There is currently very little research being conducted on the relationship of organisations representing teachers to the development of education policy. One exception to this under-analysed field is Professor Nina Bascia, the Chair of the Department Theory and Policy Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Ontario (OISE).

At the Supper Seminar she addressed on February 8^th, Nina explored this relationship and demonstrated why it is a major mistake to both ignore and dismiss teacher organisations and to fail to understand why they exist and their potential.

Teacher organisations and their views are intimately bound up with the teaching profession’s collective sense of self-efficacy and its ability to show proactive leadership on issues such as the development of pedagogy, curriculum reform, and establishing teacher entitlement to professional development. Above all her presentation and the discussion showed that teacher leadership and teacher organisations are a rich and fertile discussion for future academic study.

It is no accident that a key LfL research project on developing policy around teacher leadership should have been commissioned by Education International-the global body co-ordinating the world’s teacher organisations. Watch this space!

Slides from the talk will soon be available to download.