Stevenson, Howard (2008) Challenging the orthodoxy: union learning representatives as organic intellectuals. Journal of in-service education, 34 (4). pp. 455-466. ISSN 1367-4587

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Abstract

Teacher education and continuing professional development have become a key areas of controversy in England since the period of school sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the government’s ‘standards agenda’. However, the emerging discourse of ‘new professionalism’ has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachers’ access to continuing professional development. This paper argues however that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsci’s notion of the ‘organic intellectual’, the paper argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas – creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Teacher education and continuing professional development have become a key areas of controversy in England since the period of school sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the government’s ‘standards agenda’. However, the emerging discourse of ‘new professionalism’ has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachers’ access to continuing professional development. This paper argues however that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsci’s notion of the ‘organic intellectual’, the paper argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas – creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged.
Keywords:	teacher unions, union learning representatives, school industrial relations
Subjects:	L Social studies > L433 Education Policy N Business and Administrative studies > N611 Industrial Relations
Divisions:	College of Social Sciences > Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD)
Depositing User:	Howard Stevenson
Date Deposited:	23 Mar 2009 12:50
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2013 08:31
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/1850

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