Teachers, the State and Professionalisation in Mexico

Teachers, the State and Professionalisation in Mexico Susana Asela Garduno Roman Thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Ph.D. 1989 University of London Institute of Education Department of International and Comparative Education ABSTRACT. TEACHERS, THE STATE AND PROFESSIONALISATION IN MEXICO. This study is of two groups of teachers in Mexico: primary schools of the Secretariat of Public Education [SEP], and the National Autonomous University of Mexico [UNAM]. The thesis analyses the nature of their relationship with the State, especially in terms of how this has framed efforts to create a profession, and the reactions and resistance of teachers to various aspects of State control. Chapters one and two analyse Mexican authoritarianism, and the professionalisation of teachers in terms of Mexico, but also a comparative motif is introduced by counterpointing the Argentinean and Peruvian contexts. Chapter three deepens the analysis of Mexico showing how, in the inter-war period,, the professionalism and professionalisation of teachers was affected by their social class origin, their training, the unions, and the styles of resistance which began to emerge. Chapter four extends the analysis into the period 1941 to 1970 and argues that predominantly right wing government policies led to conflicts involving teachers and led to a 2 consolidation of their unions. The State responded by trying to extend its control which resulted in increasing resistance on the part of teachers. Chapter five assesses the contemporary period, and the tensions between teachers, the government, and teachers' unions. Chapter six provides a conclusion. 3 CONTENTS. ABSTRACT. 2 ACNOWLEDGEMENTS. 9 INTRODUCTION. 11 - NOTES AND REFERENCES. 15 CHAPTER ONE. MEXICAN AUTHORITARIANISM: A CHARACTERIZATION, AND A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE WITH ARGENTINA AND PERU. 18 - AUTHORITARIANISM AS A CONCEPT. 20 - Limited Political Pluralism. 22 - Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism, Basic Concepts. 27 - MEXICAN AUTHORITARIANISM 31 - Historical Analysis. 32 - The Contemporary Mexican Situation. 42 - MEXICAN AUTHORITARIANISM COMPARED WITH ARGENTINA AND PERU. 64 - Centralization of Power in the Civilian Executive. 64 - Dominant Political Party and Inclusionary Policies. 68 - Business Interest Groups, Power and Autonomy. 72 - CONCLUSIONS. 79 - NOTES AND REFERENCES. 81 4 CHAPTER 2. PROFESSIONS, TEACHERS, AND MEXICO. 112 - CONCEPTS OF PROFESSIONS. 114 - PROFESSIONS AND TEACHERS IN THE MEXICAN CONTEXT. 124 - Professional Associations. 124 - The State's Relationship with Professions. 126 - The State Professions and Teachers. 129 - PROFESSIONS AND TEACHERS IN ARGENTINA AND PERU. 139 - University Teachers and their Professional Status. 140 - Primary School Teachers and Their Professionalism. 145 - CONCLUSIONS. 150 - NOTES AND REFERENCES. 154 CHAPTER 3. TEACHERS' STRUGGLES : 1920 - 1940. 174 - EDUCATION AND ITS POLICIES. 175 - The Pre-Revolutionary Period: Social Context, Education, and the Emerging Lines of Struggle. 175 - Post-Revolutionary Governments. 181 - SOCIAL CLASS ORIGIN OF TEACHERS, CLASS DIVISIONS, AND EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS. 193 - Social Class Origin of Teachers. 193 - Employment Conditions of Teachers. 201 - TEACHERS TRAINING FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY TEACHERS. 211 5 - SEP Primary School Teachers. 211 - Training of University Teachers. 224 - TEACHERS, PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND UNIONS. 229 - Unionism of SEP Primary School Teachers. 230 - First Organizations of UNAM Teachers. 240 - CONCLUSIONS. 242 - NOTES AND REFERENCES. 245 CHAPTER 4. TEACHERS STRUGGLES: 1941 - 1970. 271 - EDUCATION AND ITS REFORMS. 272 - Educational Reforms and Their Impact on Primary School Teachers. 272 - UNAM Reforms and Their Impact on Teachers. 281 - SOCIAL LOCATION OF TEACHERS, THEIR WORKING CONDITIONS, AND THEIR IMPACT ON THEIR PROFESSIONAL STATUS. 288 - The SEP Primary School Teachers. 291 - UNAM Teachers. 297 - TRAINING FOR SEP PRIMARY SCHOOL AND UNAM TEACHERS. 303 - The SEP Primary School Teachers. 304 - UNAM Teachers. 311 - TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND UNIONS. 314 - SEP Primary School Teachers. 315 6 - Radicalism and Unionism Among UNAM Teachers. 325 - CONCLUSIONS. 332 - NOTES AND REFERENCES. 335 CHAPTER 5. TEACHERS STRUGGLES 1971 - 1986. 358 - REFORMS ON EDUCATION AND THEIR IMPACT ON TEACHERS. 360 - Primary Education and Its Reforms. 360 - UNAM and Its Reforms. 364 - SOCIAL CLASS ORIGIN AND THE EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS OF SEP AND UNAM TEACHERS. 367 - SEP Primary School Teachers. 368 - UNAM Teachers. 369 - TRAINING FOR SEP PRIMARY SCHOOL AND UNAM TEACHERS. 372 - SEP Primary School Teachers. 372 - UNAM Teachers and Their Training. 381 - UNIONISM OF SEP PRIMARY SCHOOL AND UNAM TEACHERS. 