I feel some response is required to illustrate how teachers use a repertoire of systems and strategies to manage their learning environment; one that is far more complex than any lawyer’s room or doctor’s surgery!

The other professions you mention all have ways of managing their clients- usually, someone else (e.g. a receptionist) schedules their one-to-one time with clients for periods of 15 minutes upwards. It is during this time that the professional dispenses their advice to their client. I do have to wonder how a doctor would manage 25 patients at once!

A classroom teacher’s work is done with 25-30 ‘clients’ simultaneously, so their management strategies are rather different to those of a doctor or other professionals. Teachers need to manage the physical environment (e.g. movement around the classroom), the social interactions (e.g. behaviour), the learning and assessment tasks undertaken, as well as the resources, materials and equipment used during those tasks. Thus, teachers develop a range of routines, systems and strategies to manage all these aspects of the learning environment, so that students individual learning needs can be addressed as effectively as possible.

Peer tutoring on a computer is one strategy used to address the needs of those students who don’t know the details of how to operate a program to do a specific task designated by the teacher. Peer tutoring in no way abdicates or undermines the teacher’s role in making the professional decisions about the use of computers in their classroom. i.e. Which software will be used and why, by whom and for what learning purpose.

In the example given in the blog posting, the teachers decided on a task that would engage their students’ interest, (creating a digital book for a younger student) create a context for relevant learning (writing for a particular audience), foster positive relationships with younger students and provide the opportunity to introduce issues around copyright and the ethical and legal use of materials from the Internet, which they had observed their students needed. All of this ‘content’ was taught directly by the teachers and myself.

The peer tutors helped their classmates with the mechanics of using PowerPoint; how to insert a photo, where to save the file on the network etc.

While to the casual observer this might look like students doing part of the teacher’s job, in reality it is one simple aspect of the teacher’s management of their complex learning environment.

Perhaps the problem is that teachers plan and implement these things so seamlessly that it creates the impression that it all ‘just happens’!

I won’t even start on the impression that is conveyed by students teaching their teachers how to use ICT.

These other professions have little trouble in gaining decent salaries and attracting employees…they all have a quota on their qualifying degrees and have competitive entry. Perhaps that’s because they don’t give the impression that any random person can do parts of the job?