Compton, Mary & Weiner, Lois (Eds). (2008). The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers and their Unions: Stories for Resistance. Reviewed by Vanessa E. Kass, University of Connecticut

Compton, Mary & Weiner, Lois (Eds). (2008). The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers and their Unions: Stories for Resistance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Pp. 268         ISBN 0 230 60631 8 Reviewed by Vanessa E. Kass University of Connecticut October 2, 2008 In an era of educational accountability and choice programs, the public schooling system is constantly under political attack and teachers are consistently charged with doing more with less. New finance and governance structures are touted as the solution to the ills of schooling without taking advantage of the resources the educational system has in its school-level teachers and personnel. Compton and Weiner have edited a book of vignettes that highlight the plight of teachers and the challenges that accompany handing education over to businesses and educational companies and linking education to economics. An example of this being changes in curriculum to include specific skill sets needed in a country’s job market. . This shift in decisive power in education to private organizations or economic needs is similar to colonialism and post-colonialism theory in that there is a transformation of power and relationship between current peoples (unions, teachers) and new peoples (private organizations, government) (Smith, 2005). This shift in power can be attributed to both the presence of neoliberalism in education and movement towards the globalization of education where schools are linked to the needs of the economy and the work force and, as a result of business and university partnerships, are competing for resources and students not just within their own country but also world-wide (Burbules & Torres, 2000; Hernandez, 2006). By presenting educational services as items that can be purchased and sold, the status and role of education and those who provide it change. They are now competing for students and financial support and must present their “goods” in ways that draw these resources to their institutions. The presence of neoliberalism in a country’s political system may foster colonialism and globalization and the shift in power that is the result of education moving toward a market-based and economically-influenced system. The edited book is organized into six parts. The first, “Neoliberalism, Teachers, and Teaching: Understanding the Assault,” presents the history of neoliberalism, how education has come to be linked with economics and the effect this relationship has had on the educational systems of various countries. Susan Robertson (Chapter 2, “Remaking the World”) cautions, however, that neoliberalism has been implemented and philosophized differently in various countries and as such has varied looks and effects. Overall, the editors state that the book intends to focus on the role of teacher unions and their potential to influence and shift an educational system to one that effectively and efficiently serves its student population. Part two, “Neoliberalism’s Global Footprint,” illustrates the influence of neoliberalism on the educational systems of five specific countries. Each vignette highlights the staffing and funding challenges schools face as the teaching profession is publicly criticized and educational programs are created to serve the needs of the work force and not necessarily the needs of the students. The authors emphasize the role of foreign companies in influencing curriculum and neoliberalism’s role in increasing or, at the least, perpetuating social stratification. Part three, “The Need for Unions to Defend Public Education,” illuminates the challenges facing teachers unions both internally among their members and externally in the public and political arenas. Attention is paid to the role conflict experienced as teachers reconcile belonging to a labor union as a labor worker and/or a professional. This section provides instances in the United Kingdom and Australia where teacher unions were able to organize successfully against privatization and government pressures and argues that the critical need for the unions is to show that the interests and needs of the union members drive the unions’ actions. This is in stark contrast to the teacher unions in China where the union is represented by one individual and whose salary is paid by the Board of Education. Part four, “Teaching, A Profession Under Attack,” focuses on the ability of teachers and teacher unions to be “agents of change, rather than objects of reform” (Zeichner, p. 132) and the importance of the appropriate priorities driving reform. The three authors in this section stress the importance of allowing and enabling effective change to happen at the school-level and to attend to the importance of consistency, realistic goals and student-centered change. Part five, “Neoliberalism, Inequality, and Teachers Unions”, examines the role of teacher unions in the fight for educational equity and the need for collective action. The authors in this section argue that unions must effectively employ the political stage and the mobilization of their members in a successful fight against privatization and neoliberalism. As political and educational systems differ throughout the world so does the impact and implementation of neoliberalism. Accordingly, union actions must always be considered within the context of the individual country. Part six, “Going on the Offensive”, the role of union members as a collective is stressed to not only combat the subjugation of teachers but the decreased funding and political support of public education. It is the collective voice of not only teachers but parents and other affected unions that, when amplified, can legitimately threaten neoliberalism. Compton and Weiner edit a text that illuminates the challenges unions around the world face as they combat the role of neoliberalism in public education. Each chapter allows the reader a small glimpse into union efforts and struggles world-wide and provides insight to union work and public educational systems that are experiencing success in other countries. While the multiple vignettes highlight the pervasiveness of neoliberalism in education throughout the world, the chapters lack the political and economic context necessary to fully explain the impact of neoliberalism on the educational system, teachers, and teacher unions. The text offers quick overviews more than thorough and in-depth illustrations of the challenges educational systems face as a result of neoliberalism and the ways in which these challenges can be ameliorated or eradicated. This edited text is a very useful starting point for an individual interested in overseas educational systems and the ways in which various countries are responding to neoliberalism and serves more as an introduction than a comprehensive overview. The book certainly will pique a reader’s interest in the challenges and obstacles educational systems are facing worldwide and create both a desire to learn more and a list of authors and schools to investigate further. References Burbules, N. C., & Torres, C. A. (2000). Globalization and Education: Critical Perspectives. London: Routledge. Hernandez, B. A. (2006). Educational Reform and the Construction of Identities in the Era of Globalization. In Roy Elveton (Ed.) Educating for Participatory Democracy: Paradoxes in Globalizing Logic. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Smith, L. T. (2005). On Tricky Ground: Researching the native in the age of uncertainty. In N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.) (pp. 85-108). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. About the Reviewer Vanessa E. Kass is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Connecticut. As a former elementary school teacher, she brings an informed perspective to issues of educational policy. She is currently working on a study which examines the organizational behavior of charter schools as compared to traditional public schools. Her research interests include educational equity, choice policy, and organizational behavior.