The study explored the involvement of teacher unions in the selection process of school principals in Johannesburg Central Region. It was conducted in pursuit of reality from stakeholders involved in the appointment processes in order to get their views and experiences on the issue of the involvement of teacher unions in the selection processes of principals. This was a qualitative study based on the phenomenological design. It was conducted in two schools. A total of eight participants were purposefully sampled: two principals, two SGB representatives and four teacher unions’ representatives. The data were collected using individual interviews. Four themes emerged from the data in this study. The findings revealed that there is subjectivity and unfairness in the selection processes of principals. The Department of Education ought to review the involvement of teacher unions in the appointment of principals to public schools. / Educational Management and Leadership

The study was to explore the degree of involvement of teacher union in the policy decision ¡Ðmaking process of the education authorities at the central and local level, to analyze the strategies the unions adopted during the participation, and to identify the viewpoints of these involvement from the related people, including policy decision-makers, legislators, and union leaders. Then, a theoretical model of teacher union¡¦s involvement in the decision-making process was testified against the cases in Taiwan. Finally, through the consultation with the experiences of UK and USA, an ideal operational model would be proposed for teacher unions around the island. To achieve the above aims, the researcher adopted documentary analyses and questionnaire survey as the major research methods. The questionnaire was developed by the researcher based upon the literature review and documentary analyses. Surveyed sample of the central level included standing members and executive staff of the National Teacher Union(NTU), congressmen belonging to the Education and Culture committee of the country¡¦s Congress, employees of the Ministry of Education. Surveyed sample of local level included standing board members and executive staff of eight local teacher unions, county councilors belonging to the county council¡¦s education section, local PTA members, and employees of local education authorities. The following 13 findings have been concluded: 1. Staff of the NTU cited the budgeting and management of education finance and the enactment of educational personnel regulations the most-often involved topic by the staff. 2. The perception of NTU¡¦s staff regarding the organization¡¦s involvement was ¡§high level of involvement, low degree of satisfaction,¡¨ which could lead to the more radical approach by NTU while dealing with the education authority in the future. 3. A more radical embarrassmen approach and a mild information approach were considered suitable measures by the NTU¡¦s staff while negotiating with the central education authority. 4. Much more policy makers than NTU¡¦s staff considered the NTU¡¦s role in the policy making process active. 5. All sample agreed that NTU use the information approach to influence the policy making most frequently. 6. Either central or local level, all sample regarded information approach and the alliance approach the two most appropriate measures. 7. All local sample considered the involvement of local teacher union was restricted to those sphere relating to the teacher¡¦s rights and privileges. 8. Local teacher union staff expressed ¡§low level of involvement, low degree of satisfaction¡¨ of their participation in the local policy decision-making process. 9. Compared with NTU, local teacher union showed limited use of different approaches of lobbying. 10. Alliance approach and information approach were considered by all sample the most used measures by the local teacher unions. 11. Local teacher union staff considered information approach the most appropriate measure in lobbying the policy makers, nevertheless, they showed willingness to utilize other approaches. 12. There were significant difference between the perceptions of PTA and local union staff concerning the teacher union¡¦s involvement in the policy making process. 13. County councilors¡¦ needs for educational information was extremely high, as a result, they showed support for the local teacher union¡¦s use of information approach in lobbying. Finally, 12 suggestions were provided to teacher unions at both central and local level as well as the education authorities by the researcher.

