Changing Focus from Teacher to Learning in Education

Most theories of teaching and learning take a particular stance on the role of the teacher and the relative importance of the teaching act, in contrast to the role of the learner and the learning act. This fundamental division splits the world of educational theory into two clear schools of thought. In the first—more ancient—school, it is the authority of the teacher that takes pride of place. The teacher is seen as a master or wise one who possesses knowledge and who, through the act of teaching, disseminates that wisdom to students. This places the locus of authority firmly in the hands of the teacher. Moreover, it defines what the teacher knows and shares as meaningful to learners.

The other school of thought is post-Enlightenment. Here, learning is given precedence over teaching. The host of theories that hold that the locus of authority rests not with the teacher but with the learner have all been proposed and codified since the 19th century. These philosophies are concerned with how learners process significance and meaning through their own actions rather than through the actions of the teacher. They subordinate the teacher’s authority under the learner’s and transform the teacher from a wise expert who imparts knowledge into a skilled expert who helps learners construct meaning from a body of knowledge. In the teacher-centered classroom, knowledge itself is usually considered to be more important than anything else a student might learn. In the student-centered classroom, knowledge is placed in the service of different skills (e.g., analysis, synthesis, exploration, creation) that are considered to be more important than the accumulation of knowledge for its own sake.