Institutional Constraints and Teacher Professionalism: Evidence from Government Schools – A Review Paper

Abstract

Professional agency among teachers serves as a cornerstone for enhancing scholastic standards, organizational efficacy, and students’ outcomes. Within the Indian context, government school teachers navigate systemic environments that frequently curb teaching autonomy, grassroots, innovation, and career morale. This comprehensive review synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature published from 2015 to till now regarding the structural barriers that impede teacher professionalism in India’s schools. By aggregating research on pedagogical independence, bureaucratic overreach, regulatory frameworks resource deficits, ongoing training paradigm, and policy updates, this paper maps the current state of the profession.
The synthesis indicates that systematic impediments- including centralized administration, extensive non-pedagogical responsibilities, insufficient career development, staff vacancies, and compliance-driven audit models- deeply compromise teacher identity, instructional delivery, and vocational dedication. Furthermore, the paper analysis the operational realities of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which advocates for teacher empowerment, uniform professional metrics, and continuous upskilling. Despite these progressive statutory goals, systemic inertia and structural disparities continue to hamper grass-roots implementation. The review concludes that genuine educational advancement demands a paradigm shift away from viewing teachers as bureaucratic functionaries towards treating them as reflective practitioners, requiring a deliberate balance between systematic accountability and professional independence.

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