Engaging teachers: towards a radical democratic agenda for schooling

TOWARDS A RADICAL DEMOCRATIC AGENDA

FOR SCHOOLING

ENGAGING TEACHERS

ENGAGING TEACHERS

Towards a radical democratic

agenda for schooling

Trevor Gale and Kathleen Densmore

Open University Press

M aidenhead • Philadelphia

Open Universiy Press

McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill House

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Maidenhead

Berkshire

England

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and

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First Published 2003

Copyright © Trevor Gale and Kathleen Densmore, 2003

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A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 335 21027 9 (hb) 0 335 21026 0 (pb)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gale, Trevor, 1956-

Engaging teachers: towards a radical democratic agenda for schooling / Trevoi

Gale and Kathleen Densmore.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-335-21027-9 0-335 21026-0

1. Critical pedagogy. 2. Privatization in education. I. Densmore. Kathleen

Mary. n. Title.

LC196 .G34 2003

370.1 l'5-dc21 200203546.

Typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, W W W .biddies.c o .u k

Contents

Foreword by Simon Marginson

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction: to a politics of engagem ent

2 Markets: an increasingly visible hand

3 Policy: the authoritative allocation of values

4 Leadership: taking a radical dem ocratic stance

5 Professionalism: a fram ew ork for just social relations

6 Com m unity: reconnecting school and society

Notes

References

Index

Foreword

Since R ousseau th e re has been a long an d rich trad itio n of arg u m e n ts link￾ing ed u catio n w ith self-determ ination an d collective em p o w e rm e n t. The

m ost im p o rtan t con trib u tio n is probably th a t of D ew ey, w h o se Democracy

in Education ([1916] 1966) p ersuaded us to locate ed u catio n in th e social

realm , as a p rim ary in stru m e n t in building m o d e m dem ocracy. The tradition

of ed u catio n an d dem ocracy reach ed a p eak in th e late 1960s an d 1970s

w hich saw th e flourishing of activist teaching in in n er-city co m m unities in

Europe, A ustralia a n d th e U nited States. N otions gained g ro u n d of th e teacher

as radical professional responsible for th e e m p o w e rm e n t of all, teac h e r￾co m m u n ity alliances in building com m unity, ed u catio n al leadership as

collective ra th e r th a n b ureaucratic. These practices w ere deeply th reaten in g

to m an y in g o v ern m en t a n d conservative circles, a n d received a battering

w h en th e n ew right an d policies of 'm a rk et at all costs' gained ascendancy

from th e m id-1980s. The p rim ary co n trib u tio n m ade by Engaging Teachers is

th at it recovers a n d reconnects w ith th e ed u catio n /d em o cracy tradition.

In doing so this book d em o n strates th at u n d erstan d in g th e social context,

an d being at h o m e w ith political a n d econom ic arg u m en t, are vital tools for

dem ocratic education. Politics an d econom ics h ave for too long b een used to

close d o w n dem ocracy in schools a n d sep arate th e m from th e ir local com ­

m unities (w ho becom e co n su m ers-at-a-d istan ce). T revor Gale a n d K athleen

D ensm ore argue th at an effective u n d erstan d in g of politics an d econom ics

can break d o w n th e ascendancy of conservative policies an d enable schools

an d th eir com m unities to take th e ir fu tu re in to th eir o w n han d s. Engaging

Teachers sharply illum inates th e flaws in th e m ark et m odel of teach in g and

learning. The m arket m odel rests on th e b reath tak in g claim th a t m arket

econom ic com petition is 'n a tu ra l' an d serves th e interests of all. free political

decision-m aking is artificial an d destructive, a n d teach ers are ju st a special

in terest group th a t has captured schooling for its o w n selfish purposes. They

explain th at m arket choice is fine if you h av e th e m aterial m eans, th e

private w ealth, to exercise th e full range of choices. It's n o t so good if you

do not. M arkets by th e ir n atu ral op eratio n s foster inequalities. They divide

school com m unities, w h ere everyone should succeed, into w in n e rs an d

losers. They enrich som e schools an d im poverish others. A nd in system s

Foreword V

such as in New Zealand, the UK and parts of Australia that have reforme

their governm ent schools along m arket lines, m arkets have conspicuous]

failed to im prove learning outcom es for students.

