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This article takes the case of the South African curriculum to examine the role of national politics and power relationships in giving internationally borrowed ideas their meaning and shape. It discusses the circulation of ideas between global, national and regional levels. In exploring the particular dynamics shaping the South African curriculum, it argues that there were three dominant influences on South African curriculum-making between 2000 and 2002: the African National Congress, teacher unions and university-based intellectuals. The ANC introduced a reforming, pragmatic approach to curriculum reform. Teacher unions reasserted the importance of outcomes-based education as foundational philosophy, and established the necessity for a workable and implementable post-apartheid curriculum. They united around a secular, humanist, rights-based curriculum. Radical intellectuals created the context for democratic debate and discussion of the post-apartheid curriculum and the theoretical and empirical climate for reform of the curriculum. The article uses primary and secondary sources collected through participation in the processes described and includes a discussion of the methodological issues involved.

This paper responds to the contemporary backlash to LGBTIQ+ rights and its focus on queer and transgender children and teachers in schools, by returning to campaigns to exclude gay and lesbian teachers in the 1970s. It brings renewed historical context to debates surrounding teacher employment and teachers’ moral status as harbingers of the future nation state. We focus on one Australian case, when in 1976 the Queensland government refused to employ a gay teacher, Greg Weir. Drawing on archival sources including campaign newsletters, activist material, and oral histories, we show how this was a formative moment in broader teacher employment relations and the contest between queer denial and queer possibility in schooling, contoured by two enduring disputes over: the first, the control and protection of children; and the second, the moral character of teachers and their role in shaping the future of a settler nation through schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazilian public school’ teachers employed by state and municipal governments carried out over 2,500 strikes between 2003 and 2022. The number of teacher strikes grew dramatically after 2011, primarily due to increased action by these workers in smaller and medium-sized cities, especially in the Northeast region. There are significant differences among states both in the number of strikes and in the number of strike days. The data on teacher strikes in Brazil, along with academic studies and complementary information on teacher unionism in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States, allows us to make some considerations regarding how to explain strike movements. These movements cannot be fully explained by a general model based on the economic context and political exchange theory, as some researches have suggested. A satisfactory study of strikes requires employing more explanatory elements, making the relationships between these elements and the strikes themselves more complex, and, fundamentally, considering that the particular historical process determines how different political-economic contexts and broader social processes combine in particular ways to determine the occurrence (and non-occurrence) of strikes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although charter schools are frequently afforded flexibility from many state laws that govern traditional public schools, a growing number of charter school teachers have now unionized and introduced collective bargaining to the charter sector. Using data from a detailed content analysis of teacher CBAs from California, we compare the restrictiveness of CBAs in 75 unionized charter bargaining units to the restrictiveness of CBAs in 31 nearest neighbor traditional public school district bargaining units. We find that independent charter CBAs are much more flexible than the CBAs of traditional public school districts, but charter school CBAs of bargaining units combined with traditional public school districts are comparably restrictive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

AbstractOur study sought to explore the pre-retirement and post-retirement housing and healthcare plans made by some tutors of colleges of education in Ghana by employing a qualitative descriptive design to delve into the pre-retirement and post-retirement housing and healthcare plans made by tutors. Six (6) out of the 54 college tutors were purposefully recruited for an interview, and 54 college tutors from two (2) institutions of education were chosen for the survey using stratified and simple random sampling procedures. Frequency counts, percentages, and inferential statistics (independent samples test) were used to analyze the data obtained from the self-developed questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.78), and themes were identified from the respondents’ responses using thematic analysis. The results from the research revealed that almost half (43%) of the sampled population had some sort of accommodation they were going to retire with, while a majority who did not own any housing property yet said they were making plans to acquire one before they go on retirement or shortly after they go on retirement. The study also found that all participants had some form of healthcare insurance coverage, with the majority subscribing to the public healthcare scheme – the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The study suggested that to implement financial investment plans for tutors in addition to public pension schemes for a better-secured post-retirement life, teacher unions, employers, and other stakeholders in Ghana should hire the services of professional financial services advisors and investment institutions.

