D

Dewey on Teaching and Teacher The entry concludes by emphasizing the role of
Education coordination and integration in Dewey’s thought.

Kyle A. Greenwalt
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, Dewey on Teaching
USA
For Dewey, all education has as its proper aim the
promotion of growth and development. Growth
Introduction happens through the experiences of the learner.
Teaching is the ability to assist learners in orga-
This entry describes the relationship between nizing, directing, and maximizing the stream of
Dewey’s thoughts on teaching and teacher edu- developing life experiences. As Dewey stated,
cation. Because teachers are committed to the teaching relies upon “the educational significance
growth and development of learners, a discussion of social arrangements [as] means used to educate
of learning must also necessarily be brought into the young” (1916/Dewey 1997a, p. 89).
play. This entry therefore describes how Dewey Dewey’s view of teaching and learning are
sought to conjoin the topics of learning, teaching, firmly grounded in his naturalism. For Dewey,
and teacher education under the common heading education-as-growth is continuous across the
of the human potential for growth. lifespan and there is no absolute sense in which
The entry starts with a discussion of Dewey’s anyone ever becomes fully educated. Dewey
view of teaching and learning, particularly as it therefore rejected both absolute distinctions
relates to the teacher’s ability to intelligently between teachers and students and viewing chil-
direct the stream of unfolding experience of the dren as lesser adults. As he noted, “a living crea-
learner. The entry then extends Dewey’s views on ture lives as truly and positively at one stage as
teaching through a discussion of his views on another, with the same intrinsic fullness and the
initial teacher preparation. In particular, the entry same absolute claims” (1916/Dewey 1997a,
focuses on how Dewey described the preparation p. 51). The recognition of such “absolute claims”
needed for initial teacher candidates to be able to demonstrates the degree to which Dewey
awaken and sustain inner attention among respected not only children as learners but also
learners. In this way, the place of the school cur- adults as learners in their own right – indeed,
riculum, instructional methods, and classroom Dewey’s naturalism committed him to respecting
management are located within Dewey’s thought. the integrity and sanctity of all people, cultures,
and life forms. All are capable of growth.
# Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016
M.A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_48-1
2 Dewey on Teaching and Teacher Education

Therefore, the goal of any educational project is moment and hour to hour” (1916/Dewey 1997a,
“the enterprise of supplying the conditions which p. 107).
insure growth” (1916/Dewey 1997a, p. 51). On the other hand, teachers play a vital and
Dewey asserted that such growth happens essential role in helping learners select, organize,
through experiences which are properly educa- and choose among aspects of the environment that
tive. If growth is the aim, then experiences are increase and broaden aims. Teachers are a force
its means, and the criterion by which any experi- for suggestion. Their power resides in their ability
ence is judged runs along a continuum that moves to suggest tactfully and fruitfully. As Dewey
from educative to miseducative (1938/Dewey stated, “it thus becomes the office of the educator
1997b, p. 25). On the negative side, Dewey to select those things within the range of existing
noted that some experiences may “engender cal- experience that have the promise and potentiality
lousness,” “produce lack of sensitivity,” or “may of presenting new problems” – new problems that
increase a person’s automatic skill in a particular can lead the learner to new ways of looking, new
direction and yet tend to land him in a groove or ways of thinking, and new ways of acting (1938/
rut” (1938/Dewey 1997b, pp. 25–26). On the Dewey 1997b, p. 75). “Connectedness in
positive side, due to the plasticity of the living growth,” says Dewey, must be the educator’s
creature, experience can engender newer, richer, “constant watchword” (1938/Dewey 1997b,
more profound future experience (1916/Dewey p. 75).
1997a, p. 44). An experiential path of growth
can be laid out on which the living creature
journeys. Dewey on Teacher Education
In more conventional terms, educative experi-
ences are those that allow the learner to go on Given this characterization of teaching and learn-
learning in the future: to become both more open ing, what type of professional formation will give
to the world and more responsible in shaping and teachers the ability to inspire and direct learning?
directing it. When education is viewed in this way, How should the time of initial teacher preparation
the job of the teacher is to assist in the process of be spent?
the learner’s growth through the progressive Dewey argued that, “the wise employ of this
development and expansion of experience. short time [of initial teacher preparation] is in
Dewey summarized this task for the teacher laying scientific foundations” (1904/1965,
when he stated that “the central problem of an p. 316). The goal should be to assist the teacher
education based upon experience is to select the candidate in becoming a “thoughtful and alert
kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and student of education” (1904/1965, p. 320). Initial
creatively in subsequent experiences” (1938/ teacher education seeks to assist teacher candi-
Dewey 1997b, p. 28). dates in the experimental development of a set of
Dewey’s teacher can be characterized as the educational principles that will clarify the aims
master of the timely intervention. Dewey was and means of their work.
certainly concerned about teachers imposing Dewey argued that all teacher education
upon learners, but he was equally concerned courses should have a practical component and
about a tendency in progressive educational cir- that the practice had in such courses should be
cles for teachers to make themselves absent. “typical and intensive, rather than extensive and
For Dewey, the only aims worth pursuing were detailed” (1904/1965, p. 315). By “typical and
those that grew out of the conditions that learners intensive,” Dewey meant that practical work
find themselves in. Aims – or more properly, the should serve a laboratory purpose. It should
act of taking aim – is something that only the enliven and awaken teacher candidates to the
individual learner can provide. He or she must meaning and vitality of educational principles.
use aim to assist “observation, choice, and plan- Rather than equipping a candidate who is imme-
ning in carrying on activity from moment to diately ready to enter a classroom and teach with a
Dewey on Teaching and Teacher Education 3

