It's just common sense.
A phrase to be wary of.
Listen to the podcast segment of Ideology in Education (at 9:04) based on this blog post for the Teacher’s Education Review below 👇.
Education is often a space where appeals to “common sense” are made to further political arguments surrounding teaching, learning and schooling.
A “common sense” statement is one that assumes commonality in understanding, reframed as natural (rather than political) and self-evident (Fairclough, 2010).
I use quotation marks intentionally to imply that one’s understanding of “common sense” can be different depending on where you’re coming from. From this perspective, we could argue that there are variations of “common sense”.
We know that…
To identify “common sense” statements, we can listen out for the magic words: “We know that…”
Here are just a few off the top of my head that I have heard (or said myself!):
“We know that teachers make a difference”
“We know that students need high expectations”
“We know that online-learning doesn’t work”
“We know that good teachers need to analyse data”
“We know that learning can only happen in a safe environment”
“We know that teachers learn best on the job”
“We know that the evidence is clear that [insert statement here]”
The list goes on…can you think of any you have heard?
It is my opinion that “common sense” is not inherently bad, but it can blind us to its effects when left unexamined. It is important to be open to considering how what we deem as “good” or “natural” in education could be alienating and harmful for others.
The dominant “common sense”.
I would argue that dominant ideologies of efficiency, marketisation and conservatism have contributed to the development of a certain kind of mythologised “common sense” when it comes to teaching and teachers.
To provide some rather crude examples from these perspectives, we know that…
the job of the teacher is to deliver the learning outcomes of pre-determined curricula
the teacher is an apolitical subject
the teacher is providing a service (education) to the consumer (parent, child, community, etc.)
It is not too hard to see how these perspectives of the teacher could lead us into trouble. However, when statements such as these are framed as “common sense” it can be awfully difficult to articulate a challenge to dominant ways of understanding the role of teachers or the function of teaching. This is because when dominant perspectives become so culturally ingrained, they are no longer understood ideologically but as “the way things really are”. It can seem as though there are no alternative options available.
Imagining alternatives.
But if we were to begin by reflecting on these often unexamined beliefs and be open to considering other kinds of “common sense”, we may be able to determine some alternatives.
So when you hear, see or speak those magic words, “we know that…”, pause and consider how your understanding of “common sense” might be holding you back from imagining and benefitting from other alternatives.
Till next time.
References.
Fairclough, N. (2010). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Taylor & Francis Group.