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Teachers' Construction ofProfessionalism in England in the1990sGill HelsbyVersion of record first published: 03 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Gill Helsby (1995): Teachers' Construction of Professionalism inEngland in the 1990s, Journal of Education for Teaching: International research andpedagogy, 21:3, 317-332

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Journal of Education for Teaching, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1995

Teachers’ Construction ofProfessionalism in Englandin the 1990sGILL HELSBYCentre for the Study of Education and Training, Cartmel College, Lancaster

University, Lancaster LA1 4YL, England

ABSTRACT This paper explores some of the complexities inherent in researching teacher

`professionalism’ , since the notion itself is socially constructed and is subject to geographical

and cultural differences in interpretation, which themselves may change over time. Whilst

structural factors may offer a partial explanation for changes in the relative standing of

teachers in different contexts and at different times, the paper argues that teachers themselves

play a signi® cant role in asserting or denying their own `professionalism’ . Since both initial

and in-service teacher education are important vehicles for the development of a teacher’ s

sense of professionalism, it follows that changes in their content, form and organisation are

likely to have a signi® cant impact in this area. Drawing upon early data, two key aspects of

teacher professionalism are identi® ed, namely the notion of `being a professional’ and of

`behaving professionally’ . Evidence is also presented of the impact of the National Curriculum

upon teachers’ sense of professionalism in both of these respects, and there is a brief

discussion of the implications of these ® ndings for teacher education ¼

`PROFESSIONALISM’ AND `PROLETARIANISATION’

The supposed movement from `professionalism’ to `proletarianisation’ has been a recur-

ring theme in educational debates on recent changes in teachers’ working lives. The terms

are, however, problematic and contestable: the concept of professionalism, for example,

cannot be clearly and simply de® ned, since it has a varying range of characteristics which

are often culturally determined. Moreover, because of the status and material advantages

generally associated with professionalism, many groups of workers are engaged in

long-running attempts to claim professional status. Accordingly each will seek to interpret

the essential elements of professionalism in ways that favour their own particular

circumstances. At the same time, the tendency in recent years for the state to attempt to

manage professional workers through an ideology of professionalism (Ozga, 1992) or to

`deprofessionalise’ and `reprofessionalise’ teachers in a way more conducive to the

government’ s longer term aims (Barton et al., 1994) has led to further contradictions and

tensions in its de® nition.

Another dif® culty in dealing with the concept of `professional’ lies in the fact that,

in common usage, the term may denote quite different characteristics in different contexts.

317

0260-7476/95/030317-16 1995 Journal of Education for Teaching

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318 G. Helsby

Of particular signi® cance is the dichotomy between a range of characteristics associated

with the favoured position supposedly occupied by `professionals’ Ð for example pay,

status or autonom yÐ and those which relate to personal and behavioural characteristics,

such as dedication, commitment and highly skilled practice. Whilst the pursuit of the

former grouping (often referred to as `professionalisation’ ) may be linked to the self-inter-

est of the occupational group, the latter (`professionalism’ ) implies not only the exercise

of special expertise but also an altruistic concern to constantly improve practice in the

interests of clients. The inherent tensions between these two groupings tend to further

cloud the issues, especially when those with power attempt to use a `professional’

discourse to mask a very different agenda.

Early attempts to identify the characteristic traits of professionalism were based

primarily upon the most visible distinguishing features of traditiona l 19th and 20th century

Anglo-A merican professions such as Law and Medicine. As attention turned more to the

experiences of professionalism in continental Europe and Scandinavia, it soon became

clear that existing trait theory was ethnocentric and failed to take into account signi® cant

cultural and geographical differences (Burrage & Torstendahl, 1990; Torstendahl &

Burrage, 1990). Thus, for example, whereas `professional’ groups in Great Britain tended

to assume the role of semi-independent experts, in France their contribution was incorpor-

ated within the functions of the state (Torstendahl, 1990).

As well as geographical and cultural differences in de ® ning the key characteristics of

professionalism, it seems clear that the roles of `professional’ groups in any given society

and their relationship with the state and with the market are subject to change over time

(Larson, 1977/79; Murphy, 1990; McClelland, 1990). Thus SchoÈ n (1983) can speak of a

growing `crisis of con® dence’ in the authority of professionals in Western societies and in

their ability either to behave altruistically or to solve society’ s problems. Many writers

have drawn upon the work of Braverman (1974) to suggest that certain professional groups

have undergone a process of `proletarianisation’ , involving increased managerial control,

an erosion of worker autonom y and a consequent reduction in authority, status and reward.