great deal of technical proficiency, Dewey aimed what induces and gives meaning to mental activ-
to ultimately build the technically proficient edu- ity. There is no method without material nor any-
cator by first building knowledge of the method of thing for mind to attend to without subject-matter.
intelligence. Subject-matter is, by definition, organized – it is
Dewey was therefore not concerned that matter that has been subjected to a controlling
teacher candidates quickly achieve technical mas- intellectual principle, a method. This method, the
tery over all aspects of the profession. His notion scientific method, is the very workings of the
of what it means to be ready to teach did not mind itself: “the classifications, interpretations,
involve immediate displays of technical profi- explanations, and generalizations which make
ciency. Dewey worried about teacher candidates subject-matter a branch of study do not lie exter-
that “seem to strike twelve at the start” (1904/ nally in facts apart from the mind” (1904/1965,
1965, p. 321), but that did not go on growing p. 328). Mind, method, and matter in this way are
over the course of their entire careers. different aspects of a single relationship. It is the
Dewey thought that teacher candidates need to teacher’s business to understand and put this
solve two main problems. On the one hand, they insight to work.
need to figure out how to teach subject-matter to Dewey expected from teachers expansive and
students; on the other hand, they need to figure out profound knowledge of subject-matter. Only then
how to manage a classroom. Both of these are would the teacher have the tools to identify the
important for the success of any teacher. Yet in potential and tendency of the intellectual stirrings
terms of the education a teacher candidate of learners. Only then would the teacher be able to
receives, Dewey thought it important that teacher provide materials and learning conditions that
candidates direct their attention toward the for- assist learners in developing their knowledge,
mer: “mastery of subject-matter from the stand- skill, and character. Only then would the teacher
point of its educational value and use” (1904/ be able to assess the nature of learners’ past edu-
1965, p. 318). cational experiences when contemplating direc-
Dewey stated that conformity of outward atten- tions for their future growth. “Only a teacher
tion is no mark of learning. Therefore, teacher thoroughly trained in the higher levels of intellec-
candidates must concern themselves with a form tual method . . . will be likely, in deed, not in mere
of inward attention that signals the “giving of the word, to respect the mental integrity and force of
mind without reserve or qualification to the sub- children” (1904/1965, pp. 328–329).
ject at hand” (1904/1965, p. 318). Indeed, the In this way, the practical work that Dewey
ability to induce, sustain, and recognize such expected teacher candidates to engage in was
inward attention in the learner is the truest and premised upon inquiry into how organized
most genuine mark of the teacher: subject-matter (i.e., the curriculum) may result in
To be able to keep track of this mental play, to sustained, organized, and systematic growth
recognize the signs of its presence or absence, to among learners. For Dewey, this meant avoiding
know how it is initiated and maintained, how to test the sporadic teaching of individual lessons in
it by results attained, and to test apparent results by favor of practice work that resulted in the ability
it, is the supreme mark and criterion of a teacher. It
means insight into soul-action, ability to discrimi- to see how progression and development may
nate the genuine from the sham, and capacity to instead be promoted.
further one and discourage the other. (1904/1965, On the one hand, this practice work might
pp. 318–319) simply involve deep reflection upon the scope
Initial teacher preparation has no other purpose and sequence of the school curriculum across
than this: the ability to recognize, inspire, and multiple years. It is not enough to consider a
direct mental activity. single lesson or even a single unit in the social
For Dewey, knowledge of subject-matter is studies or in the math curriculum; rather, teacher
knowledge of teaching. For subject-matter is candidates should think about the possibilities
inherent in the curriculum for mental development
4 Dewey on Teaching and Teacher Education

