It's no secret that organized labor and public education face a time of great uncertainty. Our country's current president and secretary of education, according to this author, have made clear their intent to support corporate greed at the expense of working people and their unions and to champion privatization schemes that undermine public…

Philadelphia's teacher-led activist group, the Caucus of Working Educators, has displayed shifts in how it frames the central problems facing public education since its emergence in 2014. Initially, the organization tended to advance the notion that neoliberalist discourses and values were primarily responsible for "education reform"…

Historically, teachers unions have played a special role in strengthening democratic cultures, and they are urgently called on to do so again. What is needed now more than ever says Kahlenberg, is a "social justice unionism" that goes beyond the narrow self-interest of members in bargaining for better wages and benefits to also engage in…

Albert Shanker (1928-1997) is known mainly for his successful struggle to obtain collective bargaining for teachers, his leadership of teacher unions, and his championship of education reform. Shanker built large and powerful city, state, and national unions of teachers and other public employees that still stand as models both for union democracy…

Kathleen Riley begins this article by providing quotes from James H. Lytle, and Anissa Weinraub, which were published in "Perspectives on Urban Education" in the summer of 2013. While they hold different professional positions (Lytle is a retired administrator and professor; Weinraub is a teacher and organizer), both wrote as…

The author reports on how cash-strapped school districts turn to outside groups for help in paying for staff and academic essentials, prompting frustration from some. In states and school districts still struggling to recover from recession-induced funding cuts, parent and community groups are feeling the pressure to raise money for instructional…

The organization that claims to represent the voice and interests of K-12 students and their parents is the Parent Teacher Association, widely known as the PTA. The organization aims to provide "parents and families with a powerful voice to speak on behalf of every child while providing the best tools for parents to help their children be…

In October 2012, Premier Christy Clark announced government would consult with the education partners for the purpose of reviewing teacher bargaining structures and processes with the goal of providing a more stable learning environment for British Columbia students. The review looked for opportunities to achieve two priorities: (1) Create…

This paper is a letter of understanding between British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) and British Columbia Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA) in response to Employment Equity for Aboriginal Teachers. The parties recognize that Aboriginal teachers are under-represented in the public education system. The parties are committed to…

This brief presents the views of the members of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation on the provincial government's budget to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. It is a crucial time for public education in British Columbia and they take very seriously the chance to provide information and their perspective on…

Historically teachers' federations have been some of the major organizational sites for social justice leadership in K-12 public education. Despite this history of activism, social justice teacher unionism remains a relatively underdeveloped concept. This article merges four philosophical conceptions of social justice in education: liberal…

Teachers in the English and Welsh State education system have experienced a changing and turbulent relationship with the State in recent decades. This article adopts a historical analysis and argues that the concept of "partnership" is key to understanding the relationship between teachers and the State in the period since the Second…

This article presents the text of Joanne Yatvin's presidential address, delivered at the NCTE Annual Convention in New York City in November 2007. The title of her presidential address, "Where Ignorant Armies Clash by Night," was taken from Matthew Arnold's (1867) poem "Dover Beach." Yatvin states that the federal government…

Union-management relationships have been filled with fear since the rise of capitalism; public education is no different. Workers fear exploitation by owners (profits depend on it) and capitalist/management has always worried that the working classes will organize and either take over the firm or strike and bring production to a screeching halt.…

When H. Councill Trenholm wrote that "we have a long way to go", he fully understood the barriers that African-Americans faced in securing educational equity in the twentieth century, particularly in the segregated South. He also was keenly aware of the importance of education to community development, human development, and…