Springer Challenging the Deprofessionalisation of Teaching and Teachers: Claiming and Acclaiming the Profession

This book explores how best to invest in and nurture teachers. It examines deprofessionalisation and reprofessionalisation in the recent developments in the understanding of teaching and learning, including the effects of standardizing teaching, education shaped by student satisfaction data and basic skills tests. The book focuses on Australian context and takes on an international perspective. It investigates fundamental issues affecting teacher quality, morale, attrition and retention, learner and teacher autonomy, and assessment and evaluation. It encourages teachers and teacher educators to assert centrality to teachers and question and challenge outside forces that suppress teacher autonomy and associated agency and creativity. It challenges administrators and educational jurisdictions to rethink their assumptions on their own capacities and limitations and teachers' capabilities to shape education in optimal ways and the impact of outcomes of the decisions they make. From the Back Cover This book explores how best to invest in and nurture teachers. It examines deprofessionalisation and reprofessionalisation in the recent developments in the understanding of teaching and learning, including the effects of standardizing teaching, education shaped by student satisfaction data and basic skills tests. The book focuses on Australian context and takes on an international perspective. It investigates fundamental issues affecting teacher quality, morale, attrition and retention, learner and teacher autonomy, and assessment and evaluation. It encourages teachers and teacher educators to assert centrality to teachers and question and challenge outside forces that suppress teacher autonomy and associated agency and creativity. It challenges administrators and educational jurisdictions to rethink their assumptions on their own capacities and limitations and teachers' capabilities to shape education in optimal ways and the impact of outcomes of the decisions they make. About the Author John Buchanan is an Associate Professor in the School of International Studies and Education at the University of Technology Sydney. He has taught at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and is a recipient of teaching awards at institution, state and national levels, and has coordinated international programs, including the International Professional Experience, in the School. His teaching and research interests include retention, attrition and quality of teachers, English as an additional language, LOTE (Languages other than English) education, intercultural, regional and global studies, and civics and citizenship education. He has published more than 60 refereed journal articles, books and book chapters in these fields and has supervised more than a dozen higher degree research students on related topics. He has also presented at numerous international conferences, including invited plenary addresses in Korea, Pakistan, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates. He has contributed to and led numerous funded research projects with a combined total of over $1.5 million. He is a past president of the New South Wales Institute for Educational Research.