ABSTRACT

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.

chapter |21 pages

Co-authors’ introduction

Ireland as a prima facie case

part 1|48 pages

The history of teachers’ organising

chapter 1|23 pages

Historical revisions

part 2|44 pages

Theories of teachers organising: the options in edu-politics

chapter 3|20 pages

The INTO and activist teachers

chapter 4|20 pages

Irish national schools

part 3|50 pages

The practical politics of teachers’ organising

chapter 6|23 pages

Teachers’ case for the defence

chapter |21 pages

Co-authors’ closing: the rebuttal

chapter |9 pages

Afterword The politics of teacher unions and archives

Bob Lingard School of Education, the University of Queensland