This paper examines school management and policies in Germany and Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study, which is comparative and qualitative, explores the interrelationship between different levels of governance and the responses of teacher unions. The inquiry is informed by the perspectives of historical institutionalism and path dependency, and the document analysis is conducted by utilising the justification categories of value, collective, and formal and procedural driven arguments. We argue the contestation which occurred between different levels of school governance and the teacher unions amidst the pandemic created the potential for changes in policy settings and influence over the administration of schooling. However, there is no indication of fundamental shifts in the organisation, policy direction or control over schooling in Germany or Australia. Instead, there is a conformity to established institutional arrangements and path dependencies, which secure and protect the vested interests of the different policy actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study involves a new school superintendent, unions, parent groups, and a school board. The case demonstrates how the emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic impacted the relationships between a school board, teacher and administrator unions, parent organizations, and the school superintendent. It is the story of educational leadership under unprecedented pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher Trade Unions remain an integral part of stakeholders within the basic education sector and the school organogram. However, research pertaining to the role that can be played by Teacher Unions in preventing staff victimisation remains restricted globally, and with no enquiry arising within the South African milieu. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of teachers regarding the role of Teacher Trade Unions in preventing staff victimisation, in the District 10 schools of the Province of Gauteng. The researchers used a qualitative approach, grounded in phenomenology as the research design. The sample consisted of five teachers who belong to various unions and data was collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The data collected was analysed using thematic content analysis. The study revealed that teacher unions were found to be the main perpetrators of staff victimisation particularly when it comes to promotional positions. The study concluded that for teacher unions to protect teachers’ rights, they should not be aligned with political parties. The study recommended that teacher unions should instead conduct training and workshops on pro-social behaviour, peaceful conflict resolution and how teachers are supposed to protect themselves from retribution and threats. The study aims to advance scholarship on the role of teacher unions in creating safer working conditions for teachers.

By the mid-twentieth century a core group of feminist educators in Panama had cemented their reputations as community organizers invested in the empowerment of poor and working-class women. Yet this was a state that rejected calls for female suffrage, labeled attempts at worker organizing as threats to the nation, neglected to provide basic infrastructure and financing for education, and protected the rights of an elite few over those of most citizens. This article offers a window on the work of these feminist educators by examining the organizational leadership of Felicia Santizo and Sara Sotillo, two Afro-descendant contemporaries who taught and organized within predominantly Black and working-class communities while demanding greater access for all poor and working people throughout the country. Through their organizing in the realms of education, labor, community welfare, and politics, including the creation of Panama's largest teacher's association and leadership of a pro–working people's party, both women challenged sexism and looked to education in and outside the classroom as a vital force of transformation. Their work placed them at odds with a state more willing to ignore or silence outspoken feminist organizers and community leaders than to center them in national agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent wave of teacher activism and strikes across the United States is unprecedented. While it has been commented upon and understood in various ways, this essay departs from actor-centric modes of analysis that have been taken up. Instead, I read recent teacher activism efforts through a Foucauldian analytics of protest which examines the rationalities used to justify political action in order to understand how, in some ways, teachers paradoxically reified the logics of education reform efforts which they sought to oppose. Following this I offer several examples of protest which exist in much different forms which unveil political possibilities beyond the logics of reform. Through doing so, I invite not only an understanding of past actions but also a future engagement with transformative modes of teacher activism which have become only more necessary since the 2018 strike wave.

