Education International Research
To present this report, interviews were conducted with union staff, union-active teachers, and knowledgeable observers in each of the case study countries. Documentary evidence was gathered; media sources, scholarly literature about educational policy activity in each location and the role of the teacher union in relation to that activity were sought. The data collected focus largely on unions representing the school sector as well as school teachers. The terms ‘teacher’ and ‘teacher union’ are used extensively throughout the report. This is not intended to exclude other education workers, or union members in other education sectors, and it is hoped that the issues raised and the challenges identified can be of use to all trade unionists who work and organise in education. Issues differ across sectors, as they differ across national contexts, but there is also much that is common, and which might form the basis of a shared conversation amongst all educators. Drawing from these data, the report presents seven country cases, each including a brief history of educational policy activity, the challenges arising from that activity for the teacher union, and the union’s strategies in responding to those challenges. The cases are intended to foster a shared understanding of the challenges that teachers and their unions face, emphasising that they are not unique to any one context, whilst recognising that all experiences must be applied in ways that appreciate the specificity of context. The report identifies seven challenges for teacher union renewal that arise out of comparative analysis of the cases. The challenges are presented as conundrums, or paradoxes, framed so as to help focus discussion within unions as teachers in their own contexts consider what is appropriate to their circumstances. The challenges are: • Organising around ideas: in particular, reframing the ‘private good, public bad’ narrative, and redefining the space in which problems are defined and policy solutions are developed • Connecting the industrial and the professional: recognising, and articulating, the notion that teachers’ concerns are both simultaneously, and challenging the discourse that often presents them as in conflict with each other • Working both with, and against, government and employers: seeking to make progress through constructive engagement where possible, but also mobilising resistance when necessary • Building at the base: working to strengthen connections between various levels within the union organisation by developing vibrant union cultures at the grassroots, including workplace level • Building democratic engagement: developing membership involvement in the union through formal and informal structures by finding multiple ways to involve members with diverse interests and experiences • Connecting the profession both horizontally and vertically in order to speak for the whole profession: sometimes working across different unions within education and in ways that connect teachers and school leaders
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