How do teachers view their own pedagogical authority?

Abstract

Authority, a fundamental part of the teaching–studying–learning process, is a problematic and poorly understood component of classroom life. It can be said, in practical terms, that pedagogical authority is constructed in classrooms, in teacher–student interaction and in the spirit of their physical presence, confidence, appreciation, responsibility and respect, and in the way they both relate to the content and norms. Based on the German Didaktik tradition and classroom interaction, an approach for the analysis of pedagogical authority is proposed providing an analytical tool for examining and understanding its constitutive elements and explaining its construction. It posits the existence of three types of interaction or relation from which pedagogical authority emanates: pedagogical interaction, deontic interaction and didactic interaction. Depending on how these relations are enacted in the classroom, they, in turn, may evolve into pedagogical authority. Data collected from four teachers’ interviews in Finnish comprehensive schools are analysed and some empirical evidence is provided to show the characteristics of these relations and how they construct this positive view of authority. More research on pedagogical authority resulting from these relations in classroom settings is needed to account for this critical educational phenomenon.