Christopher Winch's 'Teachers' Know-How: A Philosophical Investigation' is a must-read for teacher educators, offering a comprehensive guide to the knowledge and 'know-how' educators need. The book integrates skills into teacher education and teaching practice, emphasizing the importance of both craft and technical skills for effective teaching.
Christopher Winch's 'Teachers' Know-How: A Philosophical Investigation' is a must-read for teacher educators, especially in a world where market forces and political expediency emphasize market-relevant skill sets. The book provides a comprehensive guide to the kinds of knowledge and 'know-how' educators need, situating the teaching profession as an occupation and addressing how to be skilful as a teacher. Winch uses epistemological theories and conceptual frameworks to illustrate the inseparability of theory and practice in teaching. He warns against overemphasizing the teacher as a producer of new knowledge, arguing that teachers must first and foremost know how to teach. The book reveals the necessary collaboration of craft and technical skills for effective teaching, synthesizing Winch's earlier work into a lucid and readable whole. It resonates with students and educators, providing a baseline for thinking and research. Winch's philosophical principles help negotiate between competing conceptions of teaching as a craft and as an executive technician, emphasizing 'know-how' over academic characterizations. The book draws on ancient Greek philosophy and modern philosophers, highlighting the threefold distinction of phronesis, techne, and critical reflexivity. These insights are vital in a world emphasizing vocational education, offering a powerful philosophical framework for understanding vocational education.
Quick quotes
The danger, for us as academics in education, is that this abusive use of skills discourses by the state and its neo-liberal disciples can result in a strong sense of repulsion for anything based on skills.
This book offers a comprehensive guide to the kinds of knowledge and 'know-how' educators need.
Winch provides us with the philosophical principles to negotiate between these two competing conceptions of what it means to teach and offers much more as well.