From neoliberalism to structural racism: Problem framing in a teacher activist organization

Abstract

Philadelphia’s teacher-led activist group, the Caucus of Working Educators, has displayed shifts in how it frames the central problems facing public education since its emergence in 2014. Initially, the organization tended to advance the notion that neoliberalist discourses and values were primarily responsible for “education reform” effects, including underfunded schools and districts, shrinking public school districts, and the privatization of formerly public aspects and services of schooling. Over its first four years of life, however, the organization has increasingly integrated critiques of structural racism in how it frames such issues in public education. This article asks: How do teacher Caucus members employ neoliberalist and structural racism problem frames within their activist teacher organization? I show how members have increasingly centred racial justice concerns, and argue that organizational strategy concerns and the desire to push the organization to align more tightly with specific ethical concerns have driven this transformation process.

Keywords:

• Curriculum studies
• teacher knowledge
• socio-political conditions
• school/educational reform
• student and teacher experiences

Notes

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Pseudonyms have been used in order to keep the identities of Caucus members confidential.

2 I was an active participant in this social justice union-focused book group. I was not running a research study at that time, and had participated out of a personal interest in learning more about what Philadelphia activist-oriented teachers were reading, thinking and talking about. The connection between this book group and the Caucus’ emergence was unknown to me until my conversation with Kathy.

3 I was one of a small number of Caucus members who represented the Caucus at UCORE in Chicago in August 2014. Caucus member Kathy had invited me to attend, and I was in the early stages of a research study examining the role of learning in the Caucus at the time.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rhiannon M. Maton

Rhiannon M. Maton, Ph.D, is an assistant professor in the SUNY Cortland School of Education's Foundations and Social Advocacy department. Her scholarship examines teacher learning and leadership, and possibilities for stakeholder engagement in policy systems and processes. Maton’s publications have appeared in Critical Studies in Education, Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, and an edited volume titled Alternative Schooling and Student Engagement. Rhiannon can be reached at [email protected].