Drawing on the experiences of real schools and real teachers in two districts of West Bengal, this article examines how teachers perceive and articulate their own professional challenges, responsibilities and freedoms; voice their demands and difficulties under which they work; and conceptualise quality teaching. The article argues that primary school teachers in West Bengal have been valorised as political activists and union leaders, but overshadowed as a professional cadre, and that the diminished professional role of teachers has undermined their agency and ability to practise critical pedagogy for educating the subaltern classes. The article concludes that teacher unions and networks have to extend their roles beyond protecting teachers’ rights to also work on enabling ‘ordinary’ teachers to internalise the twin ethos of professionalism and social justice activism.
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