Session Information
13 SES 10, Virtuosity in Teaching: On Judgement, Téchne and Phrónesis in Education
Symposium
Contribution
What makes a teacher virtuoso and how do we judge a teacher as being a virtuoso in such a complex social interaction as education? To ponder upon this question I want to start with what I call the phronetic moment. This moment is a moment of disruption in which the situation no longer yield any meaning or is no longer compatible with previous expectations. The unexpected interrupt plans, intentions and the customary course of events and creates both uncertainty and frustration. In a glimpse, the situation is out of control and even the most meticulous rules or regulations, best practice or evidence-based knowledge cannot clearly guide the teacher’s response. As Foucault formulates it, “you can’t find the solution of a problem in the solution of another problem raised at another moment by other people.” The teacher needs to be a phronimos, a wise person who trusts one’s own judgment, even more so because the more precise the general rules are the more imprecise they become in the local setting. This dubious space, marked by frustration and uncertainty, can be a possible cradle of virtuosity. The frustrating encounter with such situations can create a room of new possibilities, and a renewal of the educational situation as well as the established knowledge. The moment of doubt, hesitation and uncertainty creates a fissure, an opening for other to be seen and possibilities and initiatives to be recognized and acted upon (Arendt). In order to respond wisely and virtuously in such ubiquitous moments, the teacher needs to endure frustration without being paralyzed. Without clear guidelines, the teacher is still responsible for judging and acting. Responsibility does not mean a prepacked solution, but a presence, not a definition, but a response (Masschelein). A critical question: can virtuosity understood as an element of practical wisdom or phronesis be taught or learned? The problem is that phronesis does not offer any model of acting per se, no instruction for judging. So how do we than bring this philosophical legacy of Aristotle into play within teacher education? On what level or what mode does phronesis or practical wisdom aid and guide a teacher “trapped” in a phronetic moment, or is it a question of aiding or guiding at all, is it more a way of living, a way of seeing, a way of being? These questions are what I want to elaborate upon during my presentation.
References
Arendt, H. (1998). The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Foucault, M. (1982). Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Masschelein, J. (1998). World and Life or Education and the Question of meaning (of Life). Interchange, 29(4), 371-384.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.