Contesting the Curriculum: An Examination of Professionalism as Defined and Enacted by Australian History Teachers

Abstract

In this article, I present an analysis of professionalism as defined and enacted by the History Teachers' Association of New South Wales (HTANSW). This analysis was part of a larger doctoral project (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) in which I employed critical qualitative inquiry to compare and contrast the contribution that two subject teaching associations (science and history) make to the project of teacher professionalism in Australia. My aim for this project was to explore what professionalism means in practice for a unique group of teachers: those who have made an active and fundamental commitment to their subject community by voluntarily serving on the executive committee of their subject-based professional association. In this article, I present findings from the case account of the HTANSW-an organization that operates locally as a professional teacher community and a representative organization for school-based history teachers. This case account details the manoeuvrings of an association that powerfully asserts an expansive role for history teachers as both contributors to, and critical commentators on, curriculum policy. In this article, I conceptualise the actions of this association as an enacted form of teacher professionalism. Drawing on study findings, I explicate my conception of professionalism as an enacted discourse of power and I show how this discourse is enacted in subject-specific ways.

What’s so important about teachers’ working conditions? The fatal flaw in North American educational reform

“…Attending to concerns about teaching conditions thus is designated to teachers' unions which, because they are concerned with 'labour' issues, are by definition not worth taking seriously. In fact, teachers' unions are nearly the only organizations that have paid substantive attention to the actual conditions of teachers' work (Bascia 2004;Leithwood 2006 (Bascia 2009; see also Hilferty 2007, for a discussion of similar dynamics between state governments and organized teachers in Australia). Canadian and US teachers' organizations -like their counterparts in the UK and Australia -continue to struggle with limited purview and low status (Bascia 2005(Bascia , 2008a(Bascia , 2008b(Bascia , 2009Carter, Stevenson, and Passy 2010;Humphries 2001;Rodrigue 2003).…”

Schooling Teachers: Professionalism or disciplinary power?

“…Interpretations and definitions of professionalism Marshall (1939), Goode (1957), Wilensky (1964) Social service professionalism Parsons (1954), Stinnett and Huggett (1963), Purvis (1973), Travers and Rebore (1990) Professions based on functionalist theory Hoyle (1974) Professionalization, professionality Goodson and Hargreaves (1996) Classical, flexible, practical, extended, complex and postmodern professionalism Hanlon (1998) Commercialized professionalism Goodson (1999Goodson ( , 2000 New and principled professionalism Freidson (1994Freidson ( , 2001 The ideology of professionalism Sachs (2001Sachs ( , 2003Sachs ( , 2005 Transformative, democratic, managerial and activist professionalism Hargreaves (2000), Day (2002) The four ages of professionalism Hilferty (2007Hilferty ( , 2008, Evans (2008Evans ( , 2011 Enacted professionalism Evetts (2009) Organizational, occupational professionalism Evans (2011) Deduced, assumed professionalism Bourke (2011) New/classical/practical discourses of professionalism Educational Philosophy and Theory 85…”

Reproduction of Conflict in History Teaching in Ukraine: A Social Identity Theory Analysis

“…Prototypes are not checklists of attributes or ideal types; instead, they are actual historic figures who represent the most important attributes of a particular in-group, including its values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (Hogg, 1992). In the process of national identity formation, teachers serve as instructional mediators who influence understanding of a nation and formation of the meaning of national identity among students (Brophy & Van Sledright, 1997;Hamer, 2000;Hilferty, 2007;Wilson, Shulman, & Richert, 1987). However, only a few studies have shed light on the impact of political orientations and social identity of history teachers on the teaching process and reproduction of conflict and intergroup prejudice (Anderson, 2008(Anderson, , 2011Epstein & Shiller, 2005;Faas, 2008;Makkawi, 2002;Sherwood, 1999;Sung & Yang, 2009;Worchel & Coutant, 2008).…”