Why I continue to teach.
Navigating the ideological firsthand.
Can we as educators honestly cope with the probability that certainty will not be forthcoming, that many of our answers and our actions will be situational and filled with ambiguity? - Michael Apple
In his book, To Teach, William Ayers writes that there are many reasons not to teach.
Workload, burnout, administrative demands, public scrutiny and the constant barrage of attacks from media - to name a few - do no favours in keeping teachers in schools.
Yet I, along with many others, continue to teach.
Over my relatively short teaching career, I have developed a deep interest in educational philosophy, which has led me to explore further study and begin a PhD project (which has now begun with many teachers across various states, systems and experience across Australia!). My research has both strengthened my understanding of the impact of ideology upon education, and provided a language to make sense of the many challenges I have experienced as a teacher over my career. It has also provided an avenue to develop more agency in my work, as I navigate the impact of various visions of education on my teaching practice (including my own).
As a secondary school teacher studying educational theory “on the side”, I have begun to more deeply appreciate the importance of theory in shaping and directing my practice. This has led me to ask some pretty probing questions of my own practice, and to reflect on where things might need to change. However, rather than pulling me away from a system that seems increasingly broken and unfit for purpose, I have decided to keep teaching rather than pursue a purely academic career.
In this post, I explore the value of having a foot in both camps, so to speak.
The value of theory.
I often challenge teachers who say that theory doesn’t matter.
If we simply desire “practical” solutions to educational problems, we’re already knee-deep into theories about what teaching ought to be.
Regardless of the importance a teacher places on theory in their work, teaching is inseparable from the theories we hold about it. This is what I have tried to communicate in my work and writing exploring the nature of ideology within education. For example, if we simply desire “practical” solutions to educational problems, we’re already knee-deep into theories about what teaching ought to look like.
However, sometimes we may not need to confront the theories we hold. There are times where our experiences confirm our assumptions about what teaching should be. In these times, we have no need to reconsider our assumptions. We may even find it difficult to understand the contrary beliefs and experiences of others. It is when we experience - as Jack Mezirow calls it - a “disorienting dilemma” that jolts us out of our previously held “common sense” that we begin to confront our previously held assumptions.
Sadly, it seems that some prefer to curate their spheres of influence to only include familiar voices that confirm their biases, reducing their exposure to alternative ideological perspectives that could contribute to a disorienting dilemma1.
If we wish to grow as teachers - or more ideally, educators - we must not shy away from the voices and experiences which may contradict the theories and assumptions we hold about education.
In the mess.
I am a secondary school mathematics teacher and as such, you might be able to appreciate that I experience disorienting dilemmas on a regular basis.
My hope is that any authority I might have upon education - at least at this point in time where I find myself - would come from the fact that I am entrenched in a system that is as broken as the link between my beliefs and my practices.
This, I believe (at least at this stage), is why I have decided to continue to teach in Australian secondary schools rather than pursue a purely academic career. Although my research draws me to reflexively consider the desires I have for what education ought to look like, keeping one foot in schools helps to ground my perspectives. Rather than developing outrage at a broken system, I find myself continually humbled by the sheer fact that teaching practice is rarely entirely ideologically aligned, often due to the push and pull of different perspectives in education that seek to determine what it means to be a teacher. Promoting the act of reflexivity upon these ideological perspectives also finds its challenges, as demands upon teacher time have grown in intensity over the years. The challenge of finding pockets of agency in which to be more ideologically aligned in my teaching becomes ever more complex as Australian education becomes increasingly dominated by ideologies of control and efficiency (for more on this, have a read of the post below).
My hope is that any authority I might have upon the project of education - at least at this point in time where I find myself - would come from the fact that I am entrenched in a system that is as broken as the link between my beliefs and my practices.
I would like to indicate here that I believe that there are important things we can learn from academics who have never set foot in a classroom, as well as those who have never ventured into academia. But just as there are issues with my decision to sit more within the realm of a “pracademic”, there are limits that come with the various positions across the continuum of “practitioner” and “academic”.
It is in acknowledging these limitations that we might then be able to engage in productive dialogue to move the project of education forward.
Bridging the gap.
I do not believe that it is entirely possible to completely align our personal beliefs with our practice, simply due to the plethora of ideological perspectives that seek to have a stronghold on the practice of education. I’m beginning to believe this is a good thing for democracy by supporting a responsive disposition of teachers.
Teachers can and should continue to challenge the dominance of ideological perspectives that go against the very hopes we have for education.
Being aware that you don’t own education opens up teaching practice in both simple and profound ways.
But should this mean that teachers cannot align their practice with their beliefs at all? Certainly not. Rather than seeing schooling as an irredeemable institution, I hold the position that change in education is possible. Teachers can and should continue to challenge the dominance of ideological perspectives that go against the very hopes we have for education.
We just need to think a little more about what it is we’re really trying to do.
Till next time,
I’m guilty of this too, but as a reflexive pracademic I do endeavor to make effort to “hear out” those with alternative perspectives to myself where possible.
Beautifully said. It reflects what I felt while I continued to teach for 38 years, the last 15 of which were spent delving deeply into educational theory. To me, the explicit connection between theory and practice was necessary for me to decide how theory could be applied without creating conflicts for the 'ordinary' teacher. The theory informed my teaching and my teaching informed my reading and construction of the theory. In terms of the power to change, I spent a lot of effort trying to be heard to little effect. My biggest regret since retirement is that I didn't somehow develop kudos in such a way as to have greater influence. I still don't know how but it remains a regret.