It is argued that this loss of power and in¯ uence has been achieved through the

increasingly precise speci® cation, fragmentation, routinisation and deskilling of their

work.

At the macro level, structural and economic arguments are often put forward to

explain this supposed loss of worker autonom y and drift towards proletarianisation. For

example, Ozga (1988) argues that professionalism and proletarianisation in education can

be regarded simply as alternative strategies of teacher control which are employed

according to the particular social and economic context. Similarly, Deal (1985) claims that,

at times of economic stability, schools tend to be seen as `low risk industr ies’ and teachers

are allowed considerable scope to manage their own affairs. Conversely at times of

economic crisis, education is generally seen as having a more central social and economic

function, with greater emphasis placed upon performance and public accountability.

To some extent these arguments are borne out by experiences in England and Wales

over the last 50 years. Certainly many commentators look back to the more settled and

economically stable period of the 1950s and early 1960s as the height of teacher

professionalism and freedom (Whiteside & Bernbaum, 1979; Ozga, 1988). At the same

time the speech of the then Prime Minister James Callaghan at Ruskin College in October

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Teachers Construction of Professionalism 319

1976, which was made against a background of growing economic crisis, is frequently

cited as a turning point in the questioning of teacher authority, which since that time has

increasingly become a subject of public debate, and as the starting point for subsequent

attempts to limit teacher autonom y through increasingly demanding systems of public

accountability.

However, such structural explanations are, in themselves, too monolithic and deter-

ministic to account for the complexities and inconsistencies which occur in the changing

process of de ® ning teachers’ roles over time. Certainly, it would be too simplistic to regard

the supposed movement from educational `professionalism’ to `proletarianisation’ in

England and Wales over the last few years as a straightforward, linear progression from

some golden age of teacher autonom y to one of ever-growing state control. On the one

hand the autonom y of teachers, even in the supposed heyday of teacher professionalism of

the 1950s and 1960s, was always relative, whilst on the other the evidence for increasing

proletarianisation is contradictory and contested (Murphy, 1990; Bowe & Ball, 1992;

Campbell & Neill, 1995).

In terms of the relativity of teacher autonom y, Hoyle (1974) has drawn attention to

the fact that, although individual teachers in the 1950s and 1960s might have enjoyed a

signi® cant degree of freedom and control over what took place within the limits of their

own classrooms, they often had little control over school goals and administration, and

therefore over the context within which they operated. Moreover at secondary school level

the signi® cance which society attached to the acquisition by more able students of

nationally recognised quali® cations meant that the assessment systems of university-based

examinations boards exerted a signi® cant check upon the freedom of action of many

teachers. This in turn ensured that the secondary curriculum remained to a large extent

both strongly classi® ed and strongly framed (Bernstein, 1971), with authority ultimately

vested in an academic and subject-based eÂlite and with teachers’ professional interactions

generally taking place through a vertical and hierarchical communication system.

With regard to the proletarianisation thesis, a number of recent developments appear

at ® rst sight to indicate a clear move in this direction. These include the growth of rational

planning and management structures in schools; increased accountability through formal

inspection, appraisal and reporting systems; the imposition of centralised curricular

prescription; and a weakening of the link between teacher education and the universities.

However, the case for proletarianisation is far from proven. Murphy (1990), for example,

has pointed to the continuing special position of professionals as a privileged and

credentialled group of `knowers’ who enjoy a greater degree of `relative autonom y’ than

others. What has happened, he argues, is not a process of proletarianisation but rather one

of formal rationalisation and bureaucratisation, in which professional groups have man-

aged to create special niches of their own. Ozga & Lawn (1988) have also expressed

doubts about the proletarianisation of schoolteachers, arguing that Braverman’ s critique:

¼ lost much of its explanatory value because of its reduction of the active role

of workers in contesting or resisting or adapting this process. Braverman’ s

approach is ahistorical. It is also mechanistic ¼ Labour process theory should

be based on investigation, not a priori judgement ¼ (Ozga & Lawn, 1988,

p. 329)

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320 G. Helsby

Certainly in terms of the supposed growth of central control and loss of teacher autonom y,

an examination of recent Government educational policy in England and Wales reveals a

number of con¯ icting and contradictory messages, whilst the well-established notion of

`loose coupling’ (Weick, 1976; Meyer & Rowan, 1978) points towards the spaces in which

teachers are, in practice, able to resist increasing state control of their work.

