From new to nuanced: (Re)Considering educator professionalism and its impacts

Abstract

While debates rage on regarding various approaches to educational change and improvement, there is no doubt recent decades have been marked by a shift in how these approaches are conceptualized and enacted. In the last 20 or so years many nations have applied neo-liberal principles of competition, profit, and efficiency to the public sector and to education more specifically. Beyond dramatically reshaping policies and practice, so too have they changed the very nature of what it means to be an educator. In particular, the field has seen a move from what some consider more traditional or occupational forms of professionalism to new or organizational professionalism. As a result, many argue, educators have experienced diminished efficacy, commitment, and professionalism. And yet, and as I argue in this piece, in our rush to condemn such practices, we may miss some important opportunities to shift and perhaps expand our understanding of professionalism and its effect on educational change.