Full Description
Teachers and Teacher Unions in a Globalised World asks a series of pressing questions of teacher educators, teachers and teacher unions worldwide in this era of global capitalism. As governments around the world support austerity politics in the face of financial meltdowns, social inequalities, terrorist threats, climate catastrophe, wars and mass migrations, the book questions whether practitioners in teaching and teacher education are succumbing to pressures to dismantle their nation-state systems of education.
The authors present a clearly argued case in Ireland for teachers and teacher educators organising to realise their moral and social responsibilities of free and fair schooling for all when it is most needed, as well as insisting on policy debates about a free publicly funded school system. At a time when teachers are feeling overwhelmed with workload and frustrated by the visible turning of events away from the historical record, the book emphasises the importance of practitioner research in informing decisions about a strategic and democratic way forward for education around the globe.
Teachers and Teacher Unions in a Globalised World will be of great interest to academics and researchers in the field of education, as well as teacher educators, practitioners and policymakers.
Contents
Foreword chapter by Gary McCulloch (UCL Institute of Education)
Co-authors' Introduction: Ireland as a prima facie case
Section Essay for Part 1: the history of teachers' organising
Historical revisions
Introducing Vere Foster [a key figure in Ireland's struggle]
Section Essay for Part 2: Theories of teachers organising: The options in edu-politics
The INTO & activist teachers
Irish national schools
Section Essay for Part 3: the practical politics of teachers' organising
Ireland in the global neoliberal policy regime
Teachers' case for the defence
Co-authors' Conclusion: The rebuttal
Afterword chapter by Bob Lingard (University of Queensland)
List of references