What all of this suggests is that, whilst structural factors may offer a partial

explanation for the relative standing of teachers in different contexts and at different times,

we need to look more closely at how teachers themselves structure their own realities and

how they respond to the varying demands made upon them. If the notion of `profession-

alism’ is socially constructed, then teachers are potentially key players in that construction,

accepting or resisting external control and asserting or denying their autonomy.

RESEARCHING TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM

This paper reports a major study into `The Professional Culture of Teachers and the

Secondary School Curriculum funded by the (British Government) Economic and Social

Research Council (ESRC).[1]

This study is currently attempting to bring together a

socio-historical analysis of teacher professionalism with an in-depth study of secondary

teachers’ own understanding of their professional cultures. Whilst the former includes

documentary research and interviews with `key informants’ , the latter will be based upon

one-to-one debrie ® ng interviews with teachers in three subject areas, up to and including

the level of Head of Department.

The teacher interviews, which will attempt to develop a grounded theory of teacher

professionalism, present some formidable methodological challenges, not least because of

the problematic and contested nature of concepts such as `professional’ , `culture’ and

`curriculum’ . Accordingly, there has been a prolonged period of piloting of various

approaches to elicit the necessary data. Although the precise format of the interviews has

obvious ly changed over time, the underlying questions have consistently addressed

teachers’ understanding of `professionalism’ and its application to teaching. Fifteen of the

in-depth pilot interviews, conducted in the Spring and Summer terms of 1994, have been

transcribed, and what follows is based primarily upon this evidence. Whilst any generali-

sations from these data must remain tentative, nonetheless they do offer some interesting

indications of teachers’ thinking in this area.

The initial task for interviewees was to indicate their understanding of the word

`professional’ in general terms, with no speci® c connection to teaching. Many found this

dif® cult to do but, with prompting, were able to enumerate a number of characteristics

which they associated with the term. Subsequent analysis showed that these responses

could readily be divided into two distinct categories, underpinned by the notions of:

(a) `being a professional’ , or

(b) `behaving professionally’ .

This relates well to distinctions made in the literature between `professionalisation’ and

`professionalism’ or between `cynical’ and `naive’ views of professionalism (Lindblad,

1993): in each case the former relates broadly to issues of status, public recognition and

conditions of work, whilst the latter touches on such things as exceptiona l standards of

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Teachers Construction of Professionalism 321

behaviour, dedication and a strong service ethic. The two do not always coincide, and one

teacher made this point quite clearly:

A profession is something which is clear cut, you can actually attach a handle

to it and I think most people would understand what that handle meant.

Professionalism is how a professional person carries out their particular business,

but you can have professionalism without being actually a member of a

profession I believe.

BEING A PROFESSIONAL

Between them the ® fteen interviewees identi® ed a number of factors relating to the idea

of `being a professional’ , many of which have featured in traditiona l attempts in the

literature to identify the distinguishing traits of `professionals’ . Many referred to the

importance of training and to the know ledge and/or skills that would be displayed by a

`professional’ . Such a person would also be more likely to be working in the public sector,

and offering a service (as opposed to producing a product) to a particular client or group

of clients. It was also suggested that a `professional’ needed to display certain personal or

interpersonal skills, and to instil in clients a feeling of con® dence in their special expertise.

At the same time the notion of autonom y featured in the list of necessary character-

istics: a `professional’ was seen as someone who made their own decisions about their

work, rather than simply carrying out the orders of others. This was sometimes linked to

the idea of being `trusted’ . As a corollary to the trust being placed in them, `professionals’

were expected to be responsible for serving the interests of their clients and/or of society

in general and to ful® l the various expectations placed upon them.

