Decent Work for Teachers : Problems, Policies and Possibilities

Internationally, teachers and schools are facing a ‘polycrisis'. This vital resource for researchers, students, policymakers, principals and unions takes an innovative approach to examining policies, problems and possibilities concerning teachers’ work, job conditions and employment relations.

Internationally, teachers and schools are facing a ‘polycrisis': an intersection of global teacher shortages, heightened workload and work intensity, threats to public education, enduring shifts wrought by COVID-19 and an ever-evolving technological landscape. This book charts a pathway towards ‘decent work’ for teachers. Schools are not only places of learning but also places of work. Teachers are the heart of students’ learning, and good conditions of work improve the learning conditions of students. The authors provide a profoundly interdisciplinary new analysis of teachers’ work in schools which is generally absent in education policy and effects. Drawing on empirical research, the book’s overarching frame of ‘decent work’ provides a way of thinking about the shifts that have occurred to and around teaching. The authors show erosion of, and paths towards, decent work for teachers. This vital resource for researchers, students, policymakers, principals and unions takes an innovative approach to examining policies, problems and possibilities concerning teachers’ work, job conditions and employment relations.