This book explores how best to invest in and nurture teachers. It
examines deprofessionalisation and reprofessionalisation in the recent
developments in the understanding of teaching and learning, including
the effects of standardizing teaching, education shaped by student
satisfaction data and basic skills tests.
The book focuses on Australian context and takes on an international
perspective. It investigates fundamental issues affecting teacher
quality, morale, attrition and retention, learner and teacher autonomy,
and assessment and evaluation. It encourages teachers and teacher
educators to assert centrality to teachers and question and challenge
outside forces that suppress teacher autonomy and associated agency and
creativity. It challenges administrators and educational jurisdictions
to rethink their assumptions on their own capacities and limitations and
teachers' capabilities to shape education in optimal ways and the impact
of outcomes of the decisions they make.