In the United States, teachers have been both respected and villainized in popular culture and politics. These varying and conflicting cultural ideas and representations of teachers impact policy design, shaping the distribution of benefits and burdens imposed on teachers. The media play an important role in both crafting and reinforcing cultural…

Teacher strikes have taken place in the United States since the end of the 19th century, became much more common in the 1960s, and have enjoyed a resurgence over the past five years (2018-2023). In this paper, we analyze teacher strikes with two main objectives. First, we examine how sexism and misogyny impact discourse around teacher strikes, as…

This paper engages with the Freirean concept of politicity for critical policy studies in education. The first part lays the ground to expand the conceptualisation of teachers' politicity. I argue this entails an examination of the limits and possibilities within a juncture. To develop the argument, the second part focuses on a teacher strike that…

In 2018, thousands of teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona walked off the job to protest low salaries and increase school funding. These strikes were significant because they were statewide and took place in "right to work" states. We analyze news media articles published in these states about the teachers' strikes for…

This qualitative oral study study's primary purpose is to elicit, preserve, and explore personal stories from individuals who participated in the April 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout. The study also builds understanding of narrators' experiences of the events surrounding the Walkout. In addition, as supported by oral history methodology, the…

In the last four years, teacher-activists in the United States have engaged in an unprecedented wave of protests and strikes. The developing body of literature seeking to understand this flurry of activity has taken various analytical approaches; for example, distilling movements into their key tactics in the hopes of lending important tools to…

In 2002, approximately two thirds of school teachers in the Canadian province of Alberta went on strike. Drawing on media, government and union documents, this case study reveals some contours of the political economy of labor relations in education that are normally hidden from view. Among these features are that the state can react to worker…

A statement on PTA and teacher negotiations, sanctions, and strikes adopted in September 1968 by the National Board of Managers. (JF)

Presents an analysis of the forces motivating the union and the board of education in the 1979 Washington, D.C. teachers' strike. (IRT)

A superintendent narrates the events preceding a strike in his district, and the steps he took to prepare for and weather the strike. (IRT)

In the public school governance structure that evolved between 1900 and 1920, schools were removed from the world of politics, authority was concentrated at the top of the hierarchy, and boards of education were reorganized, resulting in less participation by working-class people. Teachers had little power. Teacher political activities after this…

Boards are effectively countering teacher strikes and threats of teacher strikes. (IRT)

The right to strike should be granted to public school teachers. If proper mediation procedures are mandated, the strike weapon would be used only as a last resort to collective bargaining. Available from Southwestern University School of Law, 675 South Westmoreland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90005. (Author)

Using the Burkean concept of identity-identification, this paper isolates the genesis of conflict between teachers' unions and the public during and after strikes. Strategies to change resentment into advocacy of the union cause by nonunion community members are offered. (Author/IRT)

Examines how teacher power manifests itself at the national level and at the local level of both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. (IRT)