This article focuses on the relation between new public management (NPM) reforms and changing patterns of industrial relations (IRs) and social dialogue in the Italian education system. Drawing on data from the research project 'Social dialogue and industrial relations in education: The challenges of multi-level governance and privatisation in Europe' (IR-EDUREFORM), it uses cultural political economy to explore the effects of autonomy, evaluation, and management as policy technologies on teacher unions' collective bargaining, workplace representation and industrial action. Through the Italian case, the study analyses how NPM reforms operated three distinctive transformations: decentralisation of bargaining to school level, juridification and individualisation of industrial action and a shift from collective to professional unions. Beyond critically exploring the implications of NPM reforms and the processes of decollectivation and individualisation of IRs and social dialogue in education, the study also highlights some potential for the emergence of novel sites for collective representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational policy research on teacher unionization in the United States has been dominated by two theoretical perspectives: rent-seeking and teacher voice. While bringing valuable insights to bear, these views have mutated into rigid and often ideologically charged alternatives with strong normative claims about teacher collective bargaining. Drawing from a political economy framework, this article advances a distinct theoretical perspective focusing on the progressive coalition building activities of teachers' unions (i.e., organizing and mobilizing to promote the interests of working people in policymaking). This perspective resolves previous theoretical anomalies of union behavior; provides many new avenues for research; and highlights distinct considerations for the practice of teacher organizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we draw upon in-depth interviews with teachers and administrators in 18 unionized charter schools around the country to investigate teachers' motivations for unionization. Our results suggest that while mismanagement and distrust are often the proximate cause of charter unionization efforts, both material and purposive goals—greater job security and pay as well as increased voice in school decision-making—power organization drives and contract negotiations. Our evidence suggests unionization and collective bargaining agreements can create more transparency around pay and development, which teachers desired. But, sometimes unionization carried unanticipated risks for administrators—salaries increased faster than revenues and teacher development became constrained by newly formed collective bargaining agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the context of a Kindergarten team in a suburban P-3 school in Wisconsin developing literacy coaching support. Facing recent neoliberal accountability reforms that have greatly expanded teacher competition, dismantled teachers' unions, and added the role of the coach to the school, "confidence" is an issue that the coach and teachers struggle with as they seek to improve minority student achievement. Using a case study design and feminist sociological framework highlighting emotional labour, the affective economy, and the psychosocial possibilities of the work of Pierre Bourdieu , this research examines professional capital as a form of educators' experience. Ultimately, we see that the landscape of power and emotions is complex as it divides "good" and "bad" White and middle-class teachers. Possibilities for extending the uses of feminist sociological theory in early childhood literacy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an earlier essay in the Reviewing Policy section of this journal, I examined many of the major arguments for social justice teacher unionism. This combines both more traditional union concerns over wages, working conditions, professional autonomy, and respect with a much more concerted focus by unions on social justice issues in schools, communities, and the larger society. The importance of such a commitment and what it actually looks like is evident in the book under discussion here. Teacher Unions and Social Justice is one of a deservedly well-respected and growing series of volumes published by Rethinking Schools. The entire series constitutes substantive contributions to some of the most significant and contentious issues facing deeply committed educators. Through books such as Teacher Unions and Social Justice and other important publications, Rethinking Schools provides us with ways of combining the professional, political, and personal aspects of our lives and of coming together to build thicker forms of critically democratic education to defend a more robust vision of the common good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of mathematics performance of learners and the challenges in South Africa, it is important that the expertise of all role-players, including the subject advisors who visit the teachers to guide and support them, is used to its full potential. While some studies have explored the experiences of teachers in this regard, literature on the experiences of mathematics subject advisors is scant. Furthermore, little has been published on the experiences of subject advisors within the context of rural areas with a low population, such as the Northern Cape Province. This article addresses the gap by exploring the deeper understanding of mathematics subject advisors’ experiences when conducting school support visits. Taking a qualitative research approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews with six mathematics subject advisors from the four phases (foundation, intermediate, senior, and further education and training) in all five of the education districts of the Northern Cape Department of Education (Frances Baard; Z.F. Mgcwawu; Pixley Ka Seme; Namakwa; and J.T. Gaetsewe). Through Husserl’s phenomenological theoretical framework, complemented with Gibbs’ reflective cycle and Colaizzi’s