Teacher Agency to Change Education
What do policy makers talk about? Standards, accountability… What do teachers talk about? Work conditions, meaning, social recognition… How could these voices both influence policy?
More and more, in the course of my professional experience in the past 10 years, I have observed the education wagon being led almost exclusively by policy-makers, further and further removed from the people who really know what it is about: teachers and students! Funds for teacher learning and development get scarcer and top-down approaches become starker. Although dismayed by this growing trend, I continue to hope that the teaching profession will be able to counter the harmful orthodoxies pushed by policy, the ‘false common sense’, the unquestioned understanding of what education and school should be about.
As neo-liberal inclinations take a stronger hold in the western world, I observe that despite the repeated failures of policies to address inequalities and promote equity, we become more reluctant to accept complexity and uncertainty. Policy makers seem to jump on ‘what works… and is simple’, ‘what’s easy… and inexpensive’, ‘what is measurable… and accountable’.
But, as teachers, we know that education is all but simple; just like any endeavor engaging humans in reflection, especially in democratic contexts, teachers know it’s a messy business.
Why do teachers let themselves be cornered in the role of ‘delivery’ of policies, curriculum, assessment, and what can they do to change this situation?
- I propose that teachers have political power if they act collaboratively and collectively. It is time for this power to be harnessed for change.
- I propose that teachers, when ready to consider their beliefs, attitudes and values and how these values are lived – or not – in their practice, can muster up their political courage to push back against the ‘everything should be standardized’.
- I propose that such nurturing of teacher identities, complex, shaped and reshaped over time and experience, is the bricks and mortar of the possibility to build teachers personal, professional and political strength and agency.
So, what is missing and what do we need for teachers to come into their power?
Are you an emancipated teacher?
Do you know your power?
Can you influence and persuade others?
Do you and are you able to care?
Will you make a difference?
Close your eyes and imagine. Share your ideas. Discuss.
We invite you to join L2C!
By becoming a member you will benefit in many ways:
- You join a group and become more powerful.
- You support our common goals and empower yourself to change.
- You join a community of committed people who want to change education and the way we learn.
- You get regular resources for lessons, training and advocacy.
Further Reading
Besson, B., Huber, J., Mompoint-Gaillard, P., Rohmann S., (2014), Manifesto: Education for change – change for education, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/pestalozzi/Source/Documentation/T21/FinalManifesto_En.pdf,
Fullan, M. & Hargreaves, A. (2016). Bringing the profession back in: Call to action. Oxford, OH: Learning Forward. Learning Forward, 2016.
McNiff, J. (2013). Action research: principles and practice, Routledge, London.
McNiff, J., & Whitehead, J. (2010). You and your action research project, Routledge, London.
Mockler, N. (2011) Beyond ‘what works’: understanding teacher identity as a practical and political tool, Teachers and Teaching, 17:5, 517-528.
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