Professional Citizenship in the Workplace: Teachers’ Civic Initiatives

This chapter focuses on the social movements of teachers in order to explore the implications of their professional struggles for the construction of new forms of citizenship. The chapter shows that the teachers’ movements adopted strategies that were intimately connected to the essence of their work. These practices extended their obligations and rights not only as professionals, but also as citizens. By perceiving their work in the schools as part of a struggle for social rights, they were turning it into a meaningful civic act. Their negotiation of their professionalism through the reaffirmation of their knowledge, the enhancing of their autonomy, and the extension of their ideals of service strengthened their ties to the community as professionals responsible for the weakest sectors of society.