Expertise and the Teacher as Expert: Rethinking a Questionable Metaphor

Abstract

The metaphor of the teacher as expert is gaining saliency. This article reassesses the appropriateness of that metaphor through a theoretical and historical critique which points out that expertise has been used to buttress professional privilege and to widen the distance between those who know and those who do not. The article examines expertise as a general social phenomenon and then analyzes the appropriateness of the conception of the expert teacher. The author concludes that the metaphor is questionable because it diminishes the moral and social responsibilities of teachers and tends to turn students and the wider public into passive receivers of expert service.