The key point in this argum ent is th at capitalism and dem ocracy are «1

natural or inevitable partners. U nfettered capitalism has no place for colle<

tive political em pow erm ent, w hich forces the strong m arket players t

become accountable to everyone, thus interfering w ith the 'natural mechanisn

of com petition. M arket economics must be modified if every person, rich an

poor, is to exercise their dem ocratic rights in society and through educatioi

M arkets have only a limited role in formal education w hich above all mu:

place high quality schooling w ithin reach of every citizen. That was th

great gain made by the politics of public education in the tw entieth c e n tu r

It is a gain w hose achievem ent is incom plete - especially but not only in th

developing world! - and is constantly rendered fragile by inadequate re

sources from governm ent and the resort to consum erist policy and com pet

tive allocations. But high quality universal schooling for all is achievable an

in some countries it is done.

Engaging Teachers is w ritten in an accessible style and an optimistic spiri

Gale and D ensm ore believe th at hu m an beings are n either inherently sell

interested nor inherently cooperative and generous to each other. We ca

be either, w e are w hat we w ant ourselves to be, and dem ocratic schoolin

can play a great role in fashioning us as collaborative social partners. Teach

ers are the key players here. For the authors, teaching is politically engagec

radical, critical, collaborative, context-aw are and com m itted to em pow erin

everyone. In this vision, the freedom of one is the freedom of all. If thes

are not to be em pty slogans, as they often w ere in th e 1970s, to be realize

they require long-term and substantial work. It is no small task to regenerat

poor urban school com m unities, in w hich aspirations are high but educe

tional practices have little purchase, in the context of grow ing inequalitie

on both local and global levels. And the tasks are not lim ited to schoolinj

Democracy has been underm ined not just because of th e strength of th

m arket m odel in education policy, and the funding cutbacks in the publi

educational sector, but by the pow er of corporations and the centralizatio

of the media and inform ation, w hich enables a small num ber of people t

set the frame for public debate. Teachers, often fine com m unity activist:

have a vital role in regenerating dem ocracy from the bottom up. Teachei

have the critical skills to unlock the m yths and m ystifications of m uch of th

information that blankets our public space. They have a crucial role in buildin

the skills of organizing and em pow erm ent upon w hich self-help depends,

is no w onder th at such an effort has been m ade to narrow the horizons c

teachers and block th e exercise of their broader dem ocratic role. Engagin

Teachers helps teachers to find a w ay through.

Sim on M arginso

A ustralian Professorial Felloi

Director, M onash Centre for Research in International Educatio

M onash University, Australi

Acknowledgements

Even before w e finished w riting Just Schooling, th e p recu rso r to this m o n o ­

graph, w e began to plan for Engaging Teachers. In o u r m inds, th e re w as a

degree of u n fin ish ed business, things w e w an ted to say ab o u t b o th th e kind

of disposition w e im agined for teachers com m itted to a radical dem ocratic

agenda for schooling an d th e kind of socio-cultural an d econom ic context

in w hich th ey are located. W e are, th erefo re, grateful to O pen U niversity

Press, particularly to S hona M ullen, for giving us this o p p o rtu n ity and for

once m ore supporting us th ro u g h th e publication process. O ur th an k s are

ex ten d ed also to Sim on M arginson w h o graciously provided th e Forew ord

to this volum e during a tim e of ex trem e w o rk pressures. B ut probably m ost

im p o rtan t to us are Pam an d David w h o co n tin u e to su p p o rt us th ro u g h the

rigours an d intensity of research an d w riting. W e are acutely aw are of their

contributions to this book, th o u g h th ese m ight n o t be readily ap p aren t to

others. In particular, w e are in d eb ted to Pam for h e r editing skills that

helped us deliver a relatively 'c le a n ' tex t to th e publishers. Finally, portions

of this book have app eared elsew here in different form s an d h ave been

rew orked for inclusion here. W e w o u ld like to th a n k th e publishers of the

follow ing m aterials: parts of C hapter 3 originally app eared in Discourse and a

version of C hapter 4 in th e International Journal of Leadership in Education.