When linking these characteristics to their own work, most interviewees felt that

teaching measured up quite well to their notion of `being a professional’ . Clearly, teaching

required a period of higher level education and training and the acquisition of both

know ledge and skills. Neither of these last two elements was seen as problematic by

interviewees, in contrast to the frequent references in the literature to the lack of an

adequate know ledge-base and an uncertain technology. Teaching certainly involved

offering a service, with multiple clients (including students, parents, colleagues, local and

central government and society in general), and also the exercise of personal qualities in

relating to, and instilling con® dence in, particular clients. The teachers also appeared very

aware of their responsibilities and anxious to ful® l people ’ s expectations of them.

One area where the evidence was more ambiguous was with regard to the degree of

autonom y which they enjoyed, particularly since the introduction of the National Curricu-

lum and associated legislative requirements (see below). In this respect, teachers were

compared unfavourably with other `professions’ :

Legal people or medical people ¼ seem to have a greater degree of indepen-

dence ¼ teachers don’ t seem to have, in some way to be as autonom ous as other

professions.

More particularly, most were unconvinced of any public recognition of their professional

status. When asked whether teachers were a professional group, one replied:

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322 G. Helsby

In the eyes of the outsiders ¼ no, they’ re not, but in the eyes of any teacher, yes

we are, although ¼ we are not being treated as such.

Much of the blame for this was put at the door of the media or of the government:

We get bad press all the time, the general public believes what they’ ve been told,

that we are unprofessional, left wing, anti-gove rnment, too political to be

interested in the children’ s welfare ¼ generally disruptive comments in the press

which I think most of the popula tion now believe.

This was often seen as injust:

The teaching profession had had a lot of stick, and it’ s really ironic because, in

my opinion , it’ s never been better.

but very dif® cult or impossible to right:

¼ the damage is irreparable.

However, some were more optimistic that the tide of public opinion had indeed begun to

turn and that, for example, the public had been on the side of the teachers in the recent

dispute over Standard Attainment Tests (SATs). One interviewee, however, was convinced

that teachers would only be regarded as professionals by the general public if and when

a self-regulatory body was instituted to control entry and training requirements, to set out

a code of professional conduct and to investigate any breaches of that code. Again, this

accords well with the early literature on professions, which emphasises control by the

professional body and market closure.

Despite the pessimism with regard to public recognition, it seemed clear that all

respondents regarded themselves as professionals, although this could generally be inter-

preted in terms of a convic tion that professional standards of behaviour were being

maintained, rather than as a re¯ ection of their perceived status within society.

BEHAVING PROFESSIONALLY

In describing the characteristics of professional behaviour, most respondents related their

comments to their own experience of teaching. The standards in question were invariably

seen as being very high, and involved strong commitment and maximum effort:

A professional is somebody who is acting to the limits in their particular role.

working to the best of your ability and pushing yourself to do the best you can

¼ reaching as high a standard as you possibly can.

This notion of `doing the best that you can’ was frequently repeated, and was often linked

with the idea of long hours and taking work home: teaching was seen as `an open-ended

task’ where `you don’ t work nine to ® ve’ . It was also related to reaching, or exceeding,

particular standards, both external and internal:

We’ re required to maintain standards, both those set nationally, those set locally

by administrative bodies and your own professional standards.

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Teachers Construction of Professionalism 323

Often these personal professional standards were implicit rather than overt:

I don’ t think it’ s something that people think about very, very deeply, I think the

idea and the conduct are very, very much implied ¼ I think most people are

aware of how professionals ought to conduc t themselves.

Another aspect of professional behaviour which was frequently highligh ted by the

respondents centred around the ability to create and maintain appropriate relationships

with various client groups:

I think treating people with respect and how you manage people, including

pupils, is a very important element of professionalism.

For teachers, the responsibilities towards the young people in their charge were seen as

greater than for other professional groups:

I think possibly we’ ve got a lot more relating to do as far as children go, we’ re

not just providing a service as such, we’ re taking on other roles. For example

we’ re in loco parentis, so there is also the disciplining aspect which I would

have thought doesn’ t come into the other professions quite as much.

The ability to form relationships with students and to meet individual needs was seen as

a key element of professional behaviour:

I think the caring side is as important as the information that we try to get across

and the pupils ¼ need a lot of care.

Working well with colleagues, treating them with respect, `showing due consideration’ and

`respecting somebody else’ s professionalism’ were also signi® cant aspects of professional

life for the teachers interviewed. At the same time several recognised the need to relate

professionally to people outside of the school, including parents, other professionals with

an interest in young people, governors and members of the community generally. For one

interviewee, the experience of relating as a professional to other adults, whether at parents’

evenings or through pastoral work, made the greatest contribution to her own sense of

professionalism:

I can talk to them on a one-to-one basis as a solicitor or a doctor or a dentist ¼

that’ s when I feel most professional.

