Teachers and Their Unions: Labor Relations in Uncertain Times explores the decade of uncertainty in public education following the Great Recession by first laying a foundation that describes the development of teachers and public education and the rise of teacher unions. The selection of the industrial labor model at the outset of public sector collective bargaining set the table for challenges to its fit with education. The theme of teacher as member of a union and teacher as a professional is explored within the context of a collective bargaining environment. The section “Law and Politics in Uncertain Times: Retrenchment and Assault” explores the decade of uncertainty. It reviews the industrial union model and within the twin challenges of the conundrum of teacher as union member and professional in the struggles of the decade. Tenure (boondoggle or necessary protection), VAM (rank and yank), right-to-work, agency fees, and teacher strikes are explored within the themes of the industrial union model and the tension of union member and professional. The book concludes with thoughts for the future and responds to the question of whether teacher unions are still pertinent.

Public education's character is increasingly under assault as privatization of education is advanced. This collection of essays by noted scholars, teacher activists, and teacher's union leaders from around the world fuses insights with background and analysis to make real the goal of quality education for all the world's children.

In The Future of Our Schools, Lois Weiner explains why teachers who care passionately about teaching and social justice need to unite the energy for teaching to efforts to self-govern and transform teacher unions. Drawing on research, her experience as a public school teacher, and as a union activist, she explains how to create the teachers unions public education desperately needs. Lois Weiner is a professor at New Jersey City University and has been a life-long teacher union activist who has served as an officer of three different union locals. She is the author of The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions: Stories for Resistanc e .

Teachers, Unions, and Collective Bargaining in Public Education addresses the most important aspects of the collective bargaining system.

While much mainstream educational research maintains that teacher unions should be outlawed or their powers greatly reduced, Bascia and her contributors, including many of the leading teacher union researchers working today, challenge this position. Instead, they recognize the important role teacher unions must play in defending public education and in minimizing the damage wrought by ill-thought-out educational policies. By avoiding idealization of these organizations and recognizing their limitations, Teacher Unions in Public Education demonstrates the necessity for union renewal for a successful education system.

In this compelling volume, Beatrice Fennimore takes an original look at educational language, the language used in educational contexts and conversation, and the impact that it has on student outcomes. In exploring this topic, Fennimore addresses educational language in myriad contexts such as public schooling, teacher education programs, deficit terminology and labeling. The result is a powerful volume that inspires our thinking and impels us to consider historical resistance to equality. Seasoned with realistic examples, suggested activities to enhance understanding, and sample codes of ethics for respectful and democratic behavior in educational settings, this book has much to offer anyone interested in achieving clarity in the language of public schooling and promoting equal educational opportunity.

The first widespread incentive pay scheme was initiated in UK schools in 2000. This book is the result of monitoring the whole process from its inception. The authors visited schools, observed lessons, and solicited the views and experiences of a large collection of teachers and headteachers. Their discoveries are presented in this lively book. They include the views of teachers who were successful in crossing the threshold, those who weren't and those who chose not to apply, and headteachers who had to make the decisions. The book focuses on the following schemes: * headteachers' experiences of training * the outcomes in their own school * their relationship with external assessors * their hopes and fears for the future * their assessment of the influence on classroom practice * what did teachers change and not change in their teaching as a result of performance management * what means they employed to further their own professional development. This timely book is a useful resource for anyone involved in education, whether it be a classroom teacher, headteacher, administrator or policy-maker.