Teacher power: The exercise of professional autonomy in an era of strict accountability

Matthew Hill

CA

Webb, P. T. (2002).  Teacher power: The exercise of professional

autonomy in an era of strict accountability.  Teacher Development, 6(1), pp. 47-62. doi:10.1080/13664530200200156

Summary:

In this article Webb discusses the issue of professional autonomy among elementary school teachers at a school in Washington state.  He takes certain teachers who teach at the school as case studies of teachers who alter established, state-mandated curricula to better fit the students needs.  Webb uses this case and argues that K-12 teachers should be given more autonomy, discretion, and decision-making power rather than less, and that the tendency to micromanage K-12 teachers is degrading not only to the individual teachers but to the profession of teaching as a whole since it assumes the incompetence of teachers to direct their own classes without direct supervision and scripting of classes.

Evaluation:

I loved this article because it gives power to the teachers to determine the best way to teach students based on personalized evaluation and long experience.  One of the most important ideas that Webb explores here is that in order to develop greater professional competence and autonomy teachers should be given the opportunity for professional development, through participation in councils, national conferences, individual courses, etc, and that time, resources, and money should be dedicated to increasing the educational and professional competence of teachers so that they can exercise their profession without the condescending oversight of "expert" administrators and curriculum developers.  This argument for greater autonomy and decision-making power for K-12 teachers is not a cover-up for bad teaching or incompetence.  Rather, it is a stimulus for greater competence and a show of trust that teachers are able to make the correct decisions for their students.  More power to teachers, not less, is the key for high-quality education, and local, state, and national governments should be dedicating much more resources--both material and monetary--to accomplish this goal.