What are the political standpoints?

 Jumping to the one of the questions in the diagram of the lit review…

When trying to answer what the political implications are in this topic I find myself facing questions relating to teacher professionalism.

Who decides what teachers need in their professional development?

Why are teachers often left out in discussions about the state of education and it’s future?  

Do teachers really have a say? Are they encouraged?

How is teacher knowledge valued and respected – in the academic community? among teachers themselves? in the wider community? This is about “seeing teachers as valuable producers of knowledge about teaching and learning” (Bulfin & Mathews, 2003, p. 48), ssing them as “legitimate knowledge producers”(Bulfin & Mathews, 2003, p. 49).  

Parr (2003) presents the writing of Apple (1995) which discusses the forces in action “deskilling” teachers through prescriptive PD programs.  Parr not only agrees with Apple, he concedes that these worrying changes are becoming more and more relevant.

Parr wrote:

“On a professional level, Lieberman and Miller (2001) see multiple voices seeking to deprofessionalize the profession by devaluing ‘teacher experience, discretion, and knowledge'” (p. 68). This quote appears on page viii in the introduction of the book.

The work of Stokes (2001) is also cited. Stokes claims that teachers are very seldomly encouraged to reflect on their work.

Parr concludes that there are factors preventing teacher professional learning in the field and that in addition, there are teachers who are unaware of the value of individual professional inquiry.

Parr, G. (2003). Teacher professional learning and transgression? Inquiry on the boundary. English in Australia, 138, 63-79. Retrieved from http://search.informit.com.au

Lieberman, A., & Miller, L. (2001) Introduction. In A. Lieberman, & L. Miller (Eds), Teachers caught in the action: Professional development that matters (pp. vii-x). New York: Teachers College Press.

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