On Teacher Autonomy:
“Teachers across the world struggle especially with some of these demands that are presented more ‘at’ them than as a joint project of “OK. Let’s work together. How do we improve our education systems? How do we make them more democratic?” There is one piece around what is taught, what is our curriculum saying, what is included in our curricula today. And then there is another piece around how schools are run, what kinds of teaching and learning methods, what kind of school governance. What might surprise people is that often the teachers have similar reflections as the students when somehow feeling let down by the limited space for activism, influence and agency. Looking at education today you have an incredible push for value for money, for standardised outcomes that are easily measurable, that neatly fit into the League Table, preferably one that presents your country in a good place in relation to your neighbouring countries, and all of this means that individual teachers often struggle to have the professional autonomy that they would need to be really able to do the quality education that they would like to do.”
