TEACHERS' UNIONS, THE CAPITALIST STATE AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM

Resumo

This essay reports analytically some of the conclusions of a larger research project. It discusses the connections between teachers unions, their presence in civil societies, and their confrontation with State policies particularly under neoliberal regimes. It explores how teacher unions accumulate - through conflict and collaboration - political and social capital in the process of educational reform. Data from this paper resulted from five years of empirical research comparing case studies in the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Argentina.