A Class Act: Changing Teachers Work, the State, and Globalisation

by Susan L. Robertson

This book offers an original and challenging theoretical and empirical approach to mapping the changing nature of teachers' work historically and in the contemporary period. It is an attempt to understand how and in what ways teachers' work has changed following the demise of the post-war settlement and the imminent collapse of teachers' project of professionalism secured through solidaristic strategies such as unionism. Dr. Robertson argues that in order to understand these issues, a more rigorous set of conceptual tools around social class, occupational power and worker control is needed. The first two sections of the book set out to address that problem. The final section elaborates on the changing contexts and conditions for contemporary teachers more generally, and argues that structural and ideological changes within educational provision have led to differing capacities in the realization of class assets.

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2000

About the author

Professor of sociology of education in the
Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol. Along with her
colleague Roger Dale, she is the founding editor for the journal
Globalisation, Societies and Education published by Carfax. Robertson recently completed a Synthetic Review of Globalization, Education
and Development for the Department of International Development.
Her current work is engaged with globalization and regionalization
as it works on and through both education systems and new sites of
knowledge production.

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While economics is an important part of the history and context of teachers' work, it isn't the most interesting aspect to me. Some good points, definitely, but I prefer Apple's work.