ABSTRACT
We began the previous chapter with the claim that teachers need actively to create a professional identity and that they cannot rely on this as a ‘given’. To illustrate what we mean by this, we can refer once again to the notion of ‘standards’, in this case, professional standards. There are several ways to interpret the idea of standards. For example, are standards imposed by a central authority, an agency of the government such as the Teacher Training Agency (TTA)? Or are they established by a body representing the profession itself, such as the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) perhaps? Can standards be articulated in words and laid down in a legal document-the rules of engagement, so to speak-or are they impossible to capture in their entirety, being constantly negotiated and re-negotiated within the professional community and communicated by example and through accepted practice?
