Opinion

We are professionals: The proletarianisation of teachers

Recruitment & Retention Pay and conditions Teaching staff Workload Covid recovery
The proletarianisation of teachers began in the 1980s and continues today. The impact of this has been revealed most starkly during the Covid crisis. We must once again recognise teachers as professionals, not workers, says Dr Alex Gardner-McTaggart

The teaching profession today is notably different to how it was just a couple of generations ago.

In short, control has been wrestled away from teachers, limiting their creativity and agency to execute lessons as they would like. Instead, numerous layers of management now dictate to schools both how and what should be taught.

This is nothing new; it is a process that started in earnest during the 1980s. However, in my opinion, this is an issue that must be constantly assessed and debated in the education sector, and there is no better time to do so than as society emerges out of lockdown.

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