Role over Person: Justifying Teacher Action and Decisions1,2

Abstract

Buchmann, M. 1987. Role over Person: Justifying Teacher Action and Decisions. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 31, 1‐21. The paper discusses competing norms for justifying actions and decisions in teaching and their effects on the enacted curriculum and teacher learning. It draws on philosophical analyses of justification and an interpretation of teaching as moral action to argue that a personal orientation (centering on personal practice, feeling, or beliefs) removes teacher actions and decisions from the realm of criteria for judging appropriateness. For purposes of illustrating the significance of competing norms in teaching, excerpts from interviews with 20 elementary school teachers are analyzed to identify teacher orientations (personal versus role) and justifications (emphasis on the teacher, the student, or the curriculum). Empirical studies and philosophical arguments suggest that a personal orientation in teaching cuts teaching off from its moral roots, affecting both teacher and student learning adversely. Using the work of Thelen and Schwab, the paper examines how role orientation may be related to productivity and legitimacy in teaching and explores the idea of the profession of teaching as a moral and learning community.