Howard Stevenson from the University of Nottingham believes that the challenges faced by the teaching profession can only be faced by renewed and empowered education unions, who enable their members to become agents of change.
When the most influential teacher blogger in the UK refers to twitter as “the only place ordinary teachers can have a powerful voice”, what does that say about the status of the teaching profession and education unions? These and other threats and opportunities were analysed today by Howard Stevenson, research director at the University of Nottingham, during a presentation to the Executive Board of Education International (EI), entitled “Changing unions in challenging times”.
Based on research conducted jointly with Nina Bascia from the University of Toronto, to be published by EI at the beginning of 2017, Stevenson advanced the conclusion that educators need to take control of their profession. “If we don’t engage in professional issues and the ideas that shape the working lives of your members we will lose the battle”, he warned.
“Unions need to challenge all the factors that undermine teachers in their work - impossible workloads, inappropriate curricula, relentless testing of students. However, they must also articulate a much more hopeful and optimistic vision of what teaching and learning can be like,” he said. “The vision of a New Democratic Professionalism recognises teachers' expertise and professional judgement are the cornerstones of developing high quality, socially just, public education.”
New unions to face new challenges
“Teacher unions are the independent, democratic voice that teachers need to bring about change. Teacher unions need to be open to all teachers - but all teachers need to work with and through their unions. This is how real change can be achieved,” he said. “However, teachers cannot achieve these objectives working on their own. Teachers must assert their collective agency. Only by working together can they make the difference that is needed.”
He went on to highlight several challenges faced by teachers and their unions, which include pressures on union members, an increasing workload and pressure on performance, and a new understanding of public management based on managerial approaches.
Through the case study of Scotland he demonstrated how these challenges could be tackled successfully, building a strong and functional relationship between the classroom, the schools and government, and allowing teachers to become active agents in the shaping of learning and working conditions.
Union renewal and a new take on organisation through better professional learning and development, the connection of the professional and the industrial spheres in education and a reframing of the narrative around education, can all lead to the overall strengthening of member organisations, he assured. This would have a wide array of positive effects, from protecting education against the crisis to countering de-professionalisation trends and confronting attacks on education unions, he added.