Another recurring aspect of professional behaviour for this particular group of teachers can

be related to SchoÈ n’ s (1983) notion of skilful practice in responding to multiple demands

in a complex and changing environment. As one teacher put it:

¼ problems which occur aren’ t standard problems, so you’ re never quite sure as

to what’ s going to appear, you need to be able to deal with those as best as

possible rather than saying that’ s not part of your job description.

Several respondents touched on a perceived theory/practice gap, drawing attention to the

limitations of training in equipping teachers to deal with such situations, and emphasised

the importance of experience in developing appropriate strategies:

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324 G. Helsby

¼ when you qualify you have the theory, but it’ s the ¯ exibility and the

adaptation of it that perhaps you learn when you’ re actually in there.

One respondent was adamant that professional learning was a continuous process, and that

a mark of a professional was the on-going willingne ss `to analyse and evaluate what

they’ re doing in order to improve’ .

EFFECTS OF THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM UPON TEACHERS’ SENSE OF

PROFESSIONALISM

Some caution must be exercised in generalising too far from these data: not only was the

number of interviewees relatively small, but their interpretations of the term `professional-

ism’ were spontaneous rather than prepared and considered de ® nitions. Nonetheless,

patterns of response did emerge which can be further tested in subsequent interviews. One

recurring theme was the impact of recent legislation and, in particular, of the requirements

of the National Curriculum, upon teachers’ sense of professionalism.

Certainly it seems reasonable to suppose that notions of `being a professional’ and

`behaving professionally’ do not exist in a vacuum, but are shaped and in¯ uenced by

external events. Thus, the imposition in Britain of a compulsory National Curriculum with

prescribed attainment targets and programmes of study, standardised student assessment at

ages 7, 11, 14 and 16 and output- related systems of accountability and funding threatened

to impose severe constraints upon teachers’ professional autonom y and, in the eyes of

many commentators, marked a sharp movement towards centralised control and prescrip-

tion (Saunders, 1993; Helsby, 1993a). At the same time teacher morale, along with their

claim to expert authority, is said to have been depressed by the government’ s continuing

`discourses of derision’ (Ball, 1990) and by a series of measures affecting their terms and

conditions of service, their pay and promotion structure and their pre-service and in-ser-

vice training.

In these circumstances, it might be expected that teacher professionalism would be

severely compromised. The reality is, of course, complex and contested, as the balance of

power and in¯ uence shifts and teachers struggle to make sense of their changing roles and

responsibilities. In practice, as Bowe & Ball (1992) have pointed out, responses to

National Curriculum policy texts vary considerably from department to department and

from school to school. Drawing upon the work of Barthes, they distinguish between

`readerly’ policy texts, in which the user has minimal scope for creativity, and `writerly’

texts, where the reader assumes an interpretative role. The state of being `readerly’ or

`writerly’ is not necessarily inherent in the text, but is dependent upon the interactions

between the text and the user: in other words, there is a degree of choice. In some cases,

teachers may effectively collude in the diminution of their professional autonomy by

unquestioning ly accepting government directives as `readerly’ texts; in others they will

resist and attempt to subvert or reinterpret them. Of key importance in this respect is the

notion of professional con® dence.

Professional con® dence implies a belief both in one’ s authority and in one’ s capacity

to make important decisions about the conduct of one’ s work. To some extent these beliefs

are shaped by custom, by training and by previous experience, but they may be under-

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Teachers Construction of Professionalism 325

mined by challenges to, or disturbances in, the existing system and practices. Another

component of professional con® dence is the feeling of coping with the work in hand and

of being `in control’ : this implies that the individual is not confronted with excessive and

overwhelming work demands which necessitate constant `corner-cutting’ and ill-con-

sidered activity, but rather that there is some scope to re¯ ect upon, and decide between,

alternative approaches or courses of action.

Levels of professional con® dence may also be associated with teachers’ ability to

maintain a proactive role in terms of managing the changing demands made upon them.

