"The issue of how teachers' work and how their professional development is construed is a major educational issue. As economies around the world undertake major restructuring that incorporates schools and teachers, significant changes are occurring as attempts are made to harness schools and teaching to the economy. The consequence is that schooling is increasingly spoken about in terms that are decidedly instrumental and technicist in nature. The various contributors to this volume present both a critique and a counter-discourse that is much more on teachers' terms." "Teacher development, they claim, ought to be an enlivening process for teachers, aimed at turning schools into critical, inquiring, learning communities. A continuation in the current direction is likely to produce enslavement, docility and domestication as schools become indistinguishable from other elements of the economy." "The central thesis of this book is that reclaiming teaching depends upon reclaiming the language within which dialogue about schooling can occur. The contributors provide both a rationale and some pointers on how this process might proceed; in this respect, this is an important book at a critical period in the history of schools."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved