Teaching

Harry Judge It is doubly fortunate that a foreword is not an introduction. Since it is mercifully brief, it should not be expected to mention respectfully each of the distinguished contributions which constitute “the word” before which it modestly stands as herald. For the same reason it cannot be expected to constrain within one overarching framework contributions which are essentially varied in subject matter and method. The brief of a foreword-writer might indeed be compared to that of a musician commissioned to write an overture to an opera which he had not written. To write such a piece for a volume devoted to Eric Hoyle is nevertheless a privilege as well as a pleasure. Partly, of course, because this volume celebrates a long and dist- guished career devoted to the application of intelligence and (less assertively) theory to the improvement of practice. And partly because this abbreviated overture is privileged by being placed before a set of virtuoso performances throughout which consistent and coherent themes do insistently resonate. Those themes are the very same that distinguish Eric Hoyle’s own work.

The world-wide reform movement has now been in process for thirty years and it is therefore perhaps an appropriate point to consider its implications for the work of teachers thus far and to ponder on the future. It would be widely agreed that the reform movement in general, and in relation to teachers’ work in particular, has brought advantages and disadvantages. It has stimulated teacher development and increased the accountability of teachers to clients – including the state as client. On the other hand, it has led to the intensification of teachers’ work and to the deprofessionalisation as well as professionalisation of teachers. Moreover, it has increased the power of managerialism over the influence of professionalism.

This book addresses these issues from different perspectives and in relation to different contexts. It also considers possible solutions to two problems in particular: how to achieve accountability without intensification, and how to ensure that school management and leadership functions to support and enhance teachers as professionals.