International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
internships and practica are invaluable just as teaching hospitals are crucial to the education of
doctors. However, just as the preparation of doctors is grounded in the study and understanding and application
of biology, so too should the preparation of teachers be understood to include explicit grounding in sociology.
There is a related argument for justifying my concern with being more aware of and explicit about the fuller
spectrum of theoretical foundations underlying teaching and teacher education. This is that one of the
distinguishing features of a profession as opposed to a craft -- and what teaching and other professions have
evolved out of -- is linkage to or grounding in the principles, methods and systematic research of an analytic
discipline. This is, of course, also part of the justification for placing professional education in a university
context.
I think that John Dewey offers us a useful perspective here:
"Command of scientific methods and systematized subject matter liberates individuals; it enables them to see
new problems, devise new procedures, and in general makes for diversification rather than set uniformity."
"This knowledge and understanding render [the teacher's] practice more intelligent, more flexible, and better
adapted to deal effectively with concrete phenomena of practice....Seeing more relations, [the teacher] sees more
opportunities. His ability to judge being enriched, he has a wider range of alternatives to select from in dealing
with individual situations."
In reflecting on what I have presented, I am concerned that my argument might be misunderstood to imply
that I think a grounding in sociology is opposed to or more important than a grounding in psychology for
teachers. Far from that, I think that both are fundamental and complementary.
Let me close with one last story. I apologize for it being so personal but it is what I know best. And this
experience had an enormous impact on me and how I have come to think about teaching. As you may have
guessed, I was brought up in a theatre family -- both my parents were in acting and theatrical production. When
I was about 12 years old, I was hired to be the understudy for young King Ptolemy -- yes, it is true, I have been
an Egyptian in an earlier life -- as young King Ptolemy in a British touring production of Caesar and Cleopatra
when it came to New York. The star and director of the show was Sir Laurence Olivier.
As luck would have it, I received a call one day that the boy who played the King had become sick and that I
needed to go on, to perform that evening. After some intense, last minute rehearsing (including some rather
tricky pieces of business with Lady Vivien Leigh who played Cleopatra -- but that's another story), I was
deemed sufficiently ready to go on. I did and fortunately I managed not to forget my lines or trip on the stairs
leading up to the throne.
On the night of my second performance, as I was waiting in the wings to go on, Olivier came over to me and
said, “You did well, but Ptolemy should think of Caesar as his friend.” And, so during the scene, when Caesar
(that is, Olivier) came to look at Ptolemy (that is, me), I managed a smile. And, then, to my amazement, Olivier
did something that deeply impressed me. On stage, in the magnificent old Ziegfeld Theatre, in front of an
audience of about 2,000 people, Olivier whispers to me so that no one else could see or hear, “Good, good.”
What has stayed with me to this day and what so deeply impressed me was that, not only was he performing as
the star of the show, but he was in such command of his craft that he could notice and acknowledge and give
feedback to a fellow actor.
And maybe this is what great teaching is about and where a psychological and a sociological perspective
come together -- being able, at one and the same time, to both focus on the whole performance and production as
well as on the unique and individual, to perceive and promote positive group process but never to lose sight of
individuals and their needs.
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