'Teacher novels are often an indictment of educational innovation'
The image that is painted of teachers in novels does little good for their image. That is the conclusion of Ton Bastings, lecturer at the Koning Willem I College in Den Bosch, who obtained his PhD on this subject. For example, they often have major personal problems. "In ten novels there are six heavy drinkers, seven hook up with students and three commit suicide."
Getting a PhD on the Image of Teachers in Novels. How do you get on it?
“I am a teacher myself and I saw our image plummet in recent years. And an image is formed by opinions, and those opinions can be found in novels. ”
How many have you read?
“About fifty, and from those I chose ten novels in which the teacher is central - I called them 'teacher novels'. Those novels were all written in the period when the image of teaching began to decline, so from about 1995. They are also books in which educational innovation is central, because I believe that these innovations are related to the decline in status of the profession. And the last criterion was that the writers had to have chalk on their hands: they had to have been in front of the class themselves.”
In many books, a boundary runs through the teacher's lounge: the innovators versus the knowledgeable teachers
The main characters in those novels are not types to cheer up.
“They are all angry about the educational reforms. In many books there is a boundary in the teachers' room: on the one hand are the innovators, who mainly focus on didactics and pedagogy, and on the other hand teachers with professional knowledge. And the latter think that there is nothing good about teachers without professional knowledge. In all ten books, the main characters also leave education, because they feel that their profession is being taken away. ”
Do the writers, who are or were teachers themselves, want to get their fill of educational innovations?
"I am convinced that this plays a role, but I cannot scientifically prove it."
Dents and scratches are more interesting than a perfect person
Aside from their anger, the main characters in the teacher novels have quite a few personal issues.
“In the ten novels there are six heavy drinkers, seven hook up with students and three commit suicide. Anyway, when you're writing a novel, the main character doesn't have to be a perfect person. Dents and scratches are more interesting. ”
How did you analyze those main characters for your research?
“I assessed the characters - as if they were made of flesh and blood - against the competence requirements of the BIO law. Incidentally, that law, from 2006, lays down much of the thinking about educational innovation. In the first three competences it is repeated that the teacher 'creates a learning environment in which the pupil can give form and content to his own teaching-learning process'. The main characters usually do not meet that competence. The novels always revolve around the question of who is the boss in the classroom. According to the writer, that is really the teacher.”
What is the main conclusion of your research?
“That the teacher's novel does not give a positive picture of being a teacher. And also that in these novels the boundary between fiction and non-fiction blurs. And readers are strongly influenced by fiction, which is another plea to get decent reading education back into the curriculum. ”
I think the level of the secondary education is terrible
Where do you stand in this discussion about educational innovation?
“I am of the old school: an advocate of professional knowledge. I think the level of the second-degree training is terrible. "
So you teach in the upper secondary school yourself?
“You would expect that, but I am in front of the class on a roc. These students really need me. I have many students with a non-Dutch background, and I teach them to read critically so that they do not become victims of commercial talk and political propaganda. That is a kind of development work that gives me a lot of satisfaction. And if you can teach here, you can do it anywhere.
Incidentally, during my PhD I tried to bring the scientific world and the roc closer together; there was a live stream for the students. ”
The book Bint, by Bordewijk, is still very topical
What book should teachers put in their suitcase the next vacation?
“Bint, van Bordewijk. That was one of the first teacher novels in the Netherlands, and it immediately sparked a discussion. At that time reform pedagogy emerged, including with Maria Montessori, who stated that you should approach the child gently. According to Bint, you had to make the youth harder to prepare them for society.
You can also find elements from Bint in almost all contemporary teacher novels. "The teacher must not fall, the student must rise" - that statement is often quoted literally. The current gender discussion also occurs in Bint: there is a girl who actually wants to be a boy, and a boy who manifests himself as a girl. Read the book, reread it and see how current it still is. ”
When are you going to write a novel yourself?
"I should do it sometime, but I don't have any plans yet."
