ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that how teachers can reclaim their teaching. Teacher unions, therefore, as the independent and democratic organisations that represent teachers' collective voice, are not only at the heart of a new democratic professionalism, but must be central to both making the case for it and mobilising teachers to achieve it. This struggle over the meaning of professionalism is at the heart of many of the current debates about teaching and the role of teachers. Neoliberal education reformers have always been deeply sceptical of the concept of professionalism, seeing it as a device used by producers to protect their vested interests at the expense of consumers. The concept of teacher professionalism is seen as reinforcing the interests of what is often presented as the education establishment. A new democratic professionalism recognises the complexity of teaching and the sophisticated skills involved in the teaching process.
