Teacher autonomy and control in India: Seeking professionalism in a culture of compliance

Teachers in India occupy conflicted social positions, both culturally valued and institutionally marginalised. We explore teacher perceptions of their autonomy through a survey of 177 teachers working in Chennai, India. Conceptually, autonomy offers insight into the degree of centralisation or professionalisation that structure the work of teachers. Our respondents reported high perceptions of autonomy across a range of domains, a surprising finding within the context of schooling in India. We argue our findings represent teachers making meanings of the concept of autonomy in ways that differ from other international contexts. We suggest these understandings include teachers interpreting their positionalities within a loosely coupled organisation, a teacher workforce seeking professionalism in a post-colonial institution, and persistent expectations of a culture of compliance. Teacher autonomy is understudied in India, and our tentative findings serve as a starting place for exploring teacher perceptions of their work in the rapidly changing institution of education.