Between old and new unionism: Race, professionalism, and resistance in a district of market reforms

Abstract

This article centers a group of teachers who participated in a multi-day strike and a statewide walkout in Colorado. We examine whether their experience with contention signaled important shifts in views of market-based educational policies, teacher professionalism and the role of unions. Qualitative methods and critical theories of educational policy guided the research design and analysis of data. Findings include divergent experiences with contention among teachers, shaped by race and racism, and enduring ideas of professionalism tied to hierarchies of class and gender. These tensions complicated coherent interpretations and critiques of market policies and strained solidarity for sustained resistance. We discuss the implications of findings for efforts to shift traditional teacher unions toward expansive ideas of professionalism premised on anti-racism, collective action, and social justice for and with communities of color.

Meta-Reflexivity and Teacher Professionalism: Facilitating Multiparadigmatic Teacher Education to Achieve a Future-Proof Profession

“…Furthermore, from a democracy perspective, meta-reflexivity contributes to an unbiased and balancing approach to diversity, both regarding students and the teachers themselves. For example, qualitative research reminds us that ideas of teachers’ professionalism are tied to social class, race, and gender, problematizing the exclusivity of a traditional understanding of teaching as a highly elaborated profession (Kurtz & White, 2022). Even within a teacher education program formally focused on diversity, a traditional understanding of deference to power, and high cultural capital can be handed down, as Tolbert and Eichelberger (2016) show within their case study.…”

An examination of public discourse about teachers’ collective bargaining rights in a portfolio school district

“…Furthermore, the study showed that teacher identity was the strongest predictor of the type of logics they would employ, and teachers who identified as a member of a marginalized group were much more likely to draw on community logics. These differences and complexities are particularly salient in this discussion around the DPS board member's proposal because innovation teachers must vote their approval of the innovation plan; teachers in these schools are thus arguably willing to trade traditional "union protections" for the autonomy and leadership roles offered by innovation schools (Kurtz & White, 2022). In fact, initial research suggests that teachers' feelings of empowerment in DPS innovation schools appear higher than in traditional schools, although these findings should be interpreted with the understanding that teachers self-select to work in innovation schools (Hashim et al, 2021).…”

“…The final theme that arose through the analysis were comments and arguments that relate to divergent views of teachers, unions, and CBAs. As described in the background section, teachers in different types of DPS schools have different relationships to the union and understandings of their role (Kurtz & White, 2022). Innovation teachers are arguably willing to trade traditional union protections for the autonomy and sometimes leadership roles offered by innovation schools (Hashim et al, 2021).…”