6 thoughts on “This is how to reposition teachers as experts

  1. That is not how to reposition teachers as experts. If teachers want to be trusted professionals, with autonomy over pedagogy, then they need to assert that professionalism to the clients. Doing research and publishing in some dusty old journal is not going achieve that.

    As the Australian Council of Professions says, a ‘Profession‘ has a “disciplined group of individuals”, ethical standards, a body of knowledge, and most importantly, “hold themselves out as, and are accepted by the public”. https://www.professions.org.au/what-is-a-professional/

  2. Bill Blaikie says:

    Couldn’t agree more.

  3. Jason Rough says:

    Many professions are able to be trusted professionals who keep up to date with the research without actively participating in it. Certainly I know a number of medical and allied health professionals in this category. Asking teachers to do yet more in order to be respected experts seems harsh. Closer ties between academic researchers and working teachers can only be positive but teachers do not need to be researchers to be experts or indeed trusted professionals.

  4. Steven Collins says:

    This is a good effort, but the thinking is still deep within Plato’s cave of denial.
    The modern world is yearning for freedom, a new, non religious freedom from the entrapments of selfish, greedy individualistic opportunism.; a complete paradigm shift from the short sighted un-sustainability of modern education.
    Crazy as it sounds, a new paradigm is entirely achievable, but it requires a fresh approach from our big thinkers.
    Jeremy Griffith outlines the paradigm shift we had to have in the following introductory video. His sweeping biological revision of human
    Nature is the ‘no brainer’ we needed to shift our whole society into a safe and meaningful future.
    This needs serious consideration.

    https://youtu.be/q-TK6_aWqGU

  5. Bill Blaikie says:

    Teaching went backward when two world wars and a depression put an end to Progressive Education. This approach is just another form of busywork that does little or no service to schools or universities and prevents the development of creative minds and true teaching praxis because it is a form of imposed oppression.

  6. A new book coming out soon – edited by Keith Heggart & Steven Kolber – Empowering Teachers and Democratising Schooling – Perspectives from Australia.

    A range of perspectives will be presented –

    My perspective is titled – The Demise of Teacher Expertise and Agency by the ‘evidence-based discourse’.

    I am arguing from the perspective of a teacher who has lived through this demise & who hopefully presents some useful ways forward.

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