Pages: 14

Compared with the vast number of historical works on education and educational systems, or with the large body of social history relating to the professions, there have been relatively few historical studies of the teaching profession. In planning the collection and inviting contributions, two particular concepts were identified as central to the finely grained socio-historical analyses of typified national cases, each supporting an interrogation of how the teaching profession's embedded position in the formation of modern states has contributed both to the profession's historical fragmentation and to the determination of its status. The first was the more familiar concept of status; the second that of segmentation. In the United States, and even more so in Brazil, major distinctions between the social status of different segments of the teaching profession endured as a result both of the federal structure of the state and of the uneven levels of economic development and bureaucratic integration.

Pages: 23

This chapter traces the historical construction of the segmentation of the teaching profession in England, particularly examining how teacher training reflected and influenced that process. The account considers three historical phases. The first, from 1870 to 1944, saw increasing state control over public education but also the preservation of existing forms of distinction. The second, from 1944 to the mid-1980s, encapsulates a period of post-war social-democratic political consensus that brought an important, but fragile, new status and cohesion to the state sector. Within the third, from the mid-1980s to the present, a performative view of the education system within a neoliberal framework revealed the profession's vulnerability to long-standing and new forms of segmentation. We argue that, although some deep-rooted forms of segmentation within the state sector appeared to have been largely overcome by the late-1970s, the newly secured status of the profession and limited internal cohesion left it ill-equipped to resist the fragmentation stimulated by neoliberal policies.

Pages: 24

Education in the United States has historically been organised in thousands of school districts, and the professional status of teachers, reflected in levels of formal education and experience, has varied from one such context to another. Much of this was dictated by economic development and market forces, as teachers with better professional credentials were found in more affluent settings. Rural teachers exhibited lower status credentials than their metropolitan peers, and suburban districts eventually employed more highly educated teachers. Historical discrimination against women and minority group members also dictated lines of segmentation within the profession. Male teachers had greater attainment than women, partly reflecting the higher status of secondary teaching. African American and Latinx educators trailed White teachers in professional standing, reflecting long-standing status distinctions. These different dimensions of segmentation have contributed to a divided profession in a decentralised system of education, likely aggravated by policies in recent decades altering teacher credentialing requirements.

Pages: 18

This chapter focuses on the construction and development of the teaching profession in French-speaking Belgium. Using a socio-historical approach, it first shows how educational provision – from the very origin of the Belgian state, in the context of a consociational democracy – differentiated between public education and Catholic education, resulting in differences in the employment conditions of teachers, their initial training and their remuneration that persisted until the mid-twentieth century. Consolidation of an integrated educational system – covering primary and secondary education, general and vocational training – resulted in the emergence of a body of teachers more integrated as professional group but did not eliminate traces of the original forms of segmentation. Since 1989, the three language communities have supported education in Belgium, resulting in three parallel educational systems. In this context, important developments have taken place in French-speaking Belgium, which have confirmed the desegmentation trends previously observed, with the reinforcement of state regulation of both the educational system and the labour market for teachers, while new forms of segmentation have also emerged, in part linked to this tighter regulation of teachers’ work and of the teaching profession.

Pages: 21

The emergence, in the mid-twentieth century, of an integrated French educational system that embraces all levels and tracks within a ‘unique’ organised structure of compulsory school education for children between 6 and 16 years of age came with a renewal of the distinctions between the professional identities, trajectories and careers of the various categories of teachers. While this system has helped to redefine, and to some extent blur, the divisions between teaching groups, their professional identities and administrative statuses have remained quite distinct, mainly because of persisting forms of institutional differentiation. In addition, some new lines of division can be observed. Our argument draws on a review of the socio-historical research conducted in relation to three teaching groups (primary school teachers, agrégés and technical and vocational education teachers) and on a particular case study of the contract teachers (contractuels) whose rise marks a new form of segmentation among teachers in France.

Pages: 21

This chapter presents a socio-historical perspective on the origin and development of the field of schooling and the teaching professions in Sweden. The historical overview shows how the struggles between established and competing knowledge, ideals and interests challenged the existing field structures and resulted in the establishment of new school forms and teacher categories. The history of the school field is presented in five phases. The first three phases cover the emergence, formation and consolidation of a socially segregated school system. The fourth phase begins with the welfare state's efforts to counteract the segmentation characterising the traditional school and teacher categories, by establishing a secularised and integrated school system with a unified teaching profession. Also, referring to Freidson's ideal type of professionalism, the development of profession-specific scientific knowledge was an important part of the reform agenda. Today, the Swedish school field is characterised by communalisation and deregulation, and the new logics of segmentation have had far-reaching consequences for teaching as profession.

Pages: 24

Segmentations of the teaching profession in South Korea exist in relation to several dimensions, including level of teaching, place of teaching, gender, and employment types. These striations primarily originate from the historical development of formal education in Korea. However, a new segmentation between short-term contract teachers and tenured teachers has emerged since the application, in 1997, of the neoliberal idea of a flexible labour market to the teacher hiring system. A series of measures have, to some extent, overcome distinctions between primary and secondary teachers and public and private teachers, but gender inequity in promotions and the comparative weaknesses of short-term, contract-teaching positions remain to be resolved. Moreover, hiring practices in private schools should be examined further for a full understanding of the current segmentation of the teaching profession in Korea.

Pages: 21

This chapter analyses the teaching profession in Brazil through the identification of historical segmentations that have interfered with the constitution of teachers as a professional group. The chapter is organised in three sections. The first seeks to explain the historical forms of segmentation that characterised the original constitution of the teaching profession within the country. The second demonstrates how some of these inherited segmentations were deepened while other, new, forms of segmentation were created as a result of the educational reforms that began in the country in the 1990s. These reforms were guided by the principles of New Public Management and prompted important changes in the organisation and management of education, as well as in policies related to teachers’ professional and career development. A short concluding section identifies a tendency in current policies related to the teaching profession of promoting greater individualisation and competition among teachers and of strengthening a meritocratic culture that might result in further professional segmentations.

Pages: 2

In each case, the development of the teaching profession was analysed as part of the formation of modern states and the accelerating globalisation of education, educational policies and professions. In countries such as France and Belgium, the status of the teaching profession appears to differ depending on the specific segment being considered, which signals different societal expectations of the teaching profession and of the educational system. These tend to be strongly focused on the preservation of status and on the meritocratic reproduction of elites. As John Furlong rightly notes in his foreword, one size simply cannot fit all. Different paths have been taken to the professionalisation of the teaching profession in different countries: a professional path in Sweden and in South Korea; a bureaucratic path in France and in Belgium; and a market path in the other cases.