Authentic Teaching

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In a recent CPD session I was articulating my view that an aspect of effective teaching is to be or aspire to be as close as you can to your 'authentic self' in the classroom.

I have no empirical evidence to support this claim, in part because how do we measure authenticity of behaviour? However, I do have a deep belief that we have all at some point experienced the impact of an encounter, whether in a formal learning environment or in everyday life, with someone who is at ease with themselves and has a deep knowledge of their discipline - they are authentic.

 

A colleague politely challenged my claim, highlighting that we cannot ever be our real authentic self when teaching, as the professional standards and expectations as well as the performance aspect (whether the sage on the stage or guide on the side) requires us to act accordingly. While I agree that there is always an element of performance or putting on our game face, hence my caveat 'as close to..' I still think that we should have the aspiration to be authentic as the impact on the effectiveness of our teaching can be significant.

 

The comment did make me think however and consider a further caveat to my conceptualisation. Perhaps the real goal is to not be our inauthentic self. We all manage our behaviour and adapt to different contexts with both our work and leisure time, be that when out with friends, time with family or in a board meeting with our bosses. However perhaps the goal to enable us to be effective and authentic for each different situation should be to not be inauthentic. Adopting behaviours that simply don’t sit well with us may work in the short term however the cognitive dissonance and stress this causes us will in the end impact our effectiveness and the impact we can have with others.

 

So how to not be inauthentic?

 

-Values and Philosophy

 

While it can sound a bit grand having a philosophy, if you can articulate your approach to teaching in a few words or a set of principles, then this can be a useful sense check to see if the behaviours you are engaging in align to the philosophy, if not change them. Similarly, beyond a disciple specific philosophy you may have clear personal values that can be also act as a barometer for the authenticity of our actions.

 

-Build Self-efficacy

 

Consciously engaging in the process of building self-efficacy (situation specific self-confidence) can be a significant help in developing authenticity. Confidence in our knowledge and understand, but importantly in what we don’t know can be a game changer allowing us to have an open and curious mindset, to welcome challenges and seek out opportunities to develop understanding – key authentic behaviours.

 

-Be curious of different approaches (in many fields)

 

If we have learnt how to teach within a specific context, both from our own education and within one institution then we may think that is the only way to do it. However, there are a myriad of different approaches that can be adopted, and so if the opportunity arises go and watch other educators, teachers and trainers do it - speak to them and ask them what they do, how and why, this will broaden your horizons to the opportunities there are to do things your way and avoid the inauthenticity of mimicking others.

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