Empowering Teachers and Democratising Schooling: Perspectives from Australia

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Contents
Editors and Contributors
Introduction
1 The Beginning of an Idea
2 Empowering Teachers
3 Empowered Scholarship
4 Combining Different Voices
5 Democratising Schools
6 Australian Perspectives
7 A brief introduction to the Australian Education System
8 COVID-19 and its Effects
9 Not More, but Different: Locating this Volume Within the Field
10 Silences with this Narrative
11 A Note on Acronyms
References
Challenges and Possibilities for Teacher Empowerment
A Profession Under Pressure: How Squeezing Teachers Punishes Kids
1 The Societal Goals of Education and the Personal Realities of Teachers
2 A Mammoth—and Changing—Task
3 The Impacts of the Current System Upon Teachers’ Health and Well-Being
4 What’s the Problem? The Influence of the Media
5 Not Failing, Fighting
6 Impacts that can’t be Standardised
7 The Trickle-Down Effect of the Failure Narrative
8 Exploited and Burnt Out Teachers
9 Clinging to the Core of Teachers’ Work
References
The Profession That Eats Itself: Addressing Teacher Infighting
1 Teacher Infighting
2 Engaging Professionally Within Schools and Systems
3 Engaging Professionally Across Schools and Systems
3.1 Public vs Private
3.2 Early Childhood vs Primary vs Secondary
3.3 City vs Country (or Otherwise Known as Metropolitan vs Rural and Remote)
3.4 Large Schools vs Small Schools
3.5 Mainstream vs Schools for Specific Purposes (SSP)
3.6 Mathematics vs English vs All Other Learning Areas
3.7 Pedagogy
4 Online Teacher Infighting
4.1 Twitter
4.2 Facebook
4.3 Instagram
5 Final Thoughts
References
The Demise of Teacher Expertise and Agency by the “Evidence-Based Discourse”
1 20 Years of the Same Trend
2 Why Focus on Hattie?
3 How Has the “Evidence” Base Usurped Teacher Expertise and Agency in Australia?
4 Instructional Models Guiding Teaching Practice
5 Victoria’s Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support (MYLNS) Initiative
6 Why Does Hattie’s Evidence Dominate in Australia Rather Than Evidence from Other Reputable Organisations?
7 Concerns About Hattie and the Meta-Meta-Analysis Methodology
8 Standardisation and Accountability
9 The Explicit Diminishing of Teachers’ Knowledge and Evidence: John Hattie
10 Ways to Challenge These Ideas
11 It’s More Complicated Than That!
12 Teacher Effects Versus System Effects
13 Widespread Teacher Dissatisfaction
14 A Call to Action and Support for Those Already Taking Action: Teachers Empowering Themselves and One Another
14.1 Education Is Empowerment
14.2 Groups to Join, Groups to Form
14.3 Reconsider the Aims of Schooling for Shared Purpose
15 Conclusion
Notes
References
Challenges and Possibilities for Global Teacher Empowerment
1 Introduction
2 The State of Teacher Empowerment Within Australia and Challenges to It
3 Ongoing Concerns Around the Retention of Teachers
4 Societal Value and Perceived Societal Value Disconnect
5 Recruitment
6 The Underlying Cause: Neoliberalism
7 Quantifying Learning, the ‘Neoliberalisation’ of Global Education
8 Promoters and Defenders of Empowered Teachers
9 Safeguarding and Improving Teachers’ Conditions
10 Promoting Teacher Excellence
11 Documenting Teacher Excellence
12 New, Emerging Alternatives
13 Recognition of Teacher Leadership
14 Solutions
14.1 Empowering Teachers to Allow the System to Be Flipped
14.2 Empowering Teachers Within Schools
14.3 Empowerment Through Unionism
14.4 Empowered Teachers Enacting Democratic Practices in Schooling
15 Conclusion
References
Empowered Teachers Enacting Democratic Practices
Teachers as Changemakers in an Age of Uncertainty
1 Introduction
2 The Narrowing View of Teachers’ Work
3 A Teaching Philosophy for the Twenty-First Century
4 Empowered Teachers as Changemakers
5 Education for Human Development
6 Twenty-First-Century Challenges for Teachers
6.1 Are the Principles of a Democratic Society in Decline?
6.2 Wealth and Inequality
6.3 The Impact of Technology and Social Media
6.4 The Climate Crisis
7 Examples of Projects that Exemplify the Role of Teachers as Agents of Change
7.1 Rising Student Activism
7.2 Refugee Learning Centres in Indonesia: A Case Study of the Work of Teachers as Changemakers from the Perspective of One of the Authors