Charter schools have become a widely accepted and rapidly growing option for educational reform especially for low-income, inner-city students. In Los Angeles, the charter movement has promised teachers greater autonomy and collaboration than in the traditional public schools, yet the working conditions of teachers in charter schools have weakened the conditions for this movement to truly reform public education. By using a neoliberal theoretical framework and a qualitative case study design, this study captured the voices of charter school teachers and documented their beliefs and experiences in an environment shaped by a culture of choice. This study uncovered a) the culture and environment that led teachers to seek unionization, b) the relationships between teachers and management, and c) their model of unionism. The participants’ voices detailed a collaborative culture that lured teachers to escape the negative environment in the local district schools. Still, teachers faced an exhaustive workload and they chose to leave the charter school environment. Teachers valued their autonomy while not realizing that the true choice existed only for the management of the school that had the ultimate power over their working conditions. When teachers decided to unionize they faced antagonism from their school leaders, and a backlash for their involvement in the unionization. Teachers fell prey to the intimidation of the public’s perception on tenure and gave up this fundamental protection. They also moved away from the traditional model and were left without a clear understanding of what being a union meant.

本研究旨在探究我國教師組織未來發展之方向，校園內勞僱間權益事項的問題，是否必要透過”教師工會”的方式進行協商和討論，以謀求解決之道。目前的教評會和”教師會”在制度設計中，雖然也有若干工會的功能，但是在勞僱關係的法定權利當中最重要的團結、協商和爭議權等，皆不明確，因而在面對重大權利問題和決策的過程中，教師往往是政策的被動接受者，公務員的角色，也嚴重限制了教師可採取的行動策略與範圍。除非目前的教評會或”教師會”的權利取得突破，否則教育部實在沒有理由阻止教師籌組工會。”教師會”改變轉型為”教師工會”之過程與發展，及所遭遇之困境，為本研究之重點。 / This research will explore challenges and future development of the teacher’s organization in our country. Will there be any substantial changes in the relationship among stakeholders on campus in terms of rights and obligations? Will it a better solution to carry on consultation and dispute reconciliation by organizing teacher’s union? Although certain functions exist in the present system designs of the Teacher Arbitrating Committee and Teacher Association, crucial rights of unity, consultation, and dispute that teachers could enjoy are not all explicit. Teachers are often passive receivers of policies. Worse still, as para-public officials, they are severely limited in strategy and scope of viable options. Only when a Teacher Arbitrating Committee or Teacher Association makes a breakthrough, can we consider these rights adequately protected. The Ministry of Education has no reason to deny such unionizing. This research examines development of the Teacher Association (TA), and explores the need to transform TA into Teacher Union (TU), as well as obstacles encountered.

This study explored the perspectives of the representatives of teacher unions and school principals in the process of promotion of educators. The study aimed at highlighting how the representatives of teacher unions and principals understand their role in the promotion interview process, the challenges experienced and the factors they considered when recommending educators for promotion. This qualitative case study focused on one district in Mpumalanga Province. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with two representatives of a teacher union and three school principals. The representatives of the teacher union comprised a branch secretary and a site steward. This study found that the principals performed their role in promotion interviews as stipulated in the Employment of Educators’ Act of 1998; however, they were skeptical about the activities of the union representatives who are tasked with the prescribed role of observer. Representatives of the teacher union felt that their role extended beyond that of passive observer during the promotion interview. There was evidence of lack of trust and a power struggle between the principals and the representatives of the teacher union which affected their relationship during and after the interview process. While the principals appeared capable of managing the interviews, the activities of the union representatives shaped the process and the outcome of the selection process. This study also found that although all participants mentioned academic qualifications, subject specialization, good communication skills, sound human relations and managerial skills as factors to consider when recommending teachers for promotion, possible nepotism threatened fair procedures during the promotion interview process. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

MEDEM / Department of Curriculum Studies and Education Management

No description available.

