How education reforms can support teachers around the world instead of undermining them

  World Teachers’ Day, held on October 5 each year since 1994, is an annual event to reflect on the progress teachers have made.

  But in many countries, including the United States, the professional status of teachers has declined in the last decade.

  For example, studies in Britain, Japan, and Hong Kong show an erosion of teacher autonomy and public confidence in teachers, which leads to teachers feeling disempowered and demoralized. Job satisfaction has also deteriorated among teachers in the U.S., where teacher education itself has become a target of policymakers who think it requires higher standards and greater state control.

The need for education reform didn’t die with the defeat of Amendment One

  When voters defeat a proposed state amendment, it is often thought that the matter is put to rest. That is often the case, but when Alabama’s voters went to the polls in March and shot down a proposal to replace the elected state board of education in favor of one appointed by the governor, they only answered the question of the board’s composition.

  They did not answer the deeper problem of the board’s accomplishment.

Cameron Smith: Alabama's unlikely allies in education reform

  The winds of change are blowing through America’s education system for the first time in a generation, and Alabama would be wise to catch the breeze coming from some unexpected directions.

  For the last several decades, teachers unions have been staunch allies of the Democrats, serving as both a source of funding and as boots on the ground during elections. According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, in 2010 teachers unions nationwide gave more than $33 million to Democrats and slightly less than $3 million to Republicans.