Teachers’Careers
The ways in which beginning teachers join the profession indubitably have a sig-
nificant influence on the construction of their professional identity. Much research
over many years in many different contexts has examined the aspirations and
self-identity of teachers and has explored how policy interventions have enhanced
or undermined these identities. Early work tended to demonstrate that teachers felt
the core of their identity was the pedagogical relationship with the learner (see Nias
1989 for example). Some of the policy developments associated with neoliberalism
and the‘New Public Management’have undermined this relationship and replaced
it variously with key relationships with school management and with the (national)
curriculum. Teachers have increasingly found themselves cast as servants of the
state rather than servants of the learner (Helsby 1999). From the view of a teacher as
some kind of‘organic intellectual’that emerged from Huberman’s classic study
(Huberman 1993) we see a much more institutionalised pattern of career progres-
sion for many twenty-first century teachers, as described by Day and Gu, some 20
years later (Day and Gu 2010).
The development of educational leadership as a majorfield of study and as a
major area for professional development has also had some interesting effects on
professional identity. In many countries we have seen opportunities appearing for
the development of‘accomplished teaching’as a career stage that does not nec-
essarily involve moving into school management. Designations such as chartered
teacher, advanced skills teacher and (the rather tautologous!) master teacher have
appeared in many national systems (and are addressed in one of the chapters in this
section).
Teaching In/Teachers for the Twenty-First Century
By way of conclusion to this introduction to Part I, it is worth considering the
current direction of travel in becoming a teacher. As we have already observed,
teaching and teacher education continue tofigure very prominently in political
debate. The days of‘leaving it to the professionals’ are certainly behind us,
although the impact of this is far weaker in some contexts than in others.
However at a time of ecological threat and of continuing global inequality, it is
possible to suggest that the moral responsibilities of teachers are greater now than
ever before (Menter 2009). These teachers are working with the adult citizens of
tomorrow who will have to live with the consequences of contemporary policies
and of global phenomena such as climate change and insecurity.
How might the development of new technologies change the work of teachers?
Can digital technology facilitate more effective teaching? Some have suggested that
the very essence of teaching and of the teacher may change to such an extent that
we will no longer recognise the teacher as a person working with a group of
Part I: Becoming a Teacher: Teacher Education and Professionalism 21