Teachers movements in the circuits of communication: from crisis to contestation

ABSTRACT

This article develops a theoretical model to understand media framing of teachers as part of an interdiscursive flow moving between the public, policymakers, and educational practitioners. The existing literature on media framing is then synthesized in light of this interdiscursive model, so that dominant frames are seen as being reflective of dominant discourses and the power structures they legitimate. Lastly, the significance of social structure for this model is highlighted through a discussion of how neoliberal logics have cycled through it. The economic downturn in the 1970s here serves as external stimulus that was re-contextualized into discourses faulting public schools and teachers for the nation’s problems, and, in turn, were re-contextualized as popular culture tropes. This dominant view then manifested as education policy focused on ever greater teacher and student evaluation, and ultimately has led to teacher resentment and growing resistance to the dominant discourses, logics, and power structures.

KEYWORDS:

• Neoliberal education reforms
• neoliberalism and education
• interdiscursivity
• education and the media
• media portrayals of teachers
• Chicago Teachers’ Union

ORCID

Matt Reichel http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6057-9956