This blog is brought to you by Dr Sarah Honeychurch from the University of Glasgow, who has been developing models of collaborative learning for over 25 years. It looks at a supposed dichotomy between didactic and active models of teaching and learning and suggests that, actually, good teaching always includes elements of both.
Sage on the Stage, or Guide on the Side?
Sage on the side flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license
It’s pretty common nowadays to hear people saying that educators need to act as a ‘guide on the side’ rather than as a ‘sage on the stage’. And, of course, this comes from a good place. We are all well-versed in the benefits to learners of being actively engaged in their learning rather than being passive recipients of knowledge, and we have thought about what is wrong with the banking model of education so vividly captured by Freire. Having been presented with such powerful critiques as this, typically, we are all motivated to be (social) constructivists about learning.
But I think that setting up the sage on the stage and the guide on the side as stark alternatives missed a fundamental point. Let me explain what I mean.
The danger of relying on one metaphor for learning
2023/265/279 Look Me in the Eye flickr photo by cogdogblog shared into the public domain using Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)
There are some papers that I have read that stop me in my tracks and open my eyes to my lazy, complacent smugness. Anna Sfard’s On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One is one of those. The two metaphors that she is talking about are those of acquisition (the sage on the stage model) and participation (the guide on the side model). As she says, though both metaphors are still current, the metaphor of acquisition is more prominent in older writings, while the metaphor of participation dominates more recent writings (p.5).
If, like me, you had been tempted to think about these issues in terms of being a binary: where passive acquisition = outdated = bad, and active participation = new (innovative!!) = good, then this paper might act as a catalyst to awaken you from your dogmatic slumbers – to paraphrase Immanuel Kant – as it did me.
Because we should be careful about binary ways of thinking, and of categorising those who hold opinions we do not share as being wrong-headed, ignorant or out dated.
Trees, Snakes or Elephants?
Elephant flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license
The parable of the blind men and an elephant is about a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake”. For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, “is a wall”. Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
Some people, such as the philosopher John Hicks, believe the blind men in this parable represent the major religions of the world, each in contact with the same “elephant” without knowing it. I think it’s a useful reminder that different points of view can be right at the same time.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
Baby in the bath flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license
It turns out that both ways of thinking about learning can complement each other. Advocates of active learning quite correctly note that learning happens better when learners construct meaning for themselves, rather than parrot knowledge from others, but some things are easier learnt from others first (indeed Biesta points out that one of the joys of human beings is that they can be taught – and that they can learn). Sometimes learners need to acquire knowledge, and the educator needs to act as a sage (whether on the stage or not), at other times they need to learn how to consolidate their knowledge. Team Based Learning is a learning design that incorporates both of these.
All of this was deep down in my memory on Wed 14th May when I participated in LTHEChat about Team Based Learning. The topic was very dear to my heart as I’ve used it in my own teaching and written about the experience, and I very much enjoyed the blog post and all of the questions written by the guest writer, Jonathan Branney.
Screen shot of LTHEChat conversation
In response to a question:
“Q1 What attributes are needed by a lecturer to be an effective facilitator of learning?”
Jonathan replied that:
“A1. Love the comments regarding being fellow human beings learning together. It’s the old “guide on the side” rather than “sage on the stage.” TBL is supposed to be learner-centred, but will only truly be so is delivered by a skilled facilitator of learning.”
And I agreed, saying that:
“I actually think a sage on the side would be the best of both worlds”
Quick as a flash, Sandra asked me to write a blog post about it, and here I am.
Conclusion: On mixing metaphors
So, to summarise. Rather than conceptualising the role of the educator as either Sage on the Stage or Guide on the Side, what is needed is educators who know when to act as each – as a Sage on the Side, as it were. Sometimes learners will need expert intervention in the form of the imparting of knowledge, other times this intervention might be a nudge in the right direction or an encouraging nod of the head. And, of course, part of this expertise is knowing when to STFU, if you’ll excuse my language.
Recommendations: Educator as Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat as illustrator John Tenniel depicted it in the 1865 publication. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In Alice in Wonderland, Alice encounters a very elusive creature called the Cheshire Cat. This cat has the ability to appear and disappear when it likes, disappearing gradually so that all that is left is its grin. While this cat is not particularly helpful (what cat is, you might well ask), I think we can adapt this into a more helpful character. What I am advocating here is an educator as a type of pop-up Cheshire Cat, sitting unnoticed until the learner needs help, at which time they instantly appear to impart knowledge or help the learner to construct meaning, disappearing again when they are no longer needed.
In this post I have mixed metaphors and introduced tropes from my anglo-american background, but I hope that I have amused the reader as I have tried to make my point.
References
Biesta, G (2019)TEACHING FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING TAUGHT: WORLD-CENTRED EDUCATION IN AN AGE OF LEARNING English E-Journal of the Philosophy of Education Vol.4 (2019): 55-69 [Thematic Research]
Carroll, L. (2018). Alice In Wonderland: Alice’s adventures in Wonderland & Through the looking glass. Dreamscape Media LLC.
Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed (New rev. ed). Penguin Books.
Kant, I. (1785). trans. Bennett, J.: Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysic. online at http://www.earlymoderntexts.com
King, A. (1993). From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. College Teaching. 41, 1. pp. 30-35 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27558571
Sfard, A. (1998). On Two Metaphors for Learning and the Dangers of Choosing Just One. Educational Researcher, 27(2), 4–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/1176193
Biography
Sarah Honeychurch works in Academic and Digital Development at the University of Glasgow. She has a PhD in participatory learning, which taught her about the importance of play for creativity and for authentic learning, and this is where she coined the phrase ‘serious fun’ to describe enjoyable and authentic learning experiences. She enjoys connecting with likeminded lifelong learners in online communities and collaborating in practices of digital remix with her fellow bricoleurs.
Sarah and her husband live in Glasgow and are owned by two cats called Cagney and Lacey. When she is not playing around on the internet she enjoys doodling, knitting, and playing one of her many ukuleles very badly.Her current research interests are participatory learning, lurkers, affinity networks, and bricolage. You can find how to connect with Sarah via https://about.me/sarahhoneychurch