Thus where con® dence is high, teachers are more likely to seek to impose their own

professional interpretations of government policy, to balance its demands against other

professional priorities and to exploit to the maximum what remains of their `licensed

autonom y’ (Dale, 1981). Where con® dence is low, however, they are likely to take a more

passive role and to be amenable to manipulation and to `being told what to do’ .

Evidence from an earlier study (Helsby, 1993b; Helsby & McCulloch, forthcoming)

had suggested that the professional con® dence of many teachers had been adversely

affected during the ® rst three to four years of National Curriculum implementation. The

responses of the current group of teachers were more recent and, importantly, were given

after the publica tion of the Dearing Report (1993) (a government sponsored report on the

implementation of the National Curriculum) and the announcement of a reduction in

statutory curriculum requirements. Even here, however, there was evidence of the National

Curriculum having had a marked effect upon many teachers, both from the point of view

of `being a professional’ and of `behaving professionally’ .

The major changes in terms of being, and being treated as, a professional related to

a perceived loss of autonom y, an increase in prescription and a loss of trust. Some

contrasted the current situation unfavourably with the degree of control enjoyed by

teachers in the recent past:

¼ if I had my way I’ d scrap it (i.e. the National Curriculum). I’ d go back to the

way we were a few years ago ¼ because teachers got more autonom y that way,

more control over what you do.

The amount of prescription associated with the National Curriculum was seen as limiting

teachers’ scope for curriculum development and creativity, an essential component of

teacher professionalism for Stenhouse and his followers:

¼ our schemes of work changed to meet the National Curriculum which was

dictated by an outside body rather than by the school ¼ I feel perhaps there’ s

less room for me to put my input in, that it’ s all prescriptive.

To make matters worse, there was clear evidence that some teachers believed that the

prescription was at odds with good practice:

I feel very angry about what they’ ve done to English ¼ we’ d honed it to

perfection, it was wonderful and then they just threw it all in the air, changed it

for no particular reason.

There was also a strong feeling amongst the teachers of `not being trusted’ , with mentions

of `big brother looking over my shoulde r’ with regard to Attainment Targets, and a

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326 G. Helsby

comment that `we’ ve been doubted all the way down the line’ . Sadly, one teacher did not

believe that the ground lost could ever be recovered:

I don’ t think we’ ll ever be allowed to be professional by the government because

I don’ t think they will allow us to have a voice in any decision making.

It is in the area of `behaving professionally’ that teachers might be expected to have more

choice. Here, however, the evidence suggested that recently introduced changes were

having a damaging effect upon teachers’ freedom of action, since increasing paperwork

and other bureaucratic demands were absorbing time and energies that could otherwise be

devoted to more `professional’ activities, such as classroom teaching:

¼ the amount of time you spend doing pointless records that are never looked

at and never sent for is time you could be preparing really good lessons and

marking ¼ the amount of paperwork is like snow, it just comes down like snow.

The amount of paperwork worries me greatly because that tends to take me away

from the human relationship side.

This `intensi® cation’ of working life (Apple, 1986) was seen as `creating enormous stress’

as teachers struggled to maintain good practice:

¼ we’ ve got more and more of the things that in a way don’ t matter so much

to us and we are still trying to maintain that same level of the things that do

matter.

As a result:

the number of staff who’ ve cracked recently is incredible.

The situation was exacerbated by a lack of stability:

¼ each time I feel that I just get it right ¼ and then it changes.

The resultant uncertainty not only increased pressures on teachers generally but also led,

in some cases, to a loss of con® dence. An English teacher, who described herself as having

to do things `blindfo ld’ with Year 11 classes, described the effects of being unable to give

clear answers to her students:

I began to doubt my con® dence for the ® rst time in years this last year ¼ that

really did get me down because I began to think `is it me?’ . For the ® rst time

ever I was questioning my own ability or ability to cope.

Alongside the additiona l pressures, the stress and the self-confessed loss of con® dence, a

number of teachers appeared ready to follow external prescription, even when they judged

it to be misguided. One teacher acknowledged that she and her colleagues had all

undertaken `the absolutely purposeless tasks that had to be done , the ® lling in of the

boxes’ . There was a sense of powerlessness and resignation here:

We might moan about it quietly but we will do it and then whenever they change

their tune, we’ ll have to dance to that one as well.

