Full bibliography

[The] absence of mainstream inquiry in Canada [into teacher union history] has been lamented by some historians of education and ignored by others, while labour historians have not felt impelled to include teacher union histories in their surveys or discussions on the Canadian labour movement. Yet if the historiography of teacher unionism is uninspiring, the history of teacherunions in Canada, despite their recent origins (c. 1920), is rich and vibrant, and distinctive in character compared with their counterparts in the United States or the British Commonwealth of Nations. This essay hopes to generate a new historical interest in this fascinating, and relevant, field of inquiry, by attempting to fulfil two tasks. The first is to provide a critical discussion of what has already been written on Canadian teachers' unions; this discussion will have the additional dimension of an international perspective. The second task of the essay is to suggest by insight and example that what has been written over the past fifty years, whatever its merits, provides a foundation for renewed effort and fresh enterprise. ...From introduction