Communication Technology and Pedagogical Power

The ideas put forward here, although supported by empirical studies on the work of teachers and their profession (Mukamurera, 1998, 1999; Lessard and Tardif, 1996; Tardif and Lessard, 1999), examine, mostly from a philosophical and sociological perspective, the foundations of educational communication with respect to the role and meaning of ICTs in education. This article presents a critical reflection, wholly theoretical and non-objectifying, on the relation between ICTs and teaching. Because it is critical in nature, this reflection is not neutral. It is based on suppositions concerning the nature of teaching, and, in broader terms, on human communication and the technologies enlisted to support it. The reflection presented in this article is divided into two sections. First, it briefly pinpoints the main features of pedagogy in relation to the work of teachers in schools. In so doing, it considers educational communication as it takes place, in classroom interaction between teachers and students. Second, it examines how ICTs can form part of educational communication in schools and examines the kinds of impact they may or could have on relations between teachers and students, and on education in general