Teacher Education for teacher-learner autonomy

Teacher Education for teacher-learner autonomy

Smith R. (2003). 'Teacher education for teacher-learner autonomy', in Gollin, J., G. Ferguson and H. Trappes-Lomax (eds), Symposium for Language Teacher Educators: Papers from Three IALS Symposia (CD-ROM). Edinburgh: IALS, University of Edinburgh.

This paper has clarified different dimension of teacher autonomy as it might be being used in the emerging discussions in the field of second language education, influenced by current prominence of ‘learner autonomy’. Teacher-learner autonomy might be defined as the ability to develop appropriate skill, knowledge and attitudes for oneself as a teacher, in corporation with others. The enhancement of teacher-learner autonomy has an intrinsic value in preparing teachers to engage in pedagogy for autonomy with students.

Learner autonomy misconceptions refers to a situation that of learning without a teacher or away without the need for a teacher. Instead, it has been emphasised (Little, 1991) that learner autonomy needs to be seen as a capacity (for taking control of learning) which can be developed and deployed in a number of ways and situations, including the classroom. The rise to prominence of learner autonomy as a goal in classroom settings had led to need for retraining and enhance awareness both of the importance of the teacher in structuring or ‘scaffolding’ reflective learning and the complex, shifting interrelationship between teacher and learner roles in a ‘pedagogy for autonomy’ (Voller,1997).

How to prepare teacher for engagement in ‘pedagogy for autonomy’ is a pressing practical concern. What is the link between teacher autonomy and learner autonomy or –ability to promote learner autonomy (Aoki, 2000).

Different uses of the term ‘teacher autonomy’

The uses of the term ‘teacher autonomy’ have focused on different dimensions, as is clear from the following examples:

A: Capacity for self-directed professional action: Teachers may be autonomous in the sense of having a strong sense of personal responsibility for their teaching, exercising via continuous reflection and analyses…affective and cognitive control of the teaching process’ (Little 1995)

B: Capacity for self-directed professional development: The autonomous teacher is one who is aware of why, when, where and how pedagogical skills can be acquired in the self-conscious awareness of teaching practice itself (Tort-Monoley 1997)

C:Frredom from control by others over profession action or development: ‘In the United States teacher autonomy has been declining for at least a decade. First, uniform staff development programmes based on effective teaching have become widespread. Second, classroom observations have become an integral part of imposed teacher evaluations’ (Anderson 1987)

Dimensions of teacher autonomy
McGrath (2000)
>> Teacher autonomy as self-directed action or development
>> Teacher autonomy as freedom from control by others

Profession development could be considered as one form of professional action but action and development are not necessarily the same thing (we may act or teach in a self-directed manner, but do not necessarily learn from the experience)

Preparing teachers to promote learner autonomy

Several implications for preparing teachers to promote learner autonomy:

- actualengagement in and reflection on pedagogy for autonomy appear to be particularly powerful means for developing teacher-learner autonomy.
- focus directly on developing a willingness and capacity for self-directed teaching and teacher-learning, linked to induction into pedagogy for learner autonomy.
- adopt a ‘pedagogy for teacher (learner) autonomy' in order to prepare teachers appropriately for their own engagement in a pedagogy for autonomy with students.

UK based teachers commented on the way externally imposed quality assurance regimes may paradoxically hinder engagement in pedagogy for teacher-learner autonomy due to the way they impose needs for transparency, accountability and definition in advance of learning outcomes.
Do we have intrinsic motivation to continually learn from and develop our teacher education practices in the way we recommend to students or are we ourselves the victims of various obligations to fulfil a requisite number of peer observations, produce a teaching portfolio designed to satisfy external criteria for promotion, and so on?

Teacher autonomy necessarily involves interdependence, or ‘relatedness’, nor just individualism; indeed, this has been stressed in recent discussions of the concept of learner autonomy (Benson 1995; Aoki and Smith 1996; Littlewood 1999). Learner autonomy includes the notion of readiness to act ‘independently and in co-operation with others as a socially responsible person’ (Dam 1995)

Teachers’ own development of appropriate methodology for their own classrooms lie in their hearts of what means to teach ‘appropriately’ in any context.

----After all, if teachers do not know how to / are not willing to engage in self-directed teaching and teacher-learning for their own benefit and that of their students, they are, the victims of received ideas. -----

As Widdowson (1990:25) has put it: “The view of the dependent teacher has been challenged over recent years. It has been argued that ‘effective pedagogy is necessarily a reflective and research-oriented activity, that the role of practitionaer does not preclude that of theorist, and that the professional status of teachers as mediators depends on the justification of an appropriate expertise of their own’

Tessie’s Response: Not just teachers that should aware of themselves to be autonomous as their students but the teacher educators as well. This mean the whole people involving in the instruction should understand the nature of autonomy in language learning. Autonomy is distinctive from independence that it gives a broader sense of taking control of learning process, what to study, who to interact, and where to seek supports. To encourage autonomous learning among students, teachers need to have gone through the same experiences so they can scaffold students to develop autonomous learning. Anyway autonomy has resided in every learner in some extent as we know how we can learn best in a particular way. From the way we choose to do or not to do things in the process of learning. EFL teachers (as well as learners) need to be guided how to apply appropriate skill, knowledge, and attitudes in a pedagogy for autonomy.