Introduction: to a politics of

engagement

A colleague recently relayed to one of us his experience of a corporate

team building exercise organized for the support staff of a university depart

m ent: a few days aw ay at a resort at the university's expense, facilitated t>5

a zealous w orkshop consultant. The retreat took its them e from the followini

story:

A m an was w alking along the beach one m orning, enjoying the w arm th

of the early m orning sun, the fresh breeze and the solitude. In the distance

he noticed an o th er m an repeatedly bending over, picking som ething up

from the w ater's edge and throw ing it into the sea. As the first m an

approached the second, he could see that the beach w as littered w ith

starfish, w ashed up by the waves. 'W hat are you doing?' he inquired, as

he cam e w ithin hearing. 'I'm giving them an o th er chance at life', the

m an replied. 'B ut there are thousands of them . You could be at it all

day and still not m ake a difference.' The second m an bent dow n one

more time, picked up an o th er starfish and threw it into the ocean. 'It

made a difference for th at one', he rem arked.

In keeping w ith the them e of the retreat, each participant received a smai

badge in the shape of a starfish, to rem ind them of the m oral of the story

that every m em ber of th e organization can m ake a difference, irrespective o

their position and irrespective of the enorm ity of the problem s they migh

face - including the scepticism and inaction of others. One staff m em ber wai

particularly m oved and m otivated by the experience and upon h er retu rn tc

work continued to w ear her badge and retell the story to all w ho inquired

At the end of one retelling in the staffroom one m orning, a colleague wh(

was a m arine biologist in the departm ent responded: 'B ut they w ere deac

anyw ay. That's w hy they w ere w ashed up on the beach.'

We retell this story at the outset, not to im ply that everyday peopli

cannot m ake a difference to their ow n and others' circum stances and life

prospects. On the contrary, w e believe that people can m ake a difference tc

their futures and to the futures of their com m unities. O ur point, how ever, i

that not everything w e do will or can m ake a difference, particularly w her

o ur actions are ill-inform ed an d /o r naive about the w ider contexts in w h id

2 Engaging teachers

w e operate. For instance, som e teachers co n tin u e to believe th a t all th at

students n eed do to 'get ahead', even stu d en ts located in disadvantaged

com m unities, is to com bine th eir abilities w ith effort an d persistence. M any

teachers p u t in long h ours w orking w ith stu d en ts convinced of th e tru th of

this prem ise, efforts th at are reinforced by th e occasional success story or the

hope of one. O thers are m ore cynical, convinced th at schools p red o m in an tly

play a reproductive role in so d e ty ra th e r th a n a reco n stru ctiv e o n e o r they

feel th at as teachers th ey can n o t do m u ch an yw ay given th e disadvantages

students bring w ith th em to th e classroom . Still o th e r teachers feel guilty for

failing to m eet th e high expectations they hold for them selves.

G iven th e assault of th e N ew Right on ed u catio n a n d its su b seq u en t

reconfiguration w ith in society during th e 1980s an d 1990s, m an y teachers

have found them selves faced w ith such choices: w h e th e r to co n tin u e to

believe in an education system th at offers hope for a b etter fu tu re o r w h eth er

to face th e prospect th a t only som e benefit from ed u catio n an d th a t these

beneficiaries are m ore identifiable by th e ir socio-econom ic status th a n their

com parative ability an d effort. Of course, th ese are ex trem e positions and

few teachers are reduced to such choices, even th o u g h th ese m ay be w hat

o thers e x p e a of th em . G enerally, teachers are m ore intellectually a n d politic￾ally resourceful th a n these positions im ply an d are able to discern a lte rn a t￾ives n o t envisaged by others. N evertheless, w e are co n cern ed th a t several

of these alternatives, as tak en u p by teachers, ap p ro x im ate th e extrem es of

acquiescence, w ith d raw al an d anxiety, w h ich th re a te n to u n d erm in e their

com petence an d th eir stu d en ts' futures.

