Challenging the Deprofessionalisation of Teaching and Teachers : Claiming and Acclaiming the Profession

Front Matter ....Pages i-xix Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Introduction and Context (John Buchanan)....Pages 3-21 The Purpose of Education, and of Teachers (John Buchanan)....Pages 23-41 (Why) Are We Falling Behind and (Why) Does It Matter? (John Buchanan)....Pages 43-63 Front Matter ....Pages 65-65 “If I Could Just Teach” (John Buchanan)....Pages 67-86 Basic, Basal Skills and Their Effects on Higher Order Thinking (John Buchanan)....Pages 87-105 The Pressures on, and of, Curriculum (John Buchanan)....Pages 107-127 The Standardisation of Teaching (John Buchanan)....Pages 129-149 Teaching Professional Assessment and Ongoing Professional Development (John Buchanan)....Pages 151-168 Student Evaluation as a Driver of Education Delivery (John Buchanan)....Pages 169-187 Digital Devices, Online Learning and All That: How They Are Shaping Education (John Buchanan)....Pages 189-208 Front Matter ....Pages 209-209 Conclusion: Which Future? A Note of Hope? (John Buchanan)....Pages 211-230 Recommendations: What We Know and What We Can Do (John Buchanan)....Pages 231-250 Foreword 6 Preface 9 Acknowledgements 11 Contents 12 Part IThe State of Play 17 1 Introduction and Context 18 Outline 18 Introduction: On Autonomy 19 A New Dark Ages? 20 Between Profanity and Provider: Is Teaching a Profession Anyway? 21 A History of Teacher Education—Some Turning Points 26 Teacher Attraction, Retention and Attrition 28 Concluding Thoughts 34 References 34 2 The Purpose of Education, and of Teachers 37 Outline 37 Introduction 38 What Good is an Education? 39 The Twenty-First Century School and Its Staff: Qualities Required of Teachers 40 Implications for Teacher Retention and Morale 44 The Complexity of Teaching 46 The Standardisation of Teaching 47 Teaching Performance Assessment 48 The Intellectual and Emotional Work of Teaching 51 Postnote: Winter is Coming? 51 References 53 3 (Why) Are We Falling Behind and (Why) Does It Matter? 56 Education in Australia: Shanghaied? 56 The Structure of Teacher Education in Australia 58 Entry into Teacher Education and Teaching 60 Other Recent Innovations 66 Support for Teachers 68 Professional Support and Development 70 Concluding Remarks 71 References 72 Part IIThe ‘Players’ 77 4 “If I Could Just Teach” 78 Introduction 78 Pressures on Teachers’ Time and Energy 79 Attention to Teaching Standards 80 Student Behaviour 81 Accountability and Paperwork 83 Lack of Support 84 Curriculum 84 Australian Classroom Demographics 85 Supporting Teachers’ Work 87 Teacher Retention and Attrition 89 A Note of Hope 93 References 94 5 Basic, Basal Skills and Their Effects on Higher Order Thinking 98 Introduction 98 Basic Skills and Education of the Person 100 Australia’s NAPLAN Testing regime—An Illustrative Example 100 Acclamations 102 Criticisms 102 Quelling Equity 103 Basic Skills Testing Regimes Appear to Offer Little to Fulfil the Above Trifecta 104 High Stakes Nature of the Testing 105 Curricular Shrinkage 106 Addressing Symptoms, Rather Than Causes 107 NAPLAN’s in/Effectual Nature 107 Parent Views 108 Effects on Teachers 108 Effects on Students 109 International Testing Problems 109 The My School Website 110 Some Responses 112 References 114 6 The Pressures on, and of, Curriculum 117 Introduction 117 Curriculum Construction 118 What is Curriculum, and What Does It Do? 120 Basic Skills 122 Some Stressors Impacting Curriculum 123 Other Issues 125 The Australian Curriculum—An Illustrative Example 126 Possible Guidelines for Curriculum Construction 129 Who Decides What is Best to Learn, and How? 129 The Nature of the Learner, and of Learning 130 The Nature and Context of the Curriculum 130 A Word on Assessment 134 References 135 7 The Standardisation of Teaching 138 Introduction 138 Conceptual Framework, Data Sources and Analysis 139 Data Collection and Analysis 140 Findings 140 Critiques of Standards 140 The Language of and Around (the) Standards 142 International Comparisons 145 Quality Teaching Frameworks and Models 147 Policy, Research and Practice Implications 150 References 154 8 Teaching Professional Assessment and Ongoing Professional Development 159 Introduction 159 Teacher Professional Assessments (TPAs) 160 Informing the TPA 167 A Further Word on Assessment 169 Ongoing Teacher Professional Development 172 Conclusions and Ways Forward 173 References 174 9 Student Evaluation as a Driver of Education Delivery 177 Introduction 177 Methodology and Methods 178 Results and Discussion 179 Student Evaluations—Their Function 180 Student Evaluations—Their Form 182 Possible Explanations for Weaknesses in Student Evaluation Data 184 Outcomes of Student Evaluations 184 Institutional Faith in Student Evaluations 187 Alternative or Supplementary Measures to Student Evaluations 188 Conclusions 191 References 192 10 Digital Devices, Online Learning and All That: How They Are Shaping Education 196 Admission 196 The Online World, Learning and the School 197 Online Accessibility and the Complexity of Teaching 200 The Importance of the Medium 203 Non-school and School Online Behaviours 206 Conclusions: Where to from Here? 210 References 212 Part IIIPlaying our Professional Part 216 11 Conclusion: Which Future? A Note of Hope? 217 Introduction 217 Beyond Competence? 218 Improving the Improvers 221 On Leadership 224 Stop Dreaming and Get on with Your Work! 226 Looking Forward, Back and Around 227 Which Future? 229 Teaching is Complex 230 Teaching is Complex Commitment to People—To Learners 230 Teaching is Complex Intellectual Work 231 Teaching is Complex Relational Work 231 Teaching is a Complicated Search for Sometimes-Uncomfortable Truths 231 Learning is Complex 231 Teaching Involves Complex Discernment 232 References 234 12 Recommendations: What We Know and What We Can Do 237 Preamble 237 Our Aspirations 238 Teacher Recruitment, Supply and Demand 242 Who Can Help? 243 Advice to Governments (Read This Particularly If You’re Not in Government) 244 Stop Telling Us to Go Fund Ourselves 244 The Status of Teaching 245 Advice for Citizen-Kids (Read This Especially If You’re Not a Kid) 246 Advice to Citizen-Parents (Read Especially If Not a Parent) 247 Note to the Citizen-Standardists (Read This Especially if Etc.) 248 Memo to Citizen-Self: Act Educated 248 How to Get There 249 Rounding up Some Themes from This Book and Their Significance: 251 On How We Do Things Around Here 252 References 254 This book explores how best to invest in and nurture teachers. It examines deprofessionalisation and reprofessionalisation in the recent developments in the understanding of teaching and learning, including the effects of standardizing teaching, education shaped by student satisfaction data and basic skills tests. The book focuses on Australian context and takes on an international perspective. It investigates fundamental issues affecting teacher quality, morale, attrition and retention, learner and teacher autonomy, and assessment and evaluation. It encourages teachers and teacher educators to assert centrality to teachers and question and challenge outside forces that suppress teacher autonomy and associated agency and creativity. It challenges administrators and educational jurisdictions to rethink their assumptions on their own capacities and limitations and teachers' capabilities to shape education in optimal ways and the impact of outcomes of the decisions they make.