A PREDICTIVE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT IN TEACHER MILITANCY
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1970.tb00585.x |
| Author | C. K. Elliott,C. J. Margerison |
| Date | 01 November 1970 |
| Published date | 01 November 1970 |
A PREDICTIVE STUDY
OF
THE DEVELOPMENT
IN
TEACHER MILITANCY
C.
J.
MARGERISON*
AND
C.
K.
ELLIOTT?
PROFESSIONAL
MILITANCY
THE
concept of the militant professional is relatively new to British
industrial relations. Professional people have long recognized the need for
associations to protect their interests, but rarely have they adopted the
tactics of public protests and ceasing work
as
methods of enforcing their
demands. Professionals have tried to develop the image of solid, sober and
responsible citizens who can be trusted.
As
the very bastion of the middle
class they have sought to maintain stability in the existing social system.
During the
1960s,
however,
a
number of professional groups became
increasingly militant in their demands for improved rewards and con-
ditions. First the doctors, then the nurses and the teachers became im-
patient and dissatisfied with the conventional methods of verbal
bargaining. Like the factory operatives over the decades, some
of
the
professionals took to stating their claim with their feet and their banners.
This is an interesting development, for in this action the militants have
sought public support
for
their claims against public organizations who,
in
their turn, argue they are defending public interests. The essence of the
professional man was that he put his clients’ interests above his own per-
sonal gain, and the argument against militancy has long been that any
work
to
rule
or
other restrictive practice would harm the client and in-
fringe the ethical code of the profession. This was supported by the fear
that the public would lose the faith and trust in the professional man,
which he feels is essential for him to perform his task.
In part at least, these ideas regarding professional conduct do not
seem to hold given that most professionals now work, not independently
in private practice, but in large bureaucratic organizations. To examine
the attitudes of the bureaucratized professional on some of the major
issues likely to influence his
or
her work behaviour, we conducted an
analysis
of
members of the teaching profession.
THE
NATURE
OF
PREDICTION
The present research on teachers’ attitudes was conducted in the
Autumn
of
1968,
six months before the first militant action over their
salary claim was taken by the teachers. The results give an interesting
*
Lecturer in
Industrial Sociology,
University
of
Bradford
t
Lecturer in
Psychology,
University
of
Bradford
408
To continue reading
Request your trial