Born not made: the nativist myth and teachers' thinking

Abstract

In this article the authors explore the possible origins of nativist myths about teaching expertise in the cultural and organisational context of teaching. They propose that the cultural preference for explanations for human behaviour that are based on personal dispositions conceived of as entities, combined with the opaque nature of teaching expertise, predispose teachers to the belief that ability as a teacher is inborn. They explore the consequences of this belief for professional development, especially development that involves the acceptance of expertise that arises outside the teaching profession. They contrast this with the consequences of a model in which professional expertise is understood as a fluid and ‘unstable’ process.

Keywords:

• teacher development
• expertise
• teacher cognition
• teacher attributes

Notes

1. The quotations cited come from practising teachers involved in postgraduate education masters programs (general education, science and educational leadership) at two universities in which we recently taught. These are drawn, with permission, from students' ‘blogs’ posted as part of online participation and course assessment requirements.

2. Allied to this point is the fact that teacher education program cannot prepare the novice teacher for all of the many contexts he or she might encounter.

3. We should add here that this preference for first‐person testimony is not a particular characteristic of teachers, but a human one. People in general prefer reports of personal experience as evidence, to information from more distant and ‘faceless’ sources (Baumeister 2005). In one respect science as an enterprise can be seen as an organised and concerted effort to overcome this and similar limitations on human thinking.