“According to Bloomfield (2006), diminished teacher autonomy has resulted from a political perception that teachers should not be viewed as professionals whose opinion should be valued, but as underperforming obstacles to change. Indeed, Thrupp (2009) observes that teachers and teaching quality have been positioned as a ‘handy scapegoat’ in schooling reform agendas in which associated rhetoric promoted by politicians, media, commercial interests and much of popular culture seems to suggest that if only there were better teachers in schools, there would be greater improvements in student outcomes regardless of socioeconomic disadvantage.”