Page 28 - Beyond Methods

16 Conceptualizing teaching acts
tive intellectuals—have evolved over time and have overlapping characteristics. Table 1.1 provides a summary of salient features that clearly illustrate the overlap.
Table 1.1 The Roles of the Teacher: a summary
Teachers as passive technicians
Teachers as reflective practitioners
Teachers as transformative intellectuals
Primary role of teacher
conduit
facilitator
change agent
Primary source of knowledge
professional knowledge + empirical research
by experts
professional knowledge + teacher’s personal knowledge + guided action research
by teachers
professional knowledge + teacher’s personal knowledge + self- exploratory research
by teachers
Primary goal of teaching
maximizing content knowledge through prescribed activities
all above + maximizing learning potential through problem- solving activities
all above + maximizing sociopolitical awareness through problem- posing activities
Primary orientation to teaching
discrete approach, anchored in the discipline
integrated approach, anchored in the classroom
holistic approach, anchored in the society
Primary players in the teaching process
(in rank order)
experts + teachers
teachers + experts + learners
teachers + learners + experts + community activists
The overlapping and expanding characteristics of teacher roles can be related in terms of a hierarchy as well, as shown in Fig. 1.1. This hierarchy is interpreted to mean that teachers’ role as transforma- tive intellectuals includes some of the characteristics of teachers’