Prospects and politics of professional power in England : an exploration of the state of teaching as a profession following the birth of the General Teaching Council for England

• Main Author: Wilkinson, Gary Peter
• Other Authors: Bottery, Mike
• Published: University of Hull 2010
• Subjects: 370.1; Education
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.518656

This thesis examines the status of teaching as a profession following the establishment of the General Teaching Council for England in 2000. After developing a theoretical framework for analysing the concept of profession, and addressing some of the confusion which often arises from the different discourses of professionalism, the work focuses on the key issues of knowledge and power. An extended literature review includes analyses of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services and the General Teaching Council for England. The empirical component of the study presents data from a series of interviews with a number of people in senior positions in key education organisations which were conducted over a period stretching from June 2004 to January 2006. The thesis' main argument is that, because of political imperatives expressed through the policy interventions of successive governments, the logic of professionalism is being marginalised for teachers in England. Instead of serving the ideals of their profession, teachers in England find themselves working in an increasingly commercialized public sector and squeezed between the bureaucratic aspects of managerialist and market policies.