modernity and a postmodernity for considering the power relations in which the professional production of knowledge and the development of expert-mediated systems of ideas occurs.