Scant but Telling Evidence: A Historical Analysis of Representations of Teachers’ Social-Emotional Support Responsibilities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 73
  In Roundtable Session: Educating Educators: Historiographic and Professional Examinations

Abstract

This paper investigates historical sources of a potential dilemma for educators, in which teachers’ social-emotional support of their students is encouraged informally and by research literature, but receives limited attention in teacher education programs or professional discourse. In this study, primary source documents related to teaching and teacher education are analyzed for evidence of attention to the teacher’s social-emotional support responsibilities. A majority of documents do not address this aspect of the teacher’s role. Exceptions are present and illustrative, often focusing on students with perceived problems or deficiencies, or else criticizing teachers’ assumption of social-emotional support responsibilities. Historical evidence of a persistently narrow portrayal of teachers’ roles suggests difficulty changing them, and will substantiate sociological considerations of teachers’ roles.

Author

• Kate L. Phillippo, Loyola University Chicago