In addressing these m atters, Engaging Teachers m akes a d eliberate attem pt

to reclaim th e ed u catio n discourse cap tu red by N ew Right politics an d to

con n ect it w ith a radical dem ocratic agenda for schooling. O n its agenda are

education m arkets, policy, leadership, professionalism an d com m unities. Their

eng ag em en t in this book is conceived o n at least tw o levels. First, as e n c o u r￾agem ent for teachers to becom e a n d /o r to co n tin u e to be involved in reco n ­

structing schooling for socially ju st purposes an d in dem ocratic w ays. From

this perspective, th e politics of en g ag em en t is n o t a m a tte r of giving in or

sim ply fighting back b u t is inform ed by a co m m itm en t to g en erate a lte rn a t￾ives. W e are particularly co ncerned w ith altern ativ es th at offer th e possibility

of transform ing b o th schools an d society in radical dem ocratic directions.

This is because w e believe th a t public schools a n d society cu rren tly place

serious lim its o n th e ability an d o p p o rtu n ity for teachers, stu d en ts, parents

and o th er co m m u n ity m em bers to w ork to g eth e r to m ake things h ap p en

ra th e r th a n to h ave things do n e to th e m (G iddens 1994). Thus, o u r in te n t is

to provocatively argue th e im portance of a co m m itm en t to w o rk collectively

in o rd er to explore an d a rt o n com m on interests, across u n co m m o n gro u n d .

Second, th e book conceives of teachers engaging in these reco n stru ctiv e

efforts in attractive an d m eaningful ways, as distinct from ex ch an g es c o n ­

ceived w ith in ed u catio n m arkets. For us, th e attractio n is decisions about

schooling m ade by those these decisions affect a n d decisions th a t are m e a n ­

ingful because th ey engage th e interests of all. These tw o foci are in h e re n tly

Introduction: to a politics of engagement 3

interconnected: we hope to contribute to making both public schooling and

society m ore democratic; by working on one we also understand our efforts

as contributing to the other. We begin by outlining w hat we m ean by a

politics of engagem ent: its conception of dem ocratic pan id p atio n , its political

and theoretical disposition and its com m itm ent to inform ed action. This is

followed by an overview of the book's content, not just an account of w hat

can be found in the following chapters bu t also the argum ents that inform

and connect them . In brief, we draw attention to four m ain them es th at

pervade Engaging Teachers, namely:

• the influence of the m arket in education, its anti-dem ocratic agenda, and

the need for teachers to think and act differently if the individual and

collective futures of all students are to be rescued;

• the continued although changed influence of governm ent and in stitu ­

tions in the education m arketplace, characterized by increased control at

the same tim e as reduced responsibility;

• the need for teachers to be cognizant of the 'big picture' inform ing educa￾tion, to engage w ith it an d to connect this w ith local com m unity action,

and

• the need for teachers and schools to m ore fully engage w ith their com ­

m unities in radical dem ocratic ways.

Engagement as political com mitment and activism

A central issue, then, in this book - w hich runs through each of these four

them es - involves teachers' engagement w ith schooling and w ith the broader

social, political and econom ic conditions w ithin w hich this is fram ed. As

we argue throughout, these conditions are currently dom inated by a m a r￾ket discourse that signals a point of departure for teachers com m itted to

recognitive justice (Gale and D ensm ore 2000). From o u r perspective, critical

engagem ent w ith this m arket discourse is inform ed by three interrelated

and overlapping concepts: radical democracy, a socially critical disposition

and political activism. We introduce each of these in turn.