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Teachers Construction of Professionalism 327

As a result, some were abandoning the notion of curriculum planning:

At the moment things are a little bit on hold to wait and see what’ s going to

happen to the subject.

or deciding not to expend too much time on development:

I think ¼ is it worth investing all this time getting it just right because it might

change in a year or two?

There were, however, some examples of continuing professional con® dence, where

teachers treated National Curriculum policies as `writerly’ texts and sought to integrate

requirements within their own professional planning:

¼ we had to try breaking through the jargon ¼ getting it down to the bare bone,

the minimum that we had to do that would meet the requirements that would

then allow us to get on with our job of teaching.

One factor which was cited as helpful in this respect was working co-operatively with

colleagues:

¼ collaborative meetings do help generally, the team feeling helps to generate

loyalty , helps to generate con® dence in so much as all the staff are doing the

same thing and you don’ t feel out on a limb, you don’ t feel you’ re being forced

into doing things which you don’ t understand ¼

and it was suggested that teacher professionalism would be enhanced by:

(Giving teachers) more time to do what they used to do before, get together, talk

about how to teach, you know , sharing materials and methodologies.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS’ EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

The question of curriculum control and development, which was put into sharp focus by

the introduc tion of the English and Welsh National Curriculum, has been traditionally

associated with claims to teacher professionalism or even to `extended professionalism’

(Stenhouse, 1975). What the data from these interviews suggests is that, whilst there is still

scope for teachers to adopt a `writerly’ approach to prescriptive National Curriculum texts,

some are failing to assert their professionalism in this way, whether through lack of

con® dence, lack of will or lack of time. Certainly the evidence of stress and low morale

resulting from the constant changes and the general intensi ® cation of working life suggests

a need for greater teacher support than is currently available. If, however, teachers are to

regain their professional con® dence and play a signi® cant role in curriculum development,

then there are implications for both initia l and in-service teacher education which in many

ways run counter to recent developments both in schools and in organised professional

development.

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328 G. Helsby

One of the obvious pre-requisites to challenging both existing and proposed curricular

changes is the opportunity and the ability and to `become critical’ (Carr & Kemmis, 1986).

This presupposes an `open and receptive ’ organisation (Grundy, 1994) as well as skilled

and con® dent teachers, who need time and space to re¯ ect and to question values. This

contrasts sharply with much current INSET practice, which is frequently characterised as

utilitarian (ª short-burst, `quick ® x’ one-day events concerned with curriculum implemen-

tationº (Day, 1993, p. 84) which take place in schools which typically display a growing

emphasis upon managerial control. In such situations teachers are encouraged to concen-

trate upon practical and organisational questions of `how ’ , rather than value-laden and

controversial questions of `what’ is to be taught (Apple , 1990).

Being critical also implies a need to distance oneself from the immediate, day-to-day

organisational concerns and taken-for-granted assumptions and to bring other, wider

perspectives to bear upon educational questions. Not only is this practically dif® cult in the

light of the intensi ® cation of working life reported by the interviewees, but the weakening

of the link with Higher Education in favour of more school-ba sed in-service training,

coupled with its short-term task orientation, create real dangers of insularity and parochial-

ism (Rudduck, 1991; Day, 1993).

Similar criticisms can be made of recent movement towards more school-ba sed initial

teacher education, in which the emphasis on craft teaching and apprenticeship training is

more likely to lead to rapid socialisation into an existing (and possibly outda ted) school

culture than to the development of a more critical approach (Elliott, 1991). This is further

supported by evidence that school-ba sed mentors tend to draw largely upon their own

experiences to the exclusion of other sources (Haggarty, 1995) and that they expect the

student teachers to ® t into the culture of the school, rather than adapting the school to meet

the student’ s needs (Edwards, 1994).

Related to the idea of becoming critical is that of `re¯ ective practice’ . Whilst this

notion is interpreted in a number of different ways by teacher educators (Calderhead,

1989), it is generally associated with ideas of open-endedness, growth and empowerment

which are at odds with the development and assessment of pre-speci® ed teacher competen-

cies, with the notion of `national priorities’ in in-service training and with an increased

state control of teachers’ work. It is, however, seen as particularly appropriate for dealing

intelligently with the unstable and unpredictable nature of professional practice and

educational reform (Schon, 1983; Fullan, 1993) and as a means of bridging the theory-

practice divide in teacher education.

