Teachers and Experts: Comparing Policy Discourses of Teachers' Professional Knowledge in England and Sweden

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 73
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Knowledge, Teacher Labor, and Teacher Resistance in Neoliberal Times

Abstract

Global education policy discourses suggest that the quality of an education system is no greater than the quality of its teachers. Yet, there is little comparative research into their impact on national education reforms. This critical, interpretive study explores the dominant policy discourses of teachers’ professional knowledge, how they emerged and the extent of teacher voice in England and Sweden. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and a feminist epistemology, documentary research and elite interviews revealed a deficit view of teachers as knowledge workers. In each context, a minority of teacher ‘knowers’ had voice when alignment between professional and political ideologies. Ultimately, whilst marginality occurred principally through ignoring voices in Sweden, policies and process silenced and discredited the profession in England.

Author

• Alison Milner, University of Nottingham