The Educator, Interrupted

Abstract

Emerging from the suggestion that initial teacher education in Ireland shift to a version of the clinical school model, I ask how can we think about the in-school experience of student teachers in terms of those capabilities which promote subjectivity? In this paper I share a philosophical perspective on the educational value of the in-school experience during initial teacher education. I suggest that the university’s presence in school ought to be carefully considered. A closer relationship has implications for the breadth and possibility of the in-school experience of student teachers, and as such the development of the educator’s sense of their own significance and the significance of others. I do so by engaging with the philosophy of Hannah Arendt on plurality and beginnings, and Gert Biesta on subjectification and ‘subject-ness’, to consider the significance of the nature of existence in the world to the development of the individual as a subject of freedom and responsibility. Interruption is proposed as an educational capability, which contributes in a meaningful way to life as an educator in the world of the school and requires open authentic real-world experience to flourish. We can be interrupted from outside, interrupt another person or a moment, or interrupt ourselves from within. It calls for a slowing down, for listening and attention. Interruption recurs. Furthermore, the educator may be the one who interrupts, who resists. The educator capable of Interruption values pause and consideration, foregrounding thoughtful resistance, and taking their place as a subject in the world.

Keywords

• teacher education
• educational philosophy
• secondary school
• higher education
• ireland
• educational reform
• student teacher