What is teaching A definition and discussion
In this piece Mark K Smith explores the nature of teaching – those moments or
sessions where we make specific interventions to help people learn particular
things. He sets this within a discussion of pedagogy and didactics and
demonstrates that we need to unhook consideration of the process of teaching
from the role of ‘teacher’ in schools.
In teacher education programmes – and in continuing professional development –
a lot of time is devoted to the ‘what’ of teaching – what areas we should we cover,
what resources do we need and so on. The ‘how’ of teaching also gets a great deal
of space – how to structure a lesson, manage classes, assess for learning for
learning and so on. Sometimes, as Parker J. Palmer (1998: 4) comments, we may
even ask the “why” question – ‘for what purposes and to what ends do we teach?
‘But seldom, if ever’, he continues: ‘do we ask the “who” question – who is the self
that teaches?’
What is teaching?
In much modern usage, the words ‘teaching’ and ‘teacher’ are wrapped up with
schooling and schools. One way of approaching the question ‘What is teaching?’ is
to look at what those called ‘teachers’ do – and then to draw out key qualities or
activities that set them apart from others. The problem is that all sorts of things are
bundled together in job descriptions or roles that may have little to do with what we
can sensibly call teaching.