386 - SEP Primary School Teachers and the SNTE. 387 - UNAM Teachers and Their Unionism. 396 - CONCLUSIONS. 409 - NOTES AND REFERENCES. 411 CONCLUSIONS. 434 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 447 7 LIST OF TABLES. CHAPTER 2. 1. Reduction of UNAM Professors Salaries in Ten Years. 131 CHAPTER 3. 2. Distribution of the Population by Their Social Class. 195 3. Population in the Federal District, 1900 - 1940. 196 4. Number of Teachers Working in Federal Schools and Their Qualifications. (1928). 205 CHAPTER 4. 5. Rural and Urban Population. 289 6. Number of Full and Part Time Teachers in UNAM. 298 7. Number of Teachers in UNAM. 299 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. My thanks go to: Dr. Robert Cowen for his invaluable guidance and support throughout the realization of this thesis, for his patience and tolerance; Mrs. Colete Hawes for her unstinting friendship and assistance with the language; Jean Syme for her invaluable advice and friendship; CONACYT for financing my project. I would also like to express my thanks to John Raynor, who helped me in the early formulation of my thesis. I can only regret that his death prevented us from sharing the excitement involved in bringing the writing of the thesis to a conclusion. Special thanks to: the administrative staff of the Department of International and Comparative Education for their support and patience; to the staff of the Institute of Education Library, and Senate House Library for all their help. 9 Special mention to my family, in particular to my brothers and sisters, who have given me so much support, both emotional and practical, over the years it has taken to complete my project. Finally, I want to make public my debt to my mother, Felicidad Roman de Garduno, for her unselfish love and support, and to my late father, Miguel Garduno Arteaga, for believing in me. I dedicate this thesis to both of them. 10 INTRODUCTION. Teachers in any country are related to, and affected by, the political system in a variety of ways. What this thesis asks, at the simplest level, is how are Mexican teachers affected by the political system and social context of Mexico? Some of the ways in which teachers are affected - and how they have reacted - are traced in the main descriptive chapters - Chapters 3, 4 and 5. However, this simple initial question conceals a number of obscurities. It is suggested here, and it will be argued in more detail later, that Mexico is an authoritarian State. Clarifying that concept and assessing the Mexican forma of authoritarianism is the work of chapter one; and, there, a comparative counterpoint is used by looking at Argentina and Peru to clarify what is 'Mexican' about Mexican authoritarianism. Similarly, the concept of teachers and a teaching 'profession' has often been reviewed (and it will be again in chapter two). But the more important question in chapter two is about teachers in the context of an authoritarian state. What are the particular pressures which are placed upon them 11 by Mexican authoritarianism? How has the wish to be considered 'professionals' affected their behaviour? What are the nature of their reactions to state power? Thus chapter two not only reviews concepts of a 'profession', but locates teachers within the Mexican authoritarian State in historical and contemporary contexts. Again, comparative counterpoint is used with Argentina and Peru to assess what is 'Mexican' in such processes. The thesis focuses on a detailed exploration of the struggles of Mexican teachers, in the context of an authoritarian state, in the historical periods during the years 1920 to 1986. In this period, the stress is on the position and reactions of two groups of teachers: those working in the primary schools of the Secretariat of Public Education (here after only referred as SEP), and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (here after only referred as UNAM). More importantly, these two groups of teachers are chosen partly because they were the main groups of teachers in historical terms. (Secondary school teachers did not emerge as a group until the 1930's). These two groups of teachers provide two extremes of analysis. There are sharp differences between 12 them in terms of their status in society, their basic employment conditions, their training and their style of their professional associations and unionism. They react and have reacted to the Mexican authoritarian State in very different ways and through different structures, though they have been subjected to some similar pressures. These similar pressures came from a State which is authoritarian on the characteristics of centralized power, its inclusionary policies (1), and limited political pluralism (2). As will be analysed in some detail later, these aspects are evident in the nationalist ideology, the existence of a network of unions, federations and confederations incorporated in the

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