Teachers constructing the future Book

Kevin Harris has written this book for beginner teachers, serving teachers and teachers of teachers, as well as anyone else interested in the future of schooling and education. In it he draws on sociological analysis, philosophical insights and aspects of political economy to examine the changing and developing role of teachers in the context of the current transformation of western capitalism. He considers the historical growth of teaching as a profession and as a political force, but then indicates that in the contemporary situation economic rationalism has been effectively employed to elevate the instrumental role of schooling in society, and consequently to devalue the professional and political nature of teaching as well as the professional and critical expertise of teachers. He argues that schools and teachers are now caught up in what has been termed "the grand narrative of the market" and that that narrative has serious potential for destroying central worth-while features of both the present and the future relating to community, personal autonomy and democracy. Teachers should protect and further the critical and professional dimension of their training and work, and then, as expert professionals and intellectuals organic to potentially emerging social forces, they should take a vanguard role in the construction of a worthwhile democratic future.