Abstract:
This paper reports on work in progress from a research project that is exploring teachers' views about: their professional status, the role of teacher development in their working lives, and the changing nature of their day to day work. The project draws upon data collected from in-depth, unstructured interviews conducted with a small group of teachers from a co-educational secondary school located in a provincial city. The drive toward articulation and use of competencies in describing teachers' work carries with it certain assumptions about the nature of the 'professional' teacher. This is evident in the work of the NPQTL and the direction of school reform being instigated in Victoria. The work described offers insight into how teachers view changes to the nature and prescription of their work within the context of the 'professional' teacher.