Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the proposals and assumptions in the Consultation Paper: Teachers Meeting the Challenge of Change (DfEE, 1998a). Although the Consultation Paper claims to be about the modernising of the teaching profession, it is argued here that it is a deeply conservative paper written with the economic and employment legacy of the New Right. The proposals are considered in relation to the tradition of teacher criticism and blame. The conceptual framework of post-fordism and neo-fordism is used to explore the form of modernisation proposed for teachers' work and conditions.