R adical dem ocracy

Sitting on com m ittees is not necessarily dem ocratic, irrespective of the

outcom es these com m ittees might achieve. C om m ittees might represent

structures of dem ocracy (forum s in w hich dem ocratic agendas can be p u r￾sued), they m ight be representative of a broad range of interests, and they

might even m ake decisions that benefit m any people. But if they are

structures 'designed to em pow er the people, not the people em pow ered'

(Lummis 1996: 23), th en they have little claim on democracy. In short,

it is the politics that nam es and frames com m ittee w ork and com m ittee

4 Engaging teachers

m em bers, w hich determ ine its (dem ocratic) character, w h a t can be don(

inside com m ittees is constrained and enabled by this politics an d w h a t goe:

on outside com m ittees is frequently ju st as im p o rtan t as w h a t goes or

inside them . Public and private institutions in w estern co u n tries are full o

exam ples of com m ittees that are n o t dem ocratic, even at th e sam e tim e a:

th ere are those that are. Schools and ed ucation system s are no different ir

this regard. W hat happens w ith in schools an d w h at h ap p en s outsid e th e n

are im portant in u n d erstan d in g th eir con trib u tio n to th e dem ocratizatior

of society. Som e teachers, students and paren ts are em p o w ered by thei]

experiences of school and th e op p o rtu n ities th at schools p resen t, b u t no

all; hence C onnell's observation th at dem ocratization in th e school is no

necessarily th e sam e as dem ocratization of th e school' (C onnell 1993: 71

original em phasis).

W hat, th en , do w e m ean by dem ocracy and, particularly, w h a t do wt

m ean by radical dem ocracy? First, w hile w e agree th a t dem ocracy describe;

an ideal, n o t a m eth o d for achieving it' (Lum m is 1996: 22), this is no t to sal

th at th e w ays in w hich w e achieve things are outside th e p u rv iew of dem o

cracy. That is, as far as dem ocracy is concerned, th e ends do n o t justify tht

m eans. Indeed, dem ocratizing processes an d practices, w h e th e r in com m it

tees or in classroom s, is central to w h a t it m ean s to p u rsu e dem ocracy: tht

people em pow ered. This is so because p o w er is n o t so m u ch a th in g th at car

be held as it is a thing th a t is exercised. W e see p o w er p red o m in an tly w her

it is in action; w e m ight see th e effects of p o w er - m aterial a n d socia

benefits an d rew ards, an d th e absence of these - b u t th ey are n o t th e sam<

as acts of pow er. Even those w h o hold great w ealth, position, status and S(

on, are no t pow erful w ith o u t m obilizing th e ir resources or th ere is th<

th reat a n d /o r possibility for th e ir m obilization. It is this u n d erstan d in g o

dem ocracy as a form of pow er, th a t causes Lum m is to rem ark: 'If th e wore

m eans w h at it says, th ere is dem ocracy w h ere th e people have th e pow er . . . I

is because th e re is n o sure, flxed solution to this puzzle - th e puzzle of hov

to realize dem ocracy in o u r collective life - th at o u r co m m itm en t to it car

take th e form only of a historical project' (Lum m is 1996: 22). By definition

an historical project is ongoing an d necessarily includes processes, action

an d practices. Yet, such projects ex ten d over tim e an d are n ev er com plete

To repeat, dem ocracy is an ideal; it guides w h a t w e do a n d h o w w e do it

even th o u g h these in th e en d are ap p ro x im atio n s an d h en ce them selve

incom plete.

Second, it is these app ro x im atio n s or, m ore often, m odifications tha

capture th e a tte n tio n an d im agination of dem ocrats in m an y so-called dem o

cratic societies; dem ocrats w h o are concerned ab o u t d em ocracy's subversion

by those w h o lay th eir o w n claims on pow er:

'D em ocracy'' w as once a w ord of th e people, a critical w ord, a re v o lu ­

tio n ary w ord. It has been stolen by those w h o w ould rule o v er th e

people, to add legitim acy to th eir rule. It is tim e to take it back to

restore to it its critical and radical p o w e r . . . This is a call, th en , for a