Exploring Narratives of Women Teacher Trade Union Activists

Large numbers of teachers have left the profession because teaching has become so time-consuming due to excessive workload. With so many women teachers leaving the profession, the author examines why some women teachers were not only staying in the profession but also giving up their time and energy to engage in trade union activism as a form of resistance against the raft of policy changes which they believe to be the root cause for the exodus. Exploring Narratives of Women Teacher Trade Union Activists attempts to discover why they are so motivated.



Narrative analysis is employed as the methodology in conjunction with a life history interview approach. This volume cites the work of Zembylas and Foucault, focusing on emotion and affect in education, political and social justice, teacher identity, teachers' self-formation, the emotional labour of teaching, resistance and power, which is rooted in the social theory of post-structuralism. The author explores the strained relationship between teachers and government and how teacher professionalism is being perceived as an act of resistance in itself.