Teacher Unionism in Changing Times: Is This the Real “New Unionism”?

This article provides a case study of union change in an environment in which radical school restructuring is taking place, and active strategies to weaken and marginalize organized teachers are being pursued by the state. The case study union is the National Union of Teachers in England. The article explores a number of different strategies open to teacher unions, utilizing a framework provided by Turner (2004). Drawing on data collected at a national level, and in three local authority areas, I argue that the National Union of Teachers’ response to the erosion of collective bargaining is best presented as an amalgam of strategies focused on workplace organizing, political campaigning, and coalition building. The data demonstrate considerable congruence between national and local strategies, although local data reveal considerable challenges in implementation and consequently considerable unevenness in local experiences.     

The Role of “Small Publics” in Teacher Dissent

In this essay, Sarah Stitzlein and Amy Rector‐Aranda, drawing on John Dewey's theoretical suggestions regarding how to best form publics capable of bringing about change through deliberation and action, offer teachers guidance on how to form and navigate spaces of political protest and become more effective advocates for school reform. Using Aaron Schutz's analysis of teacher activism as a point of departure, Stitzlein and Rector‐Aranda argue for the development in schools of “small publics,” that is, Deweyan democratic spaces within which teachers can dialogue and exchange ideas about the problems they face in the classroom. While Schutz treats this type of space merely as a stepping stone toward the real locus of political action, the power public, Stitzlein and Rector‐Aranda argue that small publics are themselves important spaces where teachers can work together to frame problems and build coalitions and solidarity with other groups in order to take action in the wider public sphere and bring about change in schools.     

群体性事件中无直接利益冲突现象探析

从社会学的角度来说,参与者众多的、把矛头指向政府机关及强势群体的无直接利益冲突行为属于集体行为的范畴。＂无直接利益冲突＂现象的产生既是以对某些地方政府机关及强势群体的失望为基础条件,又是以对党和国家的信赖为基本前提。社会转型期的大多数无直接利益冲突现象都可以被看作是民众为维护其政治权利和经济利益不受地方权力和强势群体的侵害,改善行动者在当地具体的生存环境,依靠集体的力量,利用国家权力来维护自己权益所作出的集体行为。     

Is Liberal Studies a political instrument in the secondary school curriculum? Lessons from the Umbrella Movement in post-colonial Hong Kong

This paper examines whether Hong Kong teachers and students perceived Liberal Studies and its ongoing curriculum review as politically driven during and after the Umbrella Movement, a large-scale civil disobedience campaign that took place in September 2014. The findings presented herein show that both groups disagreed with the claim that Liberal Studies was used as a political instrument to instigate students’ participation in the protest movement. Moreover, they also reveal that teachers have maintained their neutrality towards controversial issues related to politics during Liberal Studies lessons. Whilst the participating teachers and students considered the government's proposed reform of Liberal Studies to be politically motivated, they held differing attitudes towards the addition of more China-related elements to the subject. On the basis of these results, this paper analyses the potential role of Liberal Studies in the democratisation of local society. It also provides an indication of the curriculum's dynamic nature, explanation of students’ resistance to the review policy and suggestions for the subject's future development.     

Political ideology and Taiwanese school curricula

Taiwanese textbooks play a central role in Taiwanese education. In the wake of the political reform and social protest movements of the 1970s and 1980s that prompted Taiwanese educational reform, critics have charged that traditional curricula tend to reinforce the dominant national Chinese cultural identity. The purpose of this article is to review recent research on the complex ideological processes in Taiwan’s school curriculum. The article begins with an overview of the political and social impact on social studies curricula in Taiwan from 1949 to the present, followed by a theoretical discussion of the interrelationship between school curriculum and political ideology using an analysis of Taiwanese textbooks as evidence. The article then suggests a number of classroom practices and methodologies for elementary and secondary school teachers in social studies classes.     

Investigating contingency in school history: an aid to rich,meaningfully critical citizenship?

A common charge levelled at English and Welsh citizenship education, whether taught as a separate subject or incorporated into other disciplines, is that it encourages compliance more than it inspires critical thought. There is room within the compulsory citizenship framework, however, for teachers to advance genuinely critical attributes in students. My aim here is to suggest that school History has particular potential for this, and to argue more specifically that the historical study of contingency in human affairs could advance a rich, meaningfully critical form of citizenship that contributes to Gutmann's ideal of ‘conscious social reproduction’. Gutmann's vision for citizenship centres on the idea that through critical scrutiny of present norms and institutions, students can be equipped to take part in the collective shaping of their future. Drawing on the work of social and political theorists as well as that of educationalists and philosophers of history, I argue that contingency can be rigorously and fruitfully investigated in school History, and that this could – at best – help students to develop three vital capacities for critical citizenship and conscious social reproduction: discernment of historical possibility, subtle normative reflection, and enriched political imagination.     

