Taking Back Teaching: Teachers' Involvement in an Activist Organization

• In Event: Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Leadership and Teacher Agency

Abstract

In this paper, we address the benefits and consequences of involvement in a teacher activist organization. Specifically, we find three results of participation that teachers discuss including how membership combats professional isolation, promotes teacher voice, and supports efforts to re-professionalize teaching. Data include interviews with educators in a local teacher activist organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We conclude that involvement in a teacher activist organization is particularly consequential in educational contexts in which the teaching profession is threatened.

Authors

• Nicole Mittenfelner Carl, University of Pennsylvania

• Rand Quinn, University of Pennsylvania