The Reformer Knows Best: destroying the teacher's vocation
FORUM - ISSN 0963-8253
Volume 48 Number 3 (2006)
The Reformer Knows Best: destroying the teacher's vocation
IVOR GOODSON pages 257-264
DOI: 10.2304/forum.2006.48.3.257
Abstract
Drawing on data from a major Spencer Foundation study, this article focuses on the effects of major restructuring initiatives in New York State on a gifted and utterly committed teacher. It challenges the now ubiquitous assumption that 'the reformer knows best' and reveals the gradual demise of an immensely gifted, dedicated teacher - a man whose mission to educate is compulsive, continuous and coherent - at the hands of 'reforms' which turn out to destroy the lives of students, teachers, and whole communities. Reforms which deny, ignore or otherwise disvalue the sense of mission of excellent teachers such as the person whose story is told in this article turn out to be counter-productive and exemplify the global warming of vocational purpose.
To cite this article
IVOR GOODSON (2006) The Reformer Knows Best: destroying the teacher's vocation, FORUM, 48(3), 257-264. https://doi.org/10.2304/forum.2006.48.3.257