The Role of the Teacher: A Bernsteinian Analysis of Classroom Interactions and Pedagogic Practice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: The Teacher-Student Relationship: Beliefs, Values, and Practices

Abstract

Differing agreed upon pedagogic practices change the socially constructed role of the teacher. This is a study of two early childhood programs serving low-income children on the South Side of Chicago. While the populations served were similar, teachers at the two programs constructed their roles very differently. At the school that employed a child-centered pedagogy, the teachers were “facilitators” of child learning. The school with a teacher-directed pedagogy, the teachers were “instructors” of necessary skills. These differences in teacher roles affected the ways in which teachers interacted with children and, by extension, the ways in which children interacted with each other.

Author

• Stephanie C. Sanders-Smith, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign