Expert teacher as a proficient and a moral authority
| Title in English | Expert teacher as a proficient and moral authority |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Book of Abstracts |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Pedagogy and education |
| Keywords | expert teacher; professional development; developmental progression; moral authority; qualitative research; life history |
| Description | The article deals with a presentation of partial results from a research on an expert teacher. The term 'expert' means an experienced teacher that has knowledge and skills, and that, furthermore, holds definite moral values. An expert teacher is not a proficient only. Surrounding teachers see him as a moral authority and 'school leader'. This is what distinguishes an expert teacher from any other expert, for example in banking or metallurgy. In this research project, an expert teacher is understood as an experienced, qualified and quality teacher who is viewed as a moral authority by his colleagues. The objectives of this research project are to create such a description of an expert teacher, which integrates the expert s thoughts, acting in a classroom, professional and personal developments. Main focus is on the expert s acting at school, the way he influences other teachers and reasons why teachers regard him as an example. The interest in expert teachers is motivated by an attempt to understand the whole educational process. Teachers play the central role in this process. In today s discussion about changing schools to school as a learning community and in the present transformation of primary schools in the Czech Republic, it is very important to discover how expert teachers influence their colleagues. The main research question is: Is it possible to understand professional and personal development of expert teachers? Why is he a moral authority? Qualitative discourse is chosen for collecting and analyzing data with the use of biographical and narrative approaches. The method of biography is cumulative with the application of a specific method: life history. Life history consists of deep interview, observation of expert teaching and interviewing with third party (with the head, management and other teachers). The relationship between teacher and pupils are the most important category for experts because these relationships have the main influence on a classroom s climate and acquired educational results of pupils. Good relationship with pupils is based on mutual reliance and thus became one of the sources of satisfaction from work for experts. Expert teachers could be described as dissatisfied with many issues at school. This dissatisfaction is not a passive search for other s mistakes. It is active and it urges the expert to change the state of things. Experts, thanks to their belief that teacher is the main agent of changes in classroom and school, influence many issues at school. This is the first reason why they participate actively in the educational process. The second reason is that experts are recognized as experienced teachers with moral authority by the head and school management. Thus, experts are called to participate in decision making in the educational process at their own school. Experts are mentors for beginners quite frequently. Mentoring enables experts to pass on their experiences and it is seen as a kind of appreciation of experts by the school management. This gives a lot of power to experts to make new decisions and change school s habits. |