Primary and Secondary School Teachers and Academic Freedom: A Conceptual Inquiry

• In Event: 31.070 - Epistemic Justice and Education

Abstract

In the United States, teachers’ professional autonomy has been steadily eroding as a result of recent court decisions and an increasingly tense political climate. In this paper we examine the concept of academic freedom as a potential tool for addressing this concern. In practice, teachers’ claims to academic freedom usually fail, since courts refuse to recognize such a right. Nevertheless, a close analysis of legal, philosophical and historical arguments reveals that characteristics of K-12 teaching line up surprisingly well with key normative justifications upon which courts rely when deciding academic freedom cases in higher education. Accordingly, we conclude, there are potent reasons for concluding that teachers should have a far greater degree of academic freedom than courts typically countenance.

Authors

• Bruce Maxwell, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

• Kevin McDonough, McGill University

• David Isaac Waddington, Concordia University