ABSTRACT
The teacher role is inherently conflictual, but the nature of the conflict varies with the social conditions of the time. The different expectations of different pupils, or of pupils and parents, or of one's headteacher and one's colleagues, presented everyday dilemmas, which teachers reflected upon and discussed as part of their job. The changed times of the 1980s and 1990s brought new conceptions of the teacher role. Compliant teachers are adapting, rather than enhancing, their selves, strategically realigning in response to tensions, though some are already accustomed to take that approach. Surviving conformists are teachers who are critical of the process of change but who are determined to survive unscathed. Like the other conformists, there is a large measure of accommodation and working the system, but they are disturbed by the change in opportunities for professional development, the limitation of individuality and the assault on the educational values that they hold dear.
