Teachers: The Culture and Politics of Work (RLE Edu N)

This book examines the experience and politics of teachers’ work, questions of teacher appraisal, and the struggles of the teachers’ action of 1984-86. A major section of the book charts the changing power relations between organized teachers and the State in Britain from 1900 to the late 1980s. The contributors to this volume write from a variety of perspectives, including conflict theory, socio-historical analysis, feminist analysis, diary-based ethnography, and interview-based research. With its sensitivity to this range of perspectives and its bringing together of the experimental aspects of teaching, as well as its class, gender and political relations, this book is an authoritative source for courses in education, sociology, history and social policy.

Introduction: Martin Lawn and Gerald Grace. Part 1: Recovering History. 1. ‘Lady Teachers’ and Politics in the United States, 1850-1930 Geraldine J Clifford. 2. Feminists in Teaching: The National Union of Women Teachers, 1920-1940 Sarah King. 3. What is the Teacher’s Job? Work and Welfare in Elementary Teaching, 1940-1945 Martin Lawn. Part 2: Working in Contemporary Schools. 4. Being a Feminist Teacher Marilyn Joyce. 5. Pride and Prejudice: Teachers, Class and an Inner-City Infants School Jan Lee. 6. Prisonhouses Carolyn Steedman. Part 3: The Politics of Work. 7. Part of the Union: School Representatives and their Work Jenny Ozga. 8. The Politics of Teacher Appraisal Kieron Walsh. 9. The Teachers’ Action, 1984-1986 Richard Pietrasik. Part 4: Teachers and the State. 10. Teachers and the State in Britain: A Changing Relation Gerald Grace. Index.

Martin Lawn, Gerald Grace