Within the teacher empowerment movement, a theoretical framework for analyzing the condition of teaching as work is not widely considered. Given the special character of the varying expectations held by interest groups focusing on teacher productivity, a concise theory would provide teacher education students a foundation for participating fully and in an informed manner in their careers. The undemocratic governing environments of schools have created alienated teachers; such environments have fueled the teacher empowerment movement. An advantage of considering work alienation in relationship to teaching careers and the rise of teacher empowerment is that by rejecting categorical descriptions of the reality, a theory of alienation provides broad social philosophical approaches to problems previously considered the domain of psychology. The paper discusses alienated versus empowered teachers, suggesting that empowerment is the overcoming of workplace alienation and gaining the freedom to participate more fully in public affairs as a teacher. It notes that in order to incorporate teacher empowerment into the knowledge base, there must be a critical understanding that schools are fabricated by human beings, that they embody attitudes and interpretations which serve particular cognitive and political interests. It also examines the barriers to incorporating empowerment into the knowledge base, noting that teacher educators seeking to incorporate empowerment must engage among themselves in phenomenological and interpretative encounters on the concept of alienation and seek means to actualize empowering theory with complimentary pedagogical techniques into the curriculum. (58 references). (SM)