Teaching as a Social, Political, and Ethical Activity

The educationist Heaton said teaching is not a technical recipe. You cannot mix the ingredients of Math, Science, English, and Social Studies, follow a procedure, and produce a good person. Teaching does not work that way.

Heaton said teaching is a social, political, and ethical activity. This view changes what teachers do. A teacher who follows a recipe just delivers content. A teacher who treats teaching as social, political, and ethical thinks about people, ideas, and responsibility.

Social activity

Man is a social animal. People need other people for emotional and physical wellbeing. People exist within groups: family, neighborhood, community.

Teaching cannot happen in isolation. A lesson needs students. A discussion needs participants. A teacher who tries to teach alone is just talking to themselves. The classroom is a small society.

The social part of teaching means the teacher works with the students. The teacher is part of the group, not separate from it.

Political activity

Political here does not mean government politics. It does not mean parties, voting, or elections. Political means a set of ideas.

In a political party, people share a common ideology. They work together for goals based on those shared ideas. The same logic applies to teaching. The teacher holds ideas. The teacher shares them with students. Together they can act on those ideas to change something.

This connects to the philosophy of education of prophets and reformers, which is to bring societal change. If teaching only delivers literacy and content knowledge in subjects like Mathematics and Science, the teaching is not political. It is just transmission. To be political, the teacher must hold a view, share it, and work with students toward a shared goal.

Flashcard

What does it mean to call teaching a political activity?

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Answer

Working with students around shared ideas

Political here does not mean government politics. It means a set of common ideas.

Teachers share their views with students and work together for societal change.

Ethical activity

Ethical means moral responsibility. Teaching is ethical because the teacher carries a moral duty.

Three things make up this duty:

1. Commitment to the profession.
2. Honesty in dealing with students and colleagues.
3. Dedication to the work.

Teachers are role models. Students watch what their teachers do. A teacher who does not show commitment, honesty, or dedication is a poor model. Whatever lesson the teacher delivers in words, the lesson the students learn is the one the teacher shows in actions.

Perceptions are culturally and socially embedded

How a teacher views teaching does not appear from nowhere. It comes from the culture and society around the teacher.

A small informal study of three school types in Lahore showed clear differences:

• Village schools: teachers and parents often saw the teacher’s main job as teaching obedience and manners. The teacher was treated as a “spiritual parent” who deserved respect and obedience.
• Urban government schools: teachers and parents often saw the main job as teaching reading, writing, and basic calculation. The expectation was that students would move into low-skill jobs.
• Urban private schools: teachers and parents often saw the main job as facilitating learning and nurturing each child’s potential, since information was widely available through media.

This was a small informal example, not formal research. The pattern still illustrates a wider principle: a teacher’s perceptions are shaped by the culture and class around them.

An educator who has not thought about their own perceptions carries them without question. The first step is to notice your own view of teaching and ask where it came from.

Flashcard

What does 'perceptions of teaching are culturally and socially embedded' mean?

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Answer

Your view of teaching comes from your culture and class

Different cultures hold different views. A village teacher and a city teacher in the same country can hold very different views of what teaching is.

Educators must notice their own perceptions and where they came from.