The problem of reliability in teacher education

Abstract

If truth is the result of the way world is socially constructed, then the teaching-learning process is partly the result of rules belonging to the “social” dimension of a process of beliefs construction. Teachers’ reliability is thus an intrinsic feature of any positive teaching-learning relation. It is grounded on pillars made of knowledge and values. (a) “Knowledge” and “skilfulness” could be considered as the reliability typical of experts, which is ultimately managed according to their expertise—i.e. the cognitive roots of their skills. (b) “Values” are regarded as the proximity of our conceptions of what is good, right, likeable, and what is “worth” believing. By re-reading reliability’s pillars in a sociological perspective, one could unveil some skills essential to the education of teachers belonging to a “second modernity:” epistemological, logical, anthropological, and axiological skills.