Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book attempts to generate discussion and research on organized teacher activity, an area of study within education which remains relatively neglected, particularly in terms of reputable studies of union activity on a day-to-day local basis. It discusses initial development of an account of teacher unionism based on giving prominence to teacher resistance. The book draws attention to some of the alliances between organised teachers and the working class and the Labour Party, and to examples of teacher militancy. It discusses the State's response to the growth of teacher militancy in the period 1910-1920, through the fostering of professional, responsible behaviour in return for a measure of 'autonomy'. Obviously, contradictions and ambiguities among teachers, in terms of their own class identification and their interpretation of their relationship with the State, remain.