Teachers,School Boards,and the Power of Money: How the Right Wins at the Local Level

Abstract

This article examines national conservative political advocacy groups' growing interest in local politics, and analyzes how they form alliances and gain political power. Following efforts to restrict collective bargaining for Wisconsin public employees, Kenosha school board members' attempts to legally protect teachers' rights provoked concern from nationally financed conservative groups. This article discusses why a small-town school board election attracted such attention, and the significance of increased attention to the local by these national groups.     

Institutional Practices and the Cultural Construction of Primary School Teaching in Botswana

This paper is based on a study which explores links between the interactional order of the Botswana primary classroom-frequently dominated by whole-class recitation routines-and the wider social order, which includes highly centralised control of the education system. Drawing on ethnographic observation, I argue that the institutional structures and practices of schools and training colleges are important-but covert-contributors to teachers' understanding of their professional roles. Firstly I describe the internal social structuring of two primary schools, the social hierarchy among those who work and learn there, and the cultural distance between the schools and their communities. Then I discuss the institutional practices of the primary teacher training colleges in Botswana, arguing that these do not challenge concepts of teaching already internalised by trainees. Such concepts include the authority of teachers, the use of English as a symbol of that authority, and the value placed on memorisation of knowledge for display.     

Teacher voice and ownership of curriculum change

We comment critically on the notion that teachers can experience ownership of curriculum change. The evidence base for this commentary is our work on two curriculum development projects in health and physical education between 1993 and 1998. Applying a theoretical framework adapted from Bernstein's writing on the social construction of pedagogic discourse, we contend that the possibilities for teacher ownership of curriculum change are circumscribed by the anchoring of their authority to speak on curriculum matters in the local context of implementation. We argue that this anchoring of teacher voice provides a key to understanding the perennial problem of the transformation of innovative ideas from conception to implementation. We also provide some insights into the extent to which genuine participation by teachers in education reform might be possible, and we conclude with a discussion of the possibilities that exist for partnerships in reforming health and physical education.     

Being a ‘wog’ in Melbourne – young people's self-fashioning through discourses of racism

The Greek community in Melbourne, Australia, is large and has a long history in the city. It is diverse and associated with a range of cultural, social and political structures. It has strong transnational links and in many ways exemplifies ‘diasporic’ in contradistinction to ‘migrant’. This paper focuses on young people from this community, particularly those who attend schools established to promote Greek language and cultural maintenance. In this paper, we examine such students’ explorations of their cultural identifications, most specifically how they adopt the term ‘wog’. This term is complex and its place in Australian discourse has shifted over time. Tracking these shifts and considering them as a context for these young people's use of the term allows us to consider the processes involved in their self-fashioning. We argue that their uptake of ‘wog’ involves the deployment of irony, given their awareness of its strong association with racism. We are also interested in the potential for women's experience to be silenced through the common association between ‘wog’ and protest masculinities. We argue that these students’ use of the term illustrates self-fashioning that provides insights into the complexities that surround cultural identification at the micro level, including schooling, but also in the broader context of globalisation.     

Experienced Teachers' Perspectives on Cultural and Social Class Diversity: Which Differences Matter?

This article reports on a pilot study that investigated the beliefs, values, and pedagogies of experienced high school teachers who worked with student populations of non-English speaking and economically disadvantaged immigrants or refugees in Australia. Qualitative research methods, including focus groups and in-depth individual interviews with teachers, produced data that were examined using Critical Discourse Analysis. Close reading of the teachers' comments suggests that there are a number of key discourses that teachers use to make sense of differences among culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged groups of students. Specifically, teachers distinguish between cultural groups on the basis of students' life experiences prior to arrival in Australia; students' collective and individual educational experiences; and the different social class positioning of students within the same ethnic group. In their comments, teachers at times categorised students in generalised and stereotypical ways but also were able to critique and reflect on their personal assumptions. An analysis of the teachers' reflections provides insights into how they made sense of “diversity” and how, as teachers, they try to work productively with ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged students.     

BRIDGING SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CHILDREN'S RIGHTS TO ENHANCE SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP AND PRACTICE

This article describes the overlap between the common goals of social justice and children's rights advocates as applied to scholarship and practice in school psychology. We argue that these frameworks overlap a great deal, with a primary distinction being the roots of each approach. Specifically, the origins of social justice movements in school psychology can be traced to multicultural school psychology, whereas the roots of school psychology and children's rights stem more from broader international movements. The potential implications of the similarities and differences are explored through a case study. Finally, recommendations for the next 25 years of social justice and children's rights scholarship and practice are provided.     

