Decent Work for Teachers

Problems, Policies and Possibilities
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-22781-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 168 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Local/Global Issues in Education

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.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

McGrath-Champ, Susan

Wilson, Rachel

Fitzgerald, Scott

Stacey, Meghan

Gavin, Mihajla

Parding, Karolina

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Bildungssystem Bildungspolitik, Bildungsreform
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Lehrerausbildung, Unterricht & Didaktik Methoden des Lehrens und Lernens
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1 Introduction: Decent work for teachers

Chapter 2 Policy landscape: Devolution, autonomy and accountability

Chapter 3 What is teachers’ work?

Chapter 4 Teachers under strain: Workload, work intensification and the ‘extensification’ of labour

Chapter 5 The problems of precarity: Job insecurity, policy and possibilities for decent teaching work

Chapter 6 Resisting policy: Teachers’ voices and their unions

Chapter 7 Teaching as decent work: Possibilities for the future

Über Autor(innen)

Susan McGrath-Champ is Professor (Honorary) of Work and Employment Relations in the University of Sydney Business School, Australia. Her research interests lie in employment relations and human geography. She established the Teachers’ Work Research Team and has co-led an international research program that conducted landmark studies of school teachers’ work.

Rachel Wilson is Professor of Social Impact in the Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Rachel’s research takes a system perspective on design and management of education systems and their workforces. Her expertise in research methods and programme evaluation has been deployed in researching and designing many school education reforms.

Scott Fitzgerald is Associate Professor in the School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Australia. Scott’s research expertise spans sociology, political economy, media and communication studies. His research interests include industrial relations, human resource management and organisation studies focusing on changing governance, professionalism and work in the education sector.

Meghan Stacey is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow 2025-2027 in the School of Education, UNSW Sydney, Australia. Meghan’s research interests are in the critical policy sociology of teachers’ work. Her most recent book is Analysing Education Policy: Theory and Method (Routledge, edited with Nicole Mockler).

Mihajla Gavin, is Senior Lecturer in the Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. With expertise in employment relations, Mihajla’s research analyses teachers’ changing work and employment and teacher union strategies. She has previously worked as a senior officer in the Australian public service across workplace relations advisory, policy and project roles.

Karolina Parding is Professor in the Human Work Sciences Division, Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. Karolina’s research focus lies at the intersection of sociology of professions and sociology of organisations. Karolina led an international collaboration grant which examined conditions surrounding teachers’ professional work.