Title

The Potentiality of Authenticity in Becoming a Teacher

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2008

Abstract

This paper arises out of the transition from a PhD thesis on Heidegger’s phenomenology to my attempts to come to terms with ‘becoming a teacher’. The paper will provide a phenomenological interpretation of being a teacher in relation to the question of an ‘authentic’ interpretation of teaching\learning and the possibility of an authentic interpretative praxis. I will argue that being a teacher is a phenomenon of human existence which can be interpreted as a possible way of being with authentic and inauthentic potentialities. This way of being is intrinsically linked to that of learning; of becoming human or becoming the authentic possibilities of being-human. As such, the problem of being a teacher is primarily an ethical question (or a question of  - dwelling); of who we are as humans and of how being a teacher engages with the in-formation of the becoming of students as authentic human beings. This then leads to the problem of how a phenomenological interpretation of education can be applied or lived; of authenticity in teaching\learning and the possibilities of authentic learning environments (educational dwelling).

Angus Brook, 'The Potentiality of Authenticity in Becoming a Teacher', Educational Philosophy and Theory Vol. 41 (1), p. 46 - 59, 2008.

Published Online: 19 Jan 2009

ISSN: 1469-5812 (electronic) 0013-1857 (paper).

Journal compilation © 2009 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com

DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00474.x University of Notre Dame Staff and Students may access this article at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00474.x 448/abstract