across several grade levels. “What is needed is the of the learner, into communion. In this way,
habit of viewing the entire curriculum as a con- Dewey claimed, teacher candidates grow in their
tinuous growth, reflecting the growth of mind ability to carry all knowledge back “to its common
itself” (1904/1965, p. 332). In this way, subject- psychical roots” (1904/1965, p. 329). They can
matter itself provides rich lessons in learning how see in the stirrings and graspings of the young
to teach. child the potential for the highest forms of
On the other hand, actual practice teaching human achievement:
before students, in classrooms, is an important The subject-matter of science and history and art
part of what Dewey envisioned for the education serves to reveal the real child to us. We do not
of teachers. Such teaching – both in early practi- know the meaning either of his tendencies or of his
cum experiences as well as during a phase of performances excepting as we take them as germi-
nating seed, or opening bud, of some fruit to be borne
traditional student teaching – should itself be . . . The art of Raphael or of Corot is none too much to
intensive and continuous rather than spread out enable us to value the impulses stirring in the child
and haphazard. Only in this way, Dewey thought, when he draws and daubs. (1902/2001, pp. 112–113)
would teacher candidates “get a body of funded
Teachers are masters at seeing the present in
experience” that would allow them to in turn “get
light of the past and in hope for the future.
a feeling for the movement” of learners and
subject-matter in their joint coordination of men-
tal growth (1904/1965, p. 335). Such practice
teaching would also, Dewey thought, help Conclusion
develop the type of technical expertise that all
teachers must eventually obtain. Dewey’s work on the nature of teaching and
All phases of initial teacher preparation should teacher education are vitally relevant to those
be sustained by, and fully directed at, the need to engaged in the work of teacher education today,
awaken the teacher candidate to the realization in that they present a profound challenge to much
that what truly matters is “how mind answers to conventional wisdom about how new teachers are
mind” (1904/1965, p. 324). If the early stages of best prepared to enter classrooms across the globe.
the education of teacher candidates are successful,
the student teaching experience should ultimately
happen with a minimum of interference and crit- References
icism from supervisors. Student teaching under
Dewey, J. (1965). The relation of theory to practice in
these ideal circumstances, Dewey suggested,
education. In Archambault, R. D. (Ed.), John Dewey
might have very modest aims indeed: to find “per- on education: Selected writings (pp. 313–338).
sons who are unfit for teaching” so that they “may Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Original
be detected and eliminated more quickly than work published in 1904)
Dewey, J. (1997a). Democracy and education: An intro-
might otherwise be the case” (1904/1965, p. 336).
duction to the philosophy of education. New York: The
Teaching and learning are processes founded Free Press. (Original work published 1916)
upon convergence, concentration, and coordina- Dewey, J. (1997b). Experience and education. New York:
tion. Initial teacher preparation works by a proper Simon & Schuster Inc. (Original work published 1938)
Dewey, J. (2001). The child and the curriculum. In The
coordination of theory and practice in the
school and society and the child and the curriculum
unfolding experiences of the teacher candidate. (pp. 103–123). Mineola: Dover Publications. (Original
It seeks to bring practical and theoretical study, work published in 1902)
of both school subject-matter and the psychology