Skip to main content
Article
The potentiality of authenticity in becoming a teacher
Educational Philosophy and Theory
  • Angus Brook, University of Notre Dame Australia
Year of Publication
2009
Abstract

This paper arises out of the transition from a PhD thesis on Heidegger's phenomenology to my attempts to come to terms with ‘becoming a teacher’. The paper will provide a phenomenological interpretation of being a teacher in relation to the question of an ‘authentic’ interpretation of teaching/learning and the possibility of an authentic interpretative praxis. I will argue that being a teacher is a phenomenon of human existence which can be interpreted as a possible way of being with authentic and inauthentic potentialities. This way of being is intrinsically linked to that of learning; of becoming human or becoming the authentic possibilities of being-human. As such, the problem of being a teacher is primarily an ethical question (or a question of ɛτηοσ—dwelling); of who we are as humans and of how being a teacher engages with the in-formation of the becoming of students as authentic human beings. This then leads to the problem of how a phenomenological interpretation of education can be applied or lived; of authenticity in teaching/learning and the possibilities of authentic learning environments (educational dwelling).

Keywords
  • Peer-reviewed
Citation Information
Angus Brook. "The potentiality of authenticity in becoming a teacher" Educational Philosophy and Theory Vol. 41 Iss. 1 (2009) ISSN: 0013-1857
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/angus_brook/13/