Cultivating Intuition in Novice Teachers

• In Event: 67.041 - New Perspectives on Intuition in Teaching

Abstract

Objectives. Teachers' intuition is typically understood as a result of expertise and experience (Claxton, 2000; Hogarth, 2001; Johansson & Kroksmark, 2004; Sadler-Smith, 2008), wherein content is processed subconsciously, and then appears to consciousness, fully formed. The correlation between intuition and expertise seems to suggest that intuition-in-action is the exclusive domain of experienced teachers. Does this mean that intuitive action is beyond the reach of novice teachers?

This paper interrogates the requirement for expertise, suggesting that other factors may support teachers' intuition as well. Two factors - the teacher's frame of mind, and the instructional culture - stand out as significant in establishing the possibility of any teacher's intuition.

Framework. Noddings and Shore (1984) recognized that familiarity is not necessary for many intuitive insights, nor is familiarity sufficient for intuition to activate (p. 65). They note that expertise is only one factor influencing intuition, and that other factors can support those without expertise to be intuitive in a trustworthy way. Other scholarship confirms that intuition is cultivatable (e.g. Hogarth, 2011), which suggests that any teacher might become a more intuitive practitioner.

Method. This paper analyzes reports of teachers' intuition to determine consistent factors that contribute to teachers' ability and willingness to be intuitive. I analyze this reported data to 1) question whether intuition can be acknowledged in teachers without long-time expertise, and 2) consider how intuition might then be cultivated.

Materials. I draw from three empirical studies that explore how individuals experience intuition. Johansson & Kroksmark (2004) use phenomenological methodology to describe the primacy of teachers' well-being and frame of mind, and their willingness to allow themselves to feel intuitive signals. Petitmengin-Peugeot's (1999) phenomenological study recognizes a consistent structure to the intuitive experience, and describes the need to prepare one's "interior space" to receive intuitive impressions. Mott (1994) interviewed intuitive teachers and found that cultural orientation, instructional milieu, and interpersonal and situational factors influence the use and development of intuition.

These studies provide a framework for professional development to enhance intuition in any teacher who both desires to improve their intuitive ability, and who works to create an appropriate attitude and frame of mind for such development.

Results. Teachers who rely on their intuition report it as a holistic sense of knowing. Therefore, teachers might become more intuitive by undertaking a program of transformative inner work to improve mind-body coherence and the ability to listen and respond to the intuitive function.

Intuitive teachers tend to be found in schools that support their intuition. School leaders can support teachers' intuition by creating instructional cultures that acknowledge the value of intuitive action, regardless of accumulated experience.

Significance. If teachers can become more intuitive with training and support, future studies might investigate how a supportive cultural climate combined with a program of transformative inner work could increase the trustworthiness of novice teachers' intuition. Such a study points to a potential opportunity for including intuition development explicitly in teacher education.

Author

• Emily Rebecca Sadowski, Simon Fraser University