seven steps of data analysis, participants were found to have had both good and bad experiences when conducting school support visits. Experiences included positive attitudes from educators and schools in general, and good curriculum implementation and teaching and learning practices. However, participants were sometimes received with hostility, and observed poor curriculum implementation and teaching and learning practices. Noteworthy is some negative union influence, lack of specialisation in mathematics by foundation phase departmental heads, lack of coherence in communication, and lack of cooperation and collaboration amongst district officials. If the concerns raised by mathematics subject advisors in this paper are not addressed, these may have a negative impact on the experiences of subject advisors and, by implication, on learner performance as well as education in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how teachers' unions are responding to the growing policy of dual enrollment (DE). I reviewed all available collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) of public schools in Ohio, using qualitative content analysis to look for ways that CBAs are addressing DE policy. Analysis revealed four themes. The first theme suggests that teachers' unions are incrementally bargaining provisions addressing DE into their CBAs. Of the 586 CBAs analyzed, 160 included provisions regarding DE. The three remaining themes centered around working conditions for teachers, including provisions related to monetary compensation, existential protection of bargaining unit members, and the protection of teacher time. Additionally, district typography was explored, revealing that wealthier/smaller school districts have bargained more teacher protections for DE than larger districts with less wealth. This study provides information about what might be of interest to teachers and policymakers when reforming DE policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of mathematics performance of learners and the challenges in South Africa, it is important that the expertise of all role-players, including the subject advisors who visit the teachers to guide and support them, is used to its full potential. While some studies have explored the experiences of teachers in this regard, literature on the experiences of mathematics subject advisors is scant. Furthermore, little has been published on the experiences of subject advisors within the context of rural areas with a low population, such as the Northern Cape Province. This article addresses the gap by exploring the deeper understanding of mathematics subject advisors’ experiences when conducting school support visits. Taking a qualitative research approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews with six mathematics subject advisors from the four phases (foundation, intermediate, senior, and further education and training) in all five of the education districts of the Northern Cape Department of Education (Frances Baard; Z.F. Mgcwawu; Pixley Ka Seme; Namakwa; and J.T. Gaetsewe). Through Husserl’s phenomenological theoretical framework, complemented with Gibbs’ reflective cycle and Colaizzi’s seven steps of data analysis, participants were found to have had both good and bad experiences when conducting school support visits. Experiences included positive attitudes from educators and schools in general, and good curriculum implementation and teaching and learning practices. However, participants were sometimes received with hostility, and observed poor curriculum implementation and teaching and learning practices. Noteworthy is some negative union influence, lack of specialisation in mathematics by foundation phase departmental heads, lack of coherence in communication, and lack of cooperation and collaboration amongst district officials. If the concerns raised by mathematics subject advisors in this paper are not addressed, these may have a negative impact on the experiences of subject advisors and, by implication, on learner performance as well as education in general.

This study examines narratives about the teaching profession and teacher unions that Swedish teachers jointly produce in two teachers' rebellion groups on Facebook, which is followed by a total of around 20,000 teachers. A sample of 33 posts and 2,445 comments were analysed using a narrative approach. The findings highlight narratives in which teachers wish to return to "the good old days", struggle with everyday frustrations, call for a strike as an immediate solution, and describe hypothetical futures presenting the opportunity for proactive action and call teacher unions to dialogue rather than wait for them to satisfy the teachers' demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the “common good” organizing efforts of U.S. educator unions during the 2020-2021 school year of the Covid-19 pandemic. During this timeframe, many districts across the country pushed for school reopening while often appearing to pay insufficient attention to the lived health and safety needs of students, families, and workers in schools and their broader communities. Meanwhile, many U.S. educator unions assertively and visibly organized for a “safe return to school” involving stronger health protections in public school buildings. Embracing social justice unionism as an organizing philosophy, such unions employed a range of tactics in efforts to partner with local communities while advocating for common good issues that would benefit not just their members but also the public more broadly. Drawing upon a range of popular media and artifactual union-published sources combined with educator unionist interviews, this article teases apart what common good issues were taken up by social justice unions in their organizing efforts, discusses why they chose to take up this range of issues, and considers the stakes of this frame for union organizing within and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

