Re-professionalizing teaching: the new professionalism in the United States

ABSTRACT

This article examines the re-professionalization of teaching across a transformative decade of market-based and standards-based reforms in the U.S.A. The first section works with the sociological concept of the ‘new professionalism’ to situate the No Child Left Behind act, Race to the Top, and CAEP accreditation within a broader movement to align the professions with the commercial and managerial values of the private sector. The next section compares teacher interviews conducted at the onset of NCLB with interviews conducted at the height of Race to the Top to highlight how the ongoing shift from ‘occupational’ to ‘organizational’ governance of teaching can change how teachers think about and fashion themselves as teachers. This policy analysis and qualitative analysis aims to help the education field recognize, situate and interrupt education reforms that govern teaching and teacher education through standardization, commercialization and outcomes-based performance management.

KEYWORDS:

• New professionalism
• teacher professionalism
• organizational professionalism
• standards
• accountability
• value-added models
• education reform
• education policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jory Brass

Jory Brass has a PhD in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy from Michigan State University. His research examines the history and cultural politics of English teaching using approaches influenced by the work of Foucault. His work has been published internationally in the fields of English education, curriculum theory, education policy, and the history and philosophy of education.

Jessica Holloway

Jessica Holloway, PhD, is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Centre in Research for Educational Impact (REDI) at Deakin University. Her current research draws on post-structural theory to understand contemporary modes of accountability and its production of new teacher and leader subjectivities. Her current project, entitled Teacher Leaders and Democracy: An International Study, looks at modes of distributive leadership in U.S. and Australian schools.