Overview
In Educology of Teaching (2020), it is argued that the educological perspective is one which chooses the field of phenomena denoted by the term education as its object of inquiry. From the educological perspective, education, as an object of inquiry, is a field of phenomena which consists of the basic elements of teacher, student, content and setting, all standing in some relation (for example, constructive, reconstructive, destructive, sustaining) to each other. Educological inquiry provides descriptions, analyses and explanations of the elements and the relations among the elements which constitute education. Educological inquiry also provides justified evaluations of relationships and states of affairs and prescriptions for ethical and moral practices in education. When educological inquiry is careful, well-disciplined and fruitful, the product is recorded true statements about education. A term which denotes recorded true statements is knowledge, and a term which denotes knowledge about education is educology.
The educology of teaching is the fund of knowledge about the relationships between teaching and education, including knowledge about (1) the distinguishing characteristics of teaching, (2) the typical activities performed in teaching and the circumstances in which the activities are performed, (3) relationships, procedures and circumstances which contribute to the effectiveness of teaching, and (4) ethical and moral conduct in the activities of teaching mandated by normative argument and social and cultural norms.
What Is Teaching?
It is argued in Educology of Teaching that a fruitful approach to addressing the question of "What is teaching?" is to restate the question as "What do we denote with the term teaching in ordinary conversations?" Conceptual analysis of ordinary language reveals at least three denotations of the term teaching:
(1) teaching₁ — providing opportunities, help, guidance and supervision for students in their intentional study of some content to learn intentionally with guidance some prescribed range of knowing;
(2) teaching₂ — providing opportunities, help, guidance and supervision for students in their intentional study of some content to learn intentionally with guidance some prescribed range of knowing and the students actually succeeding in learning the prescribed range of knowing (effective teaching₁);
(3) teaching₃ — happenstance (misadventure and/or serendipity) which causes us to learn unintentionally and without guidance an accidental range of knowing.
From the educological perspective, the question arises as to which of these conceptions of the term teaching is the most appropriate to use in educological inquiry and discourse. Evaluation of the three concepts concludes that the first concept — teaching₁ — is the most appropriate one to use in careful, disciplined educological inquiry and discourse about teaching. The use of the concept of teaching₁ makes it possible to distinguish between effective and ineffective teaching, good and bad teaching, and teaching in official and unofficial education.
What Do Teachers Do?
Teaching takes place in unofficial education (among peers, in families, at workplaces, in any social situation outside of educational institutions). Teaching as a profession takes place in official education in preprimary, primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions, or in relation to some established curriculum and some system of certification (as is the case with home schooling that follows a prescribed curriculum). The focus in Educology of Teaching is on professional teaching in official education. In this context, the question, "What do teachers do?" should be reframed to ask, "What do professional teachers do in official education as it is conducted in the social context of educational institutions?"
In Educology of Teaching, it is argued that the question, "What do professional teachers do?" is a scientific educological question about extant practices and the normal daily routines of teachers in schools, academies, institutes, colleges and universities. Answers to this question require observation of professional teachers in action to identify their typical language moves and patterns of conduct in the course of playing the role of teacher, and the answers are to be found in reports of structured observations of what teachers say and otherwise do in the course of carrying out their duties as teachers. Tasks which have been observed to be typical in professional teaching include repeatedly giving consideration to and making decisions about resources and materials, methods of teaching, styles of teaching, relationships with students, focus of student attention, organization of students (whole group, small groups, individuals), pace of guided studying, sequence of guided studying, initiation of guided studying, intended learning outcomes, goal structures to reward student achievement (competitive, cooperative, individual), assessment procedures, evaluation procedures, uses of evaluation reports, and written lesson plans, unit plans, program plans and instructional designs.
Professional teachers differ from unofficial teachers in that they (the professionals) work under the burdens of social and cultural expectations, professional obligations, ethical requirements and legal mandates. They are required not only to consider and make sound judgments about resources, methods and the like, but also to keep written records and documentation of their considerations and judgments and to provide justifications for their judgments.
What Is Effective Teaching?
In Educology of Teaching, the question "What is effective teaching?" is analyzed and identified as a praxiological educological question (praxiology is knowledge about effective relations and practices). It is determined that answers to this question require systematic observation and/or experimentation to identify teaching practices, teaching strategies and teacher-student relationships which maximize the probabilities that students will be successful in achieving some nominated set of intended learning outcomes. Answers to this question are found in research reports about effective teaching practices, teaching strategies and teacher-student relationships.
Factors which have been found from empirical praxiological educological research to contribute to effective teaching include sound teacher preparation, program planning, unit planning and lesson planning, appropriate resources for teaching and intentional guided studying, appropriate student organization, effective time management, situational awareness, flexibility in adjusting to changing circumstances, established classroom routines, constructive teacher-student relationships, clear teacher-student communication, purpose-driven activities, student engagement in study activities, student time on task, optimal level of difficulty of study tasks, sequenced degrees of difficulty in study tasks, supportive social and cultural context for the teaching and intentional guided studying, matching of teacher and student social styles, positive emotional experiences for students, and appropriate instructional design.
What Is Good Teaching?
In Educology of Teaching, it is argued that the question "What is good teaching?" is a normative philosophical educological question. Answers to this question require the use of normative reasoning to identify and justify a set of criteria by which it is justifiable to judge what constitutes good teaching. Normative arguments are presented for the identification and justification of a set of attributes essential to ethical teaching. Teaching is ethical when the conduct of the teacher is truthful, authentic, respectful, impartial, fair, equitable, inclusive, kind, caring, responsible and accountable.
Normative arguments are also presented for the identification and justification of teaching as being intrinsically and extrinsically good. The normative argument is presented that teaching is intrinsically good when it is part of philomathic education, and that teaching is extrinsically good when it is part of, for example, occupational education, liberal education and/or health education.