Teacher Professionalism in Neoliberal Times: Discourses of Union-Active Teachers in Ontario

• In Event: Neoliberalism in Education: Teacher Experiences and Responses

Abstract

Objectives:
This paper explores the ways in which discourses of professionalism were constructed and enacted within a sample of highly engaged members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO). The paper first attempts to outline the ways in which ETFO has gone about supporting broader notions of what it means to be a professional teacher in challenging neoliberal times. Secondly, the paper addresses the specific ways in which government reforms around professionalism have impacted the ways in which ETFO members conceive of teacher professionalism.

Perspectives:
Discursive perspectives emphasize the social nature of meaning-making. Moreover, drawing from Foucault and Ball, Hilferty (2008) notes that discourse refers to “what is thought, who can speak, when, and with what authority” (p. 241), a function of the power relations inherent in institutional practices and their social and cultural norms. Nonetheless, as Sachs (2003) argues, space does exist for the production of counter-discourses by those who wish to challenge dominant ideologies. Hence, teacher professionalism is this study is conceived as a site of ideological struggle influenced by power and politics that shifts and changes over time as teachers, their unions, and governments respond to each other in new and evolving ways.

Methods and Data Sources
The paper relies on qualitative interview data gathered as part of a comparative case study of discourses of professionalism amongst members of two Canadian teacher organizations. 11 ETFO members volunteered to be a part of the study. Interviews probed understandings of teacher professionalism, the roles and boundaries of the work of teachers and the influences that shaped the enactment of such understandings. Data analysis was inductive in its approach and utilized the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) with open coding.

Findings:
ETFO’s commitment to diverse professional development and teacher leadership opportunities, in combination with member engagement in more traditional union tactics during hostile times, has instilled a vision of the teaching profession that portrays teachers as valued pedagogical experts. On the other hand, the “on-again, off-again” tension that has existed between the teacher federations and the Ontario government has put somewhat of a damper on the advocacy and autonomy of some ETFO members. Moreover, this climate has left its own mark on the discourses around teacher professionalism, both within the realm of general public as well as the ETFO membership interviewed for this case.

Significance:
Presenting an under-represented narrative of teacher professionalism where teachers attempt to challenge marginalized views of teachers and exercise their agency as active participants in the educational policy arena, the paper challenges dominant neoliberal ideologies that position teachers as being increasingly managed and controlled. That being said, the paper acknowledges the influence such notions have had upon the teaching profession in Ontario and frames discourses of teacher professionalism as being circumscribed by teachers’ sense of agency and the influence of both teacher organizations and the greater policy environment. In this way, the study presents a new lens through with to view the discursive arena around notions of teacher professionalism in neoliberal times.

Author

• Pamela Janie Osmond-Johnson, University of Regina