The Self That Practices Deeper Teaching: An Exploration of Influences on Teacher Beliefs and Values
For decades, educators have called for “a fundamental redesign of the industrial-age classroom.” However, despite ongoing discourse around educational reform, the majority of teachers still use the industrial model of education while too few teachers implement deeper teaching practices which situate students as active learners in addressing complex, real-world challenges rather than being passive recipients of knowledge. Existing literature does not explore the influences upon the beliefs and values of teachers who create deeper learning experiences. This qualitative study employs educational criticism and connoisseurship to illuminate the inner self of those who practice deeper teaching. Drawing on in-depth observations, interviews, and artifact collection from four participants, the research investigates what drives these educators to move beyond traditional models and embrace transformative, student-centered practices. This study illuminates the intentions of teachers who practice deeper teaching and explores the influences on teachers’ beliefs and values. The findings reveal that key influences on these teachers’ beliefs and values include formal and informal educational experiences, workplace experiences, mentors, cultural background, reflection, and an imaginative capacity to envision alternatives to the status quo. Overall, this study answers the question, Who is the self that practices deeper teaching? Someone who values relationships and believes they are core; someone who values deeper learning experiences and believes in engaging themselves and others in them; and someone who holds a keen sense of self-awareness. Implications for this study are far-reaching. Recommendations for school leaders, professional development designers, and teacher education programs include: creating opportunities for teachers to explore and reflect on their beliefs; integration of deeper learning experiences into teacher preparation; fostering collaborative structures within schools; providing observation opportunities of deeper teaching; providing access to mentor teachers who model and support deeper teaching practices; and making space for sustained reflection and the imagining of new pedagogical possibilities.