Developing Greek Cypriot philological teachers' professionalism in the light of existing contextual realities and future educational reforms

Dieronitou, Irene

Abstract

This thesis examines the views of a number of educational actors about the impact of a broad range of educational reforms upon philological Greek Cypriot teachers' professionalism. The empirical component of the study gathers evidence from a variety of educational professionals, and presents data from a series of focus group interviews with philological class teachers, deputy heads and head teachers as well as from a number of individual interviews with professionals in more senior positions such as inspectors, implementers and teacher trainers. The main rationale for the use of a variety of accounts to investigate philological teachers' understanding of their professionalism as well as their responses to past and future educational reforms rests within the need of the study for data triangulation.

An extended literature review focuses on the international arena of debate on professionalism, includes a critical discussion of the impact of managerial and neo-liberal educational reforms upon teachers' professional identities. In addition, global as well as economic, political and cultural factors within the Greek Cypriot context are debated in the light of incoming managerial reforms.

The thesis' main argument is that, given the historical, cultural and political tensions facing Greek Cypriot education, as well as future challenges, a managerialist approach would fail to provide the reflective and critical perspective that philological teachers need. Such values are highly important for educating Greek Cypriot citizens about the new European and global realities required for a possible future bi-communal and federal Cypriot state. Hence, this thesis calls for a 'discourse-based' ethics and 'reflexive' approach to professionalism, which is used as an ethical compass for repaying attention to what might be lost from teachers' professional repertoire in the aftermath of such reforms.

Citation

Dieronitou, I. (2010). Developing Greek Cypriot philological teachers' professionalism in the light of existing contextual realities and future educational reforms. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4212974

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 6, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 22, 2023
• Keywords: Education
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4212974
• Additional Information: Centre for Educational Studies, The University of Hull
• Award Date: May 1, 2010