Individual and collective agencies in China's curriculum reform: A case of physics teachers

This study explores how physics teachers in a high school negotiate the relationships between individual and collective agencies in the context of the on-going curriculum reform in China. Drawing on Bandura's social cognitive theory, the study employs ethnographical methods including observation, interviewing, and the researcher's and teachers’ reflective journaling through the researcher's involvement with various school activities. The findings indicate that collective teacher agency creates a platform for individual teachers’ professional development, a conducive culture for teacher collaboration, and provides concrete examples that individual teachers can constantly refer to, reflect upon, and learn from for reform implementation. The results offer an understanding of the influences underlying physics teachers’ agency deployment as they engage with curriculum reform processes, especially the negotiation between individual and collective agencies. The findings justify a case for preparing physics teachers on how to deploy both individual and collective agencies in the face of the complicated social structures and ultimately shed light on the desired curriculum decentralization in the Chinese school system.     

Risk management by a neoliberal state: construction of new knowledge through lifelong learning in Japan

This article examines the current developments in Japan's lifelong learning policy and practices. I argue that promoting lifelong learning is an action that manages the risks of governance for the neoliberal state. Implementing a new lifelong learning policy involves the employment of a political technique toward integrating the currently divided and polarized Japanese population – popularly called kakusa – into the newly imagined collective, namely, atarashii kōkyō or the New Public Commons. Examining the macro policy discourse on Japan's educational policy, this article demonstrates Japan's inflections of neoliberal governmentality with the new distribution of responsibility between the state and the individuals through the construction of new knowledge supporting the New Public Commons. In fact, new knowledge is the epicenter of the national educational policy discourse aiming at generating social solidarity in local communities.     

Youth representations of environmental protest

A necessary condition for a functioning democracy is the participation of its citizens, including its youth. This is particularly true for political participation in environmental decisions, because these decisions can have intergenerational consequences. In this article we examine young people’s beliefs about one form of political participation—protest—in the context of communities affected by fracking and associated anti-fracking protest, and discuss the implications of these representations for education. Drawing on focus groups with 121 young people (aged 15–19) in five schools and colleges near sites which have experienced anti-fracking protest in England and Northern Ireland, we find young people well-informed about avenues for formal and non-formal political participation against a background of disillusionment with formal political processes and varying levels of support for protest. We find representations of protest as disruptive, divisive, extreme, less desirable than other forms of participation and ineffective in bringing about change but effective in awareness-raising. These representations are challenging, not least because the way protest is interpreted is critical to the way people think and act in the world. These representations of environmental protest must be challenged through formal education in order to safeguard the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure that the spirit of Article 11 of the UK Human Rights Act is protected.     

Teaching the Election with Purpose: Toward a Framework of Racial Media Literacy and [Socio] Political Consciousness When Discussing Elections in the Social Studies Classroom

Infusing content about elections has not been an issue for social studies teachers, but rather contextualizing race discourse in discussions of elections has served as a curricular cessation for social studies teachers. This is especially concerning given that teachers' attempts to remain neutral with regards to race consequently results in a lack of racial awareness and sociopolitical consciousness pertaining to political issues among students. This article advocates for pedagogical frameworks of racial media literacy and (socio)political consciousness to address systemic issues of race as they are discussed in the election. The author argues that students, especially students of color, should be afforded the opportunity to critically interrogate media outlets, messages, and candidates' positioning of race as an effort to promote political consciousness that could potentially impact their immediate or future political decision making. Suggestions for enacting these frameworks are provided within the broader discourse on acquiring knowledge, political disclosure, and inquiry pedagogy.     

A qualitative stance: remembering Steinar Kvale (1938–2008)

In this economically motivated modern age, when ‘it doesn't pay’ is sufficient reason for the abandonment of the best of causes, martyrs are almost extinct. Most teachers desire above all else a chance to earn a livelihood in peace. They will yield to almost anything rather than have a fight. Often they grumble among themselves and protest ‐ not too loudly lest it be heard by somebody in authority. Most teachers are cowards. Few really care enough for freedom, or any cause that can be defended only through freedom, to risk a comfortable position, litde official favors, or an increase in salary for it. [Beale, 1938, p. 58]     

Exploring the characteristics of ‘teachers for excellence’: teachers’ own perceptions

This article is concerned first with identifying teacher characteristics connected with excellence. It then analyses the results of a survey conducted among primary school teachers in one local authority area in Scotland. Teachers responded to a questionnaire which asked them to rate in importance 44 characteristics of excellence. The findings suggest that teachers have a clear view of excellence. They consistently described excellence in terms of personal qualities and interpersonal skills. Teachers gave high ratings to qualities which demonstrated their expectations of positive classroom ethos and positive relationships with students. Practitioners consistently rated characteristics related to classroom ‘relationships in action’ as essential characteristics for excellent teachers. These findings suggest a new emphasis on interpersonal skills in continuing professional development for teachers who are increasingly expected to develop students’ dispositions relating to openness to new thinking; self‐respect and a commitment to responsible participation in social, cultural, economic and political life.