How We Teach Teachers: New Ways to Theorize About Practice and Put Theory into Practice. KANE, Ruth G. (2002)
In: Perspectives Quarterly Journal of Comparative Education. UNESCO. Vol. XXXII, No. 3.
Central ideas of the text
Reflection 1
"Quality teaching cannot be oblivious to technical aspects, but neither can it be fed by research on the essence of teaching." (Stones, 1992, p. 4)
All over the world, educational establishments are currently experiencing structural and systematic changes and reforms of their curricula.
The role of teaching staff is becoming increasingly complex, as they are required to adopt new styles of work.
In the 21st century school, teachers are expected to be reflective, capable of teamwork, independent and analytical inquiry, and gifted for critical thinking based on ethical criteria and personal integrity (Yost, Sentner and Forlenza-Baily, 2000).
The professional autonomy of the teacher has been curtailed, replacing it with a technical role that instills a predetermined program, responding to external demands for evaluation and accountability that guarantee a culture of control and compliance.
Reflection 2
If I speak with my students on issues such as social justice, treaty, and equity, I have to be able to clearly express how this thinking and practice manifests itself in my own teaching.
A market model: education has been structured as a private commodity. In this system, schools are providers, boards of directors are in charge of management, parents are buyers, learners (children) are consumers, and teachers are technicians who apply the curriculum.
Teacher training programs have changed very little in recent decades, despite growing research and understanding of the theoretical basis of pedagogical training and the widespread reforms of the compulsory education sector (Fullan, 1982; Goodlad, 1991, 1994, 1999; Sarason, 1993).
Student-teachers need to understand the pedagogical, social, cultural and educational imperatives that govern teaching practice, that is, to examine and reconcile the theory and reality of teaching.
Little real change is apparent in most pedagogical training institutions.
Reflection 3
How can a middle-class white man or woman talk about social class or racism without ever having suffered from its drawbacks? (EDUC 290, a student's journal).
Students who train to be teachers should have the idea that teaching and learning to teach is not only about what to learn (the curriculum) or how to learn (teaching strategies), but also with whom (the person who teaches) and why (education goals).
The classes of (EDUC 290) in the framework of contemporary research and literature, try to promote the critical inquiry skills of students and demonstrate that the teacher's work has imperatives and connotations of an ethical, social, political and cultural nature.
As teachers, we will need to pave the way so that students' voices can be heard, listened carefully, and encouraged to question the assumptions and theories underlying their own thinking and teaching doctrine and practice.
Understand theory through practice and practice through theory, to place students at the center of the learning process of teaching.
Reflection 4
If I aspire for my students to undertake a critical reflection on their own practices and those of others, I must be willing to submit mine to that same criticism.
The theory and practice of teacher training must be at the core of our work.
Teacher educators have a responsibility to lead by example, basing their work on a critical examination of teaching doctrine and practice.
As teacher educators we need to be prepared to discuss and be explicit about our theories, beliefs and assumptions about teaching and teacher education with our students.
The authors who reinforce the following work are:
Noddings (1998) and Halliburton (1997) (on the philosophical positions of Dewey, with whom the students had already had contact in their studies on education), Hooks (1994) and Freire (1983), striving to encourage students to think about the goals and responsibilities inherent in teaching.
The writings of Meridy Malin (1999) and Bell Hooks (1994) argued for the imperatives of “fighting racism” in the classroom and in school. Smith's (1999) work placed Freire's ideas on transformative praxis in the educational context.
Reflection 5
A teacher can make students have a good or a bad opinion of themselves. We will have to be very critical of our own words and actions.