8 Conclusion
References
Teaching for Democracy
1 The Role and Complexity of Schooling
2 Alternative Forms of Professional Learning
3 Shifting the Focus in the Classroom
4 What a Democratic Classroom Might Look Like
5 Student Voice
6 Students Meeting the World Outside School
7 The Joys and Artistry of Teaching
References
Democracy Starts in the Classroom
1 Introduction
2 The Victorian Teaching Context: NAPLAN, VCE and Accountability
3 The Influence of COVID-19
4 Education and Social Justice
5 Democracy on the Decline Among Young People?
6 The Shift to Using Socratic Circles
7 Socratic Circles
7.1 History of Socratic Circles
7.2 Why Socratic Circles?
7.3 Socratic Circle Protocol
7.4 The Role of the Teacher in a Socratic Circle
7.5 Creating the Atmosphere and Culture for a Socratic Circle
7.6 Data Collection and Formative Assessment Within a Socratic Circle
7.7 Socratic Circles and Remote Learning
8 Benefits for Students
9 Conclusion
References
Leveraging Teachers’ Collective Voices
Australian Teachers as Democracy Workers
1 Teaching: A Profession Under Attack
2 The Challenges Facing Civics and Citizenship Educators
3 The Malaise Among Youth
4 Questionable Curriculum Offerings
5 Teachers as Active Citizens not just Teaching about Active Citizens
6 Teaching the History of Democracy is Insufficient
7 Teachers as Democracy Workers
8 What Might Teachers as Democracy Workers Look like?
9 Conclusion
References
Finding Teachers’ Voices
1 Introduction
2 Recognising the Challenges
3 Employment Conditional to Silence
4 Creating Teacher Voice and Agency
5 IEU’s 2019 Professional Development Programme
5.1 Programme 1—TeachMeets
5.2 Programme 2—Young Members Initiative
5.3 Programme 3—Education Debates
5.4 Programme 4—Book Clubs
6 What We Learned About Creating Space for Teacher Voice
7 Conclusion
References
Raising Teachers’ Voices: How Teacher Unions Build Grassroots Intellectualism to Resist Neoliberal Education Reform
1 Introduction
2 Teacher Unions Resisting Neoliberalism
3 Union Renewal Strategies
4 Method
5 Findings
5.1 The Changing Complexion of the Teaching Profession
5.2 Organising Within Changing Conditions for Unionism
5.3 Recruiting the Next Generation of Teachers
5.4 Engaging the Next Generation of Teachers
5.5 Building ‘Grassroots Intellectualism’ Among Teacher-Members
6 Discussion and Conclusion
References
Empowering Teachers: Deliberate Processes
Trusting Teacher Professional Judgement
1 Introduction: Teacher Voice and Teacher Empowerment
2 Trust, Status and the Teaching Profession
3 Teacher Status and Respect
4 Teacher Professional Judgement
5 Teacher Voice and Impact
6 Teacher Autonomy in Practice
6.1 Standardisation of Assessment
6.2 Curriculum Changes
6.3 Steeling Oneself Against the Silencing and the Bypassing
7 Conclusion: The Voice of Teachers and the Profession
References
Welcome to the New Teacher Tribe: Empowering Beginning Teachers by Co-creating Sanctuaries of Learning
1 The Way Schools Are: Why Are We Getting This Wrong and What Are the Consequences?
2 The Challenge
3 The New Teacher Tribe: A Possible Framework to Increase Teacher Belonging and Empowerment
3.1 What is It?
3.2 What is Its Purpose and Goal?
3.3 What is Its Structure and How Many Teachers Have Been Part of It?
4 What Actions Brought About the Idea of the New Teacher Tribe?
4.1 The Beginning: Macquarie University
4.2 Participating in TeachMeets and Discovering Twitter
4.3 Moving Online: #PSTchat
4.4 From #PSTchat to the New Teacher Tribe
5 Why Do I Have Such a Positive Outlook?
6 The Importance of Democratic Leadership
7 Concerns/Adaptations
8 Instructional Coaching Programme
9 The New Teacher Tribe Starter Pack
10 Conclusion: What if?
References
Empowering Teachers to Know Their Strengths: Not a Silver Bullet but a Golden Goose
1 Current Landscape of Professional Development and Learning in Australia: School Perspectives
2 Our National Framework for Professional Learning
3 What is Valued as Professional Learning by Teachers?
4 Professional Learning and Professional Identity
5 Changing to a Democratic Lens—A Vignette of Possibility
6 Empowered Teachers Approach to Meeting Standards
7 Teacher Perspectives
8 What Next?
References
Empowering Teachers: Beyond the Classroom
Empowering Pre-service Teachers: Perhaps Being an Influencer Is a Good Thing?
1 Learning the Rules
2 A Career Teacher
3 Why is ITE not Working as It Should?
4 Global Trends Influencing ITE
5 AITSL as an Unrepresentative Board
6 The Coursework and Professional Experience Divide
7 Out of Date Approaches in Universities
8 Quality University Teaching
9 What Does the Failure of ITE Mean for Education and the Profession?
9.1 Teacher Burnout
9.2 Edu-Marketing, Learning Intentions and Success Criteria.
10 A Better Way of Doing ITE: Making Use of Influencers and Activists?
11 Conclusion
References
Everyone Has Been to School so Everyone Has an Opinion: Why Memories of School Matter
1 Introduction
2 The history of the purpose of schooling in Western culture
3 What does the media say is the purpose of schools?
4 Where does the grief come from?
5 The Responsibilisation of Parents
6 Moving Forward
References
Understanding Citizenship, Supporting Students and Teachers, and Pushing Back
1 Studying Citizenship
2 Theoretical Underpinnings
2.1 Citizenship and Education
2.2 Neoliberal Citizenship Education to Maintain or Expand an Inequitable Social Order
2.3 Citizenship Education to Mandate Responsibilities and Define Rights Through Engagement
2.4 Critical Citizenship Education as a Conduit for Liberation and Social Justice
3 Findings
3.1 Understanding Citizenship’s Multiplicitous Nature
4 Experiencing Citizenship Education
5 Linking Citizenship, Power, and Liberation
6 Discussions and Conclusions
6.1 Towards a Transformative Citizenship for Teachers and Students
References
Conclusion
1 A Multitude of Voices
2 Democratising Schooling
3 Empowering Teachers
4 Where to from Here?
References