Copyright of Education Policy Analysis Archives / Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas / Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas is the property of Educational Policy Analysis Archives & Education Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One teacher makes the point more directly: black teachers and principals hired in the 1970s who had not been part of the 1960s struggles "did not operate the schools any better than White principals had" (p. 137). Shelton argues that the criminalization of teacher unionists - a rhetoric supported by the actual arrest of teacher unions leaders in Newark, Philadelphia, and New York - was the most decisive factor in destroying the liberal-labor coalition and opening the door to school privatization. Keywords: education; school choice; black schooling; teacher unions; segregation EN education school choice black schooling teacher unions segregation 678 685 8 04/12/22 20220501 NES 220501 Shelton, Jon (2017). But while better financed schools can be one factor in attracting teachers to the profession like those that Todd-Breland and Purdy interview, they can only thrive in an environment that supports the whole child and the whole teacher. [Extracted from the article]

Existing research on developing countries emphasizes the decisive power of teacher unions in education politics. Yet that power varies, and a full understanding of the roots of union power and the sources of cross-national variation requires deeper analysis of organizational dynamics within unions. This analysis supports four arguments. First, teachers have a range of advantages in overcoming obstacles to collective action. Second, unions are not all alike; they vary widely, from interest groups (in Chile, Brazil, and Peru) to powerful political machines (in Mexico and Ecuador). Third, the source of this variation lies in factors (e.g., influence over teacher hiring) that shift power within unions from members to leaders in political-machine unions. Fourth, analyzing the dimensions of variation helps explain the different outcomes of recent reforms to teacher careers in Latin America, especially in highlighting the staunch opposition from political-machine unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is one of the most influential international organisations in the world. Formed in 1961, it recognised very early on how critical education was to economic prosperity, and through a range of publications and activities it has established itself as the most influential international body in education. Now best known for its triennial PISA research and its annual Education at a Glance publication, one of its least wellknown but most effective programmes is the annual International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP). Held largely behind the scenes with as little publicity as possible, ISTP brings together in dialogue teacher union general secretaries and education ministers from participating countries. The summits are not open to the press, speeches from ministers and union leaders are banned (the excellent moderator allows two minute contributions only) ISTP is facilitated by the OECD and Education International, the teacher union international confederation. In preparation for each summit, the OECD and EI produce reports that the union leaders and ministers get just before the summit starts, which guide them on the topic chosen for policy exploration. This year the ISTP inevitably looked at the effect of COVID-19 on education. The OECD report circulated before the meeting, Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future: Excellence and Equity for All, was written by Professor Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD. It informs much of this paper. The EI briefing document produced for the conference was written by John Bangs, Special Consultant to Education International and a former Assistant Secretary of the NUT. It, also, informs much of this paper. Pulling together strands from the two briefing documents and reporting of the conference itself is by Demitri Coryton, editor of Education Journal, which has had privileged access to ISTP in recent years. It gave extensive coverage of the summit in October 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the failure of introducing comprehensive schooling in Austria, one of few 'conservative' outliers in the European post-war reform trend where early selection survived reform attempts in the 1970s. In particular, the focus is on the most recent attempt to postpone tracking from the age of 10–14 in the wake of Austria's 'PISA-shock' in the 2000s. Based on in-depth process tracing and drawing on interviews and documentary sources this article examines the nuances of contemporary politics of comprehensive schooling reforms, assessing the interplay between PISA and long-standing reform barriers, the ambivalence of political parties in comprehensive schooling reforms and the role of policy feedback effects on broader societal support for reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher unions are the platform for the voice of teaching community. Teacher unions are working around the world. In Pakistan there are many teacher unions working for the protection of rights of teachers. Present study is the part of my PhD dissertation on the role of teacher unions in addressing educational problems in Punjab. Purpose of the qualitative study was to understand and explore the challenges and opportunities of teacher unions in addressing educational problems. The study was conducted in Punjab, Pakistan. Theoretical framework of Murray and Wood was followed in this study which was consisted on four theories addressing structure and functions of unionization. These theories are Unitarism, Pluralism, Radical or Class Conflict and Trade Unions as Social Movements. Constructivist paradigms followed in this study. The study was qualitative in nature and Narrative Design was be used. Present study was delimited to Punjab Teacher Union one of the largest union in Pakistan in last ten years. Participant for the study are the members of Punjab Teacher Union (PTU). Semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions was used to collect data from the participants. Narrative analysis approach was used for data analysis. The current study contributed to the existing literature in many ways by examining current challenges faced by of the teacher unions as polarization, communication gap, gap between objectives and practices and discontinuation of union elections. The study will be helpful for teacher unions to meet these challenges for an effective role. It was resulted from the study that teacher unions have many opportunities like pressure groups, collective bargaining and a definite platform for the teaching community. They can use these opportunities in development of education. The study will also provide an opportunity to policy makers and other stake holders of education system to have an insight to education problems which are faced by teachers and highlighted in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2012, the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) comprise the new National Curriculum Statement currently implemented in South African schools. CAPS encapsulates a series of radical curriculum changes since the dawn of a new democratic dispensation in 1994. This study aims to understand how Grade Three educators in Limpopo, South Africa, approach the implementation of the most recent CAPS. The analysis of data revealed inconsistencies between the ‘optimistic’ view of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to improve curriculum implementation despite continuously changing the curriculum, and the ‘pessimistic’ scenario where educators consistently refer to obstacles to curriculum implementation. Respondents suggested that CAPS implementation is hampered by inadequate training of educators, a lack of resources, and too much paperwork. The study points to the politicisation of implementation signalled through educators’ dissatisfaction with the DBE and their positive view of trade unions. This article argues that in the highly politicised education context of South Africa, curriculum implementation takes a back seat to institutional and individual political machinations.

Reformers in developing countries increasingly seek to raise education quality. Yet we know little about the politics of improving education. One significant and instructive case of reforms designed to boost education quality comes from Chile, where in 2016 the government enacted a sweeping reform of teaching careers. This paper first uses a quantitative analysis of appearances in the news to identify key stakeholders and then turns to process tracing to analyze how and when these stakeholders influenced reform dynamics. Comparatively, the Chilean case differs from similar reforms elsewhere in Latin America due to the absence of business, the strong role of policy networks, and the final negotiated settlement with the teacher union. Theoretically, the analysis confirms general theories that emphasize the roles of distributive politics and policy networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of teachers and the teaching profession is currently under pressure from the reform agendas of governments and international organisations. This article examines the perceptions of teacher unions about changes in teacher status under the influence of new public management and its dominant discourse of new professionalism. The analysis is underpinned by a conceptual framework that seeks to reveal the main challenges facing teachers and their unions in the context of new professionalism. The framework is applied deductively to data drawn from two surveys conducted by Education International in 2015 and in 2018. The findings revealed some worrisome trends that appeared consistently over time and influenced teacher status, including an increased accountability for teachers through external control, a lack of government efforts to improve teacher professionalism, the expansion of privatisation policies, and a lack of teacher union engagement. This restructuring of the teaching profession implies the need for teacher union renewal in mission and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, Terrenda White examines distinct forms of activism by two influential organizations: the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Teach for America (TFA). Despite differences between these groups, both have created new discourses and alliances among teachers in the public sphere — what White calls "teacher publics." These new alliances, White argues, can be conceptualized as counter‐publics and alternative‐publics. CTU is a counter‐public because its activities counter the tradition of top‐down insular unionism and embrace "social movement unionism" where teachers are part of an expansive coalition for social transformation, including contesting city and state bureaucracies for adequate resources and equitable practices on behalf of minoritized communities. TFA has also created expansive coalitions for change, embracing a "new professionalism" that rejects public contestations with state leaders for resources. As an alternative‐public, TFA engages a network of private philanthropists and business leaders to generate change in public education through market‐based initiatives that challenge bureaucratic control of teachers and schools and that incentivize competition, audit culture, and data‐driven decision‐making. These two cases, because their approaches to educational change are so different, provide fertile ground for White's evaluation of what new forms of activism mean for the democratic goals of public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, unions representing teachers and education workers in Ontario, Canada, were faced with Bill 115, legislation used by the provincial government to impose a collective agreement upon education workers and remove their right to strike. With a specific focus on the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, this paper is an insider view of how Bill 115 and the external political contexts of the time affected Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation's internal democratic practices at the height of the struggle. It employs theories of union democracy in order to consider how external forces can shape teacher unions' internal