This dissertation consists of two essays concerning the determination of wages across areas. The first essay investigates the equilibrium relationship between wages and prices across labor markets. Of central interest is the extent to which workers receive higher wages to compensate for differences in the cost of living. According to the spatial equilibrium hypothesis, the utility of homogenous workers should be equal across labor markets. This implies that controlling for amenity differences across areas, the elasticity between wages and the general price level across areas should equal one, at least under certain conditions. We test this hypothesis and find that the predicted relationship holds when housing prices are measured by rents and the general price level is instrumented to account for measurement error. When housing prices are measured by housing values, however, the wage-price elasticity is significantly less than one, even using instrumental variables. Rents reflect the price paid for housing per unit of time and are arguably the superior measure. Thus, findings in this essay provide support for the full compensation hypothesis. These findings also have important implications for researchers estimating the implicit prices of amenities or ranking the quality of life across areas. The second essay uses a national level dataset and a spatial econometric framework to examine the effects of teacher unions and other school district characteristics on teacher salaries. The results confirm that salaries for both experienced and beginning teachers are positively affected by salaries in nearby districts. Investigations of the determinants of teacher salaries that ignore this spatial relationship are likely to be misspecified. We find that union activity increases salaries for experienced teachers by as much as 16-21 percent but increases salaries for beginning teachers by a considerably smaller amount. This result is consistent with predictions from a median voter model.

This biographical study explores the life and career of a woman, Doris McRae, who, although virtually unknown today, played a significant role in a number of areas of public life. She taught in government schools for over thirty years ending her career as headmistress of Flemington Girls’ School. She was an active unionist and at one time was vice president of the Victorian Teachers’ Union. She was a social and peace activist. She was a passionate advocate of equal pay and cared deeply about the welfare of the children she worked with, her fellow teachers and society in general. She travelled in England and Russia and in 1937 represented Australian women teacher unionists at the Pan Pacific Women’s Conference in Vancouver. She joined the Communist Party in 1938, teaching for them at Marx House in Melbourne and writing articles in their publication the Guardian. At the peak of her career, her activities were monitored by conservative politicians and the Catholic Church. She first came under the notice of the Commonwealth Investigation Service (later ASIO) in 1939 and was the subject of heated debate in the Victorian Parliament in 1946. Forced out of teaching as a result of a Royal Commission into Communism in 1950, Doris McRae then put all her energies into the activities of the Union of Australian Women, her active involvement lasting until the 1980s. In 1952 she travelled as an Australian delegate to the Defence of Children Conference in Vienna. Her last trip overseas was in 1960 when she spent most of the year in Europe. When Doris McRae died in 1988 aged 95, a memorial service was held for her at Coburg High School. Joan Kirner, then Minister of Education, gave the eulogy.

This thesis explores the impact of the centralization of bargaining in Ontario’s education sector on the internal democracy of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the province’s second-largest teacher union and self-described defender of public education. Using multiple theoretical lenses of union democracy, public sector unionism, labour geography and teacher professionalism, this thesis examines OSSTF’s history and the evolution of its internal processes and structures, with a focus on the union’s response to the gradual shift to a centralized bargaining regime. Initially formed in 1919 as a conservative organization committed to raising the professional status of teachers, OSSTF expanded into a union that represents both teachers and support staff, bargaining contracts for members with local employers. Positioned within a public sector context of austerity and neoliberal governments looking to contain the costs of public education, OSSTF found itself subjected to legislation intended to upscale education funding and bargaining, beginning in the late 1990s. This thesis finds that the external context of centralization of bargaining has been the most important factor in shaping the internal democratic life of OSSTF, shifting scales of power from the local to the provincial level of the union, exacerbating tensions between provincial and local actors, increasing the overall bureaucracy of the organization, and reducing democratic participation by the rank-and-file. These findings lead to the greater question of whether these internal changes have enhanced or limited the ability of OSSTF to effectively further their members’ interests and resist the neoliberalization of the school system, with a view to considering the role of teacher unions within the future of public education in Ontario. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This case study explores the impact of the centralization of bargaining in Ontario’s education sector on the internal processes of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), a union representing 60,000 teachers and education workers in Ontario. It includes an examination of the union’s history, its responses to legislative changes in contract negotiations, an analysis of internal union documents, and semi-structured interviews with key informants. The data and analysis reveal a more bureaucratized union, with members having less ability to direct it actions. This study considers whether a more bureaucratized union can be effective in its defense of public education.