What an English Teacher Knows: Teaching in the Post-truth Era

ABSTRACT

Post-truthism entered mainstream consciousness after being named Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year in 2016, denoting a turn in the Western relationship with truth as a certain and indisputable object. Simultaneously, and paradoxically, rising distrust around teachers’ professional judgement and a desire for certainty in practice saw the proliferation of ‘evidence-informed’ approaches and the impetus for teachers to use data to inform their decision-making. This paper places recent changes to practice and policy in the post-truth context, suggesting that the trends of evidence-based practice and datafication can be understood within this socio-political phenomenon. It is suggested that in a moment looking for assurance and certainty, post-truth rationalities seep into education, eroding the agentic properties of English teacher knowledge in favour of mechanisms promising certitude and reliability and sacrificing subjectivity and nuance.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher knowledge
• post-truth
• evidence-based
• datafication

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephanie Wescott

Stephanie Wescott is a former English teacher currently completing her PhD at Monash University Faculty of Education. She continues to teach at Monash University in subjects on literacy, leadership and curriculum. Her PhD research examines contemporary education policy and practice in the context of the post-truth era.