The Future Of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice

(Paperback)

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In The Future of Our Schools, lifelong teacher union activist Lois Weiner explains why teachers who care passionately about teaching and social justice need to unite. She argues that putting energy into efforts to self-govern and transform teacher unions is desperately needed. Drawing on research, her experience as a public school teacher and as a union activist, Weiner explains how to build the type of teachers unions that are desperately needed by the public education system.

Reviews

Lois Weiner has written the book we need right now. Drawing on scholarship and experience, Weiner outlines the potential power of teacher unions to reverse the corporate assault on public education and the necessity to transform the narrow business unionism that stands in the way. Everyone fighting to reclaim public education should read it.Pauline Lipman, professor, University of Illinois, Chicago This book empowers teachers to (re)claim their agency in the arduous fight for equity and social justice! H. Richard Milner IV, associate professor of education, Vanderbilt University This highly accessible book proposes shifting the focus to social movementoriented unions in order to develop a counter-voice to neoliberal reforms. Kudos to Lois Weiner for this excellent, very timely must-read! Angela Valenzuela, author, Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring and Leaving Children Behind Lois Weiners book should be a wake-up call for all of us who work in K12 schools. Her analysis of the current political climate is clear, sharp, and desperately needed. The Future of Our Schools provides a template for rank-and-file members to be proactive in their unions and a nudge to union leadership to open the process to defeat the corporate agenda. Karen Lewis, president, Chicago Teachers Union This is a call to action, but also a thoughtful analysis, for teachers involved with union activism and those who have kept their union at arms length. Sally Lee, executive director, Teachers Unite, New York City With the present intense resistance of teachers globally to neoliberal education reform, this book could not be more timely. The lessons from the US experience, so well analyzed in this work, are relevant to us all. Mary Compton, former president, National Union of Teachers, United Kingdom
Lois Weiner has written the book we need right now. Drawing on scholarship and experience, Weiner outlines the potential power of teacher unions to reverse the corporate assault on public education and the necessity to transform the narrow business unionism that stands in the way. Everyone fighting to reclaim public education should read it.Pauline Lipman, professor, University of Illinois, Chicago This book empowers teachers to (re)claim their agency in the arduous fight for equity and social justice! H. Richard Milner IV, associate professor of education, Vanderbilt University This highly accessible book proposes shifting the focus to social movementoriented unions in order to develop a counter-voice to neoliberal reforms. Kudos to Lois Weiner for this excellent, very timely must-read! Angela Valenzuela, author, Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring and Leaving Children Behind Lois Weiners book should be a wake-up call for all of us who work in K12 schools. Her analysis of the current political climate is clear, sharp, and desperately needed. The Future of Our Schools provides a template for rank-and-file members to be proactive in their unions and a nudge to union leadership to open the process to defeat the corporate agenda. Karen Lewis, president, Chicago Teachers Union This is a call to action, but also a thoughtful analysis, for teachers involved with union activism and those who have kept their union at arms length. Sally Lee, executive director, Teachers Unite, New York City With the present intense resistance of teachers globally to neoliberal education reform, this book could not be more timely. The lessons from the US experience, so well analyzed in this work, are relevant to us all. Mary Compton, former president, National Union of Teachers, United Kingdom

Author Bio

Lois Weiner has been life-long teacher union activist, who has served as an officer of three different union locals. She also served as President of the AERA Special Interest Group on teachers work and teachers unions. She is the author of Preparing Teachers for Urban School which was honored by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for its contribution to research on teacher education.