Locke, T.
Description:
In 1991, English language teachers in New Zealand were presented with a radical reconceptualisation of curriculum as a fait accompli and by 1994 found themselves working with a national curriculum document that constructed their subject in ways that many were uneasy with but were powerless to change. Rather, it was they who found themselves changing, both in the way they taught and the ways they were being encouraged to think about their subject. At the same time, their unions succumbed to government pressure to have state-ordained professional standards built into their collective employment contracts as pay-related performance measures. Despite these highly centralised and pervasive reform pressures, however, many teachers continue to resist what might be termed professional erosion.