Disparate bodies : the role of the teacher in contemporary pedagogic practice

The teacher’s body has a dubious status within contemporary pedagogic practice. The impact of progressivism in many western countries, with its emphasis on student-centred learning, has resulted in a marginalisation of the teacher’s role in many classrooms. While its influence appears to be waning, in Australian primary schools, student-centred methodologies such as group-based and independent learning tend to dominate classroom practice. Relegated to the role of facilitator the teacher’s overall presence and bodily impact in classrooms has been greatly reduced. Drawing on a study of the practice of two kindergarten teachers in two schools in Sydney, Australia, this article will examine the ways in which they embody pedagogic space, the regimen they create and the techniques they employ in teaching their students how to write. In a sense the title ‘Disparate bodies’ has a dual focus. Not only does it relate to the different ways in which the two teachers deploy their bodies in the classroom, it also refers to the differential embodiment of their students which results from the affects that their teachers’ pedagogies engender