If teachers are to undertake re¯ ective practice, become critical and adopt a `writerly’

approach to central curriculum texts, then a further requirement might be that they should

engage in deliberation with their colleagues in order to develop a shared set of values

and a provisional and context-speci® c form of `social knowledge’ (Gilroy, 1989) to

guide professional practice. Without this, teachers are likely to remain `isolated by

their classrooms’ (Lawn, 1989, p. 155), imprisoned in their prior beliefs and assump-

tions and powerless and unsupported in any challenge to external prescription. Once

again, however, the current organisation of schoolwork and of teacher development

militate against such collective and non-ins trumental endeavours, with suggestions of

`contrived collegiality’ serving administrative control (Hargreaves, 1992) rather than true

collaboration.

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Teachers Construction of Professionalism 329

CONCLUSION

The evidence from the pilot interviews is somewhat mixed with regard to the continuing

health of teacher professionalism. In terms of `being a professional’ , teachers see them-

selves as meeting most of the identi® ed requirements, but as being denied some of the

autonom y, trust and public recognition normally accorded to professional groups. In terms

of `behaving professionally’ , teachers believe that they measure up quite well to the high

standards that they impose upon themselves. However, there seems to be some uncertainty

as to whether professional behaviour involves being in control and planning, or simply

following instructions, however misguided. Certainly there are many suggestions of an

intensi ® cation of working life which saps energy, compromises the ability to `do a good

job’ and diminishes professional con® dence. On the other hand there are some teachers

with ® rmly held convictions as to what should be done and a con® dence in their ability

to manage the situation.

Recent developments in the politica l arena lend some hope to the idea that the

professional voice may be asserted more strongly in the near future. Amongst these

developments can be cited the largely successful 1993 boycott of National Curriculum

testing of 14 year olds at the end of Key Stage 3 and the recommendations of Sir Ron

Dearing (1993a, b) that the National Curriculum should be reviewed with a view to

reducing the statutory content, giving more weight to teacher assessment and lessening the

administrative demands upon teachers. Signi® cantly, Dearing proposed that progress

should be made by:

reducing prescription so as to give more scope for professional judgement

(Dearing, 1993b, para. 3.8)

although this was to be:

matched by accountability to parents and society, including that from simple

tests in the core subjects (para. 3.40)

This ® nal report was accepted by the Government and the recommended review under-

taken. Whilst there is now a reduction in curriculum prescription and a promised period

of stability and consolidation, what remains to be seen is the extent to which teachers are,

in practice, given more scope to exercise their professional judgment and also how far they

seek such autonom y. Unfortunately, the current structures for teacher education would not

seem tailored to support the necessary development of critical capacities, re¯ ective

practice or a meaningful interchange with colleagues to agree a shared set of values and

professional know ledge: rather they seem organised to facilitate uncritical implementation

of government polic ies, casting the teacher in the role of `agent of the National Curricu-

lum’ (Gilroy, 1989; Gilroy & Day, 1993).

Certainly further research is needed to explore teacher responses to current develop-

ments, and to examine the extent to which they do in practice adopt a `writerly’ approach

to emerging government policy texts. Hopefully the forthcoming interviews with 180

teachers will shed light on their reactions to these new developments and will indicate

teachers’ likely future role.

What will be of crucial importance in the struggle for professional authority and

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330 G. Helsby

autonom y will be the extent to which demoralised teachers, like some of those in the

interview group, are able to regain their professional con® dence and to reassert their

professionalism in terms both of their critical reading of central policy texts and of their

assumption of a more proactive role in curriculum planning. Notions of `professionalisa-

tion’ and `prole tarianisation’ are too simplistic: teachers both individually and as a group

will play a key role in shaping their future working lives.

NOTES

An earlier version of this paper was given on 10 September 1994 at the British Educational Research

Association’ s 20th Annual Conference in Oxford.

[1] The ESRC-funded study exploring The Professional Culture of Teachers and the Secondary School

Curriculum runs from January 1994 until June 1996. The Project is directed by Gill Helsby, Peter

Knight, Gary McCulloch and Murray Saunders, and the Research Associate is Terry Warburton.

This work also forms part of an international study, Professional Actions and Cultures of Teaching,

which is directed by Ivor Goodson and Andy Hargreaves and which brings together researchers from

Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the USA.

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