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Overview
In Teachers Versus Technocrats, author Harry Wolcott draws on his dual perspective as an educator and an anthropologist to provide a unique and penetrating look at the dynamics of a federally funded research and development project and to analyze what happened when university researchers and school district administrators attempted to introduce an experimental planning and evaluation system in an operating school district. Based on three years of research in which Wolcott uses a variety of anthropological field techniques, this study into the school's SPECS (School Planning, Evaluation, and Communication System) program reveals insight into the project's impact on teachers and administrators and analyzes the basic cultural patterns and relationships among educators. Originally published in 1977, this new edition includes an updated preface by the author and should be valuable to educators and anthropologists alike.
Synopsis
Harry F. Wolcott draws on his dual perspective as an educator and an anthropologist to provide a unique and penetrating look at the dynamics of a federally funded research and development project and to analyze what happened when university researchers and school district administrators attempted to introduce an experimental planning and evaluation system in an operating school district.
Editorials
American Anthropologist
Wolcott's characteristic 'left-to-the-jaw' style of humor enlivens this important and pessimistic account of the unbelievable stressful things that educators do to educators in the process of innovation and development. This book surely must be read by every educator, whether teacher or technocrat, whether of higher education or common school sort, now under siege by quality-eschewing, quantifying, input-output budgeting systems, and their legislator proponents.— Jacquetta Hill
Educational Researcher
The descriptive narrative is lively, fast paced, and sprinkled with fine irony. It is, in brief, a masterful piece of ethnography.— Paul A. Pohland & Carolyn J. Wood
Interchange
Educational administrators from budding principals up should read this book, as should anyone interested in the sociology of schools, the way schools operate, and the ways changes can or cannot be made in schools.— R. A. McDonald
The Elementary School Principal
Rich in ethnographic detail, the book provides an incredible array of insights. Wolcott's systematic analysis of teacher and technocrats is fascinating, as well as critical to an understanding and appreciation of the world of the school.— Arnold J. Keller & Maribeth Durst