democracy, and how the competing pressures faced by union leaders can impact their actions and decisions. This paper takes the view that internal union democracy is an important consideration in teacher unions' resistance to government austerity agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing media attention paid to charter-school unions, comparatively little empirical research exists. Drawing on interview data from two cities (Detroit, MI, and New Orleans, LA), our exploratory study examined charter-school teachers' motivations for organizing, the political and power dimensions, and the framing of unions by both teachers and administrations. We found that improving teacher retention, and thus school stability, was a central motivation for teacher organizers, whereas, simultaneously, high teacher turnover stymied union drives. We also found that charter administrators reacted with severity to nascent unionization drives, harnessing school-as-family metaphors and at-will contracts to prevent union formation. As the charter sector continues to grow, understanding why teachers want unions and how those unions differ from traditional public school unions is crucial to analyzing the long-term viability of these schools and the career trajectories of the teachers who work in them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Divergencia is the property of Taller de Historia Politica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the changes in basic education in Turkey, with a particular focus on religious education and its ramifications for the education system. The latest education reform, 4 + 4 + 4 (or 4+), the largest education reform in recent Turkish history, has brought radical changes to the school system regarding religious education. For this research, journalists and teacher unionists were interviewed to investigate civil society's perspective on the reform. Several themes were extracted from the data analysis but this article focuses on one dominant theme, namely the rise of religiosity. We argue that the state and its private associations (i.e. media, unions and political parties) are actively encouraging a process of Islamisation and a gradual but stronger emphasis on Islam in the public sphere in order to consolidate its hegemonic dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Pädagogik is the property of Julius Beltz GmbH & Co. KG Beltz Juventa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Highlights • Main stakeholders in education politics, including teacher unions, business, parents, civil society, and policy networks. • Key areas of design and implementation of education reform, such as sequencing and compensation. • Strategies for building support for education reform through consultation, negotiation, and communication strategies. Abstract Understanding the politics of education reform is crucial to assess the challenges facing the SDG of quality education. This article surveys the small academic literature on the politics of reform as well as a wide range of empirical research on reform experiences across the world, with an emphasis on recent reforms in Latin America. We focus on teacher policy reforms, which play a central role in raising learning in primary and secondary schools, but pose three special challenges. First, they are contentious , often threatening the institutional interests of well-organized and politically powerful teacher unions. Second, implementation is opaque, as impact depends on classroom-level change that is difficult for reformers to monitor. And, third, benefits are long-term , usually well beyond the political tenure of reform champions. A close review of all major stakeholders – teacher unions, business, NGOs, religious authorities, international development agencies, and others – is a crucial first step to understanding potential sources of opposition and support. Strategic issues in policy design and implementation include: consultation, sequencing, compensation, negotiation, communication, and sustaining reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, governments across Western democracies have endeavoured to inject neoliberal, market-inspired ideology into public education policy; reorganise teachers' work and conditions and undermine the collective strength of the organisations representing teachers' interests. Within this context, teachers' salaries have been subject to particular scrutiny by governments. In the Australian state of New South Wales, successive governments have utilised adversarial tactics during salary negotiations, placed legislative restrictions on wages growth and imposed limitations on union activities which have been aimed at improving teachers' salaries. This paper examines the response of the NSW Teachers' Federation to neoliberal imperatives on teacher salaries since the 1980s. To investigate this issue, this study incorporates extensive documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with NSWTF officials and members as well as senior government leaders and departmental officials. Through analysing key salaries disputes from the 1980s to the present, this paper problematises the effectiveness of industrial approaches to unionism, explores renewed strategies to achieve salary increases for teachers and contributes broadly to union renewal debates on how teacher unions can act strategically to protect and advance conditions using professional agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on data collected as part of the larger study of professional learning (PL) in Canada. The article specifically explores the work of teachers' organizations (also known as teacher unions) in leading and supporting high-quality learning experiences for their members. Adopting a progressive view of teacher organizations, the paper positions such organizations as an integral component in teacher PL. The findings highlight the ongoing professional agendas of teachers' organizations with the aim of deepening the space for further collaborations between teacher organizations and other educational stakeholders in the area of PL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]