A School with a View

If public schools are going to survive the current assaults from individuals and groups who have chosen to focus on the needs of private interests while simultaneously disregarding the larger needs of a rapidly changing diverse culture, we need dynamic public schools more than ever before. A School with a View: Teachers' Work, Social Justice and 21st Century Schools is an examination of teachers’ work, its history, and its current status. However, more importantly, it is a critical analysis that lays the groundwork for moving forward and asserting a vision of the role that teachers must play in the transformation of 21st century schools that promote social justice as their first priority. Steven Covey argued that, “We must begin with the end in mind,” and at this point a vision for the teaching profession and the public schools is desperately needed. We are floundering in rough seas and there is an all-too-frequent reliance on “tried and true” responses to problems that are grounded in histories that lack relevance to the current situation, and ultimately, only seem to slow the steady accumulation of data documenting the failures of public schools and the blame heaped upon teachers who lack the power and authority to make meaningful changes to the structure and hierarchy of public spaces of learning. Important to any attempt to define and discuss teachers’ work is a meaningful and sustainable discussion of the intersection between the present realities of teachers’ work and school reform. A School with a View presents a critical analysis of teachers’ roles and teachers’ work that can be used to shape a vision of what must happen if public schools are going to survive, adapt and respond to the demands of a 21st century democratic society.

Eleanor J. Blair (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville) is an Associate Professor at Western Carolina University (WCU). She is the editor of five education texts. Her work utilizes qualitative methodologies and critical pedagogical frameworks to explore teaching, learning and leading in cross-cultural contexts as well as the intersection between popular culture and schools.