A Research On Role Of Teacher Organizations

As representatives of teachers, teacher organizations play an important role in educational reform in many Western countries. Focusing on Finland, the United States, and Canada, this thesis aims to analyze the roles and influence teacher organizations have in the process of educational reform. The main framework of this thesis was created by using grounded theory to analyze data collected from the three countries. The data comprised of interviews of teachers and teacher organization representatives in Canada and Finland, and of primary and secondary literature on teacher organizations in the three countries. Based on this analysis, this thesis argues that teacher organizations are playing three kinds of roles in educational reform. First, as protectors of teachers’interests. Second, as promoters of teachers’professional development. Third, as actors for social justice.To understand how teacher organizations protect teachers’interests, this thesis first looks at how the organizations were born during the era of industrialization and developed traditions of collective bargaining. Then, by using the case of OAJ in Finland, this thesis presents three ways in which teacher organizations’role as a protector of interests is meaningful to teachers:by creating a sense of safety, a sense of belonging, and a feeling of convenience. Furthermore, by analyzing the cases of NEA and AFT in the US, this thesis also looks at how teacher organizations try to cope with the serious criticisms they face for their active protection of incompetent teachers and resistance to reforming teachers’ salary system.In regards to the role of teacher organizations in promoting teachers’professional development, this thesis shows how teacher organizations have gained a new role with the rise of professionalism. Taking the US as a case, this thesis illustrates how teacher organizations are acting to promote the professional development of teachers by setting up professional standards, by paying attention to teacher education, and by encouraging peer review among teachers. The goal of these activities is to improve the quality of the teacher community from within. Consequently, teachers’ self-management and self-evaluation are emphasized. The idea of self-improvement is connected to the value of professional autonomy that teacher organizations are trying to uphold and strive for. The case of OAJ in Finland is used to analyze how teacher organizations are also taking up the responsibility to set up principles of professional ethics.To analyze the role of teacher organizations as actors for social justice, this thesis first examines the development and influence of social justice theory on the educational field. Then, the case of BCTF in Canada is used to study the actions teacher organizations have taken to realize social justice. Based on the analysis, two main concerns of the BCTF can be identified:the employment of first-nation teachers, and the effort to improve the teachers’awareness of social justice. In addition, by comparing the histories of two teacher organizations in Finland, OAJ and DEMKO, this thesis asks how far the quest for social justice can be taken. Too strong an emphasis on social justice can lead to ignoring the needs of teachers and schools, which can ultimately lead to a loss of support for the organization, and even to its demise.Based on different ways of emphasizing and combining their roles, this thesis identifies three types of operating styles that teacher organizations can have. These are industrialism-oriented, professionalism-oriented and social justice-oriented style. Differences between the styles can be found in terms of the organization’s goals, the role of the teachers, the role of the school, the relationship between administrators and teachers, and the way to improve teachers’competences. Finally, the theory of the three key roles formulated in this thesis is applied to teacher organizations in contemporary China. Based on the analysis, this thesis argues that teacher organizations in China should have a more independent status, should strengthen their role as protectors of interests and promoters of professionalism, and should pay more attention to becoming an actor for social justice.