Since the 1988 Education Reform Act, the teacher's role in England has changed in many ways, a process which intensified under New Labour after 1997. Conceptions of teacher professionalism have become more structured and formalized, often heavily influenced by government policy objectives. Career paths have become more diverse and specialised. In…

This paper considers recurrent alarms in England, Wales and other developed countries concerning shortages of teachers. It summarises the conclusions from a mixed-methods international study of teacher supply, quality and retention. The research used large-scale secondary data sets from a variety of sources, at both the individual and aggregate…

This article discusses whether the occupational culture of teachers has changed as a consequence of increased managerialism, using as an exemplar some of the routine planning, assessment and reporting procedures in common use in schools in England. The article examines this claim in the light of developments after the 1988 Education Reform Act,…