I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only teach them to think.
Socrates
Teaching can be delivered in a variety of styles, with educators often having a preferred form – guided, in all likelihood, by how they learnt best - and which may be reinforced by a declaration that theirs is the most effective. Similarly, students will usually have their favoured method of learning, so that, for example, what might suit a visual learner might not necessarily suit an auditory one. However, it is impractical for a teacher – either working in a group setting and with a range of different learners - to deliver tailored made education, which precisely accords with the learning styles of each individual student. Instead, they have to determine what might work for the majority and, perhaps more importantly, employ the pedagogy which they feel most competent to deliver.
No one can be all things to all people and a teacher trying to deliver information in a style to which they are not suited is a painful experience for all concerned! We all have to work with our strengths. This, despite the fact that, increasingly, teachers are being encouraged to mould their delivery in line with Estrada’s suggestion that, “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn”. Extremely difficult, I would argue, unless you are able to group together students who learn in a particular way and match them with a teacher whose style can meet that need.
Whatever the method, pedagogy can give rise to much debate. I have been in education my entire life, either as a student or as a teacher and sometimes as both at the same time. I have born witness to many different teaching styles, some of which have been effective while others have been less so. One's own experiences are, therefore, naturally bound to influence how one teaches. Learning works best for me when I am in the presence of someone who is truly passionate about their subject - I need to feel inspired - someone who can draw me into their words, who can focus my mind and who can then, gently, encourage me to evaluate what has been communicated. Someone who will engage in non-judgmental dialogue with me; who will value my contribution – whether they think it to be right or wrong – who will stimulate discussion; who will teach me to think laterally and who will show me that I have it within myself to create coherent arguments, which I am able to support. It is a method which is both empowering and which, I feel, probes the very soul.
I would suggest that, certainly for the arts, humanities and social sciences, the Socratic method is one that should be at the forefront of any teacher’s mind. Society, more than ever, is in need of great thinkers; of fresh ideas; of people who can effect positive change and who can promote social justice and equality. Our horizons need to be expanded and our common humanity embraced. We would all benefit from knowing ourselves better and the society in which we live. Most of us require a ‘spring board’ for our ideas; a way of ensuring that we have considered our arguments from all angles; that any ‘rough edges’ have been smoothed out and that we have remained standing, despite having been challenged. The Socratic method is able to deliver this. Of course, the process of questioning in this manner, might also mean that our original ideas have changed entirely.
This method of teaching has been around for a long time. It is a well tried and tested means of encouraging critical thinking and developing thoughtful dialogue. It originated with Socrates on “one starry night in ancient Greece” (the reference to please fans of The Big Bang Theory!). The experience is one of a shared dialogue between teacher and student, in which both take responsibility for moving the conversation forward through questioning. Probing questions are asked in an attempt to expose the values and beliefs, which frame and support the thoughts and statements of the participants. The inquiry progresses interactively and the teacher is both a participant and a guide. This has the effect of ameliorating the power imbalance which, otherwise, often occurs between teacher and student. The teacher may, after all, gain as much from the discussion as the student and there is no pre-determined argument to which the teacher attempts to lead students. This enables the learning to go in any direction and, frequently, you can end up on a completely different path to the one you started out on.
Unfortunately, some of us will be familiar with a teaching style which considers humiliation to be the best approach to aiding student learning. Many of us will have experienced that teacher who randomly picks on a student and demands that they answer a question, even when they may not have understood what is being asked or, indeed, the lesson which preceded it. The Socratic method, while based on questioning, is most certainly not this. The aim is not to panic or intimidate students. The learning environment is a creative forum, where there are no wrong answers and where scrutiny of dialogue is done in a supportive, inquisitorial manner and not in an adversarial one.
The Socratic method involves active participation from both teacher and student and where the teacher is open to new learning themselves. It is a creative process, one which encourages the evolution of ideas, which tests the strengths and weaknesses of arguments and which can even change the original discourse. It is a method which does not seek deference to the authority of the teacher, but which empowers students to recognise that they have it within themselves to learn and solve problems.
The method is encapsulated beautifully in the speech given by John Houseman in the 1973 film The Paper Chase when he tells his students:
“We use the Socratic Method here. I call on you, ask you a question and you answer it. Why don’t I just give you a lecture? Because through my questions you learn to teach yourselves. Through this method of questioning, answering, questioning, answering, we seek to develop in you the ability to analyse that vast complex of facts that constitute the relationships of members within a given society. Questioning and answering; at times you may feel that you have found the correct answer; I assure you that this is a total delusion on your part. You will never find the correct, absolute and final answer. In my classroom there is always another question, another question to follow your answer. As you are on a treadmill; my little questions spin the tumblers of your mind. You are on an operating table and my little questions are the fingers probing your brain … You teach yourselves [the law] but I train your mind. You come in here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking [like a lawyer].”
It is quite an abrasive description of the method (although employed to good dramatic effect) and, hopefully, there are not many educators with the foreboding reputation of Professor Charles Kingsfield! When applied well, this pedagogy cannot only aid learning but it can stimulate positive personal growth; allow for free and open speech and lead to new discoveries, either by supporting arguments and views or by opening up a whole new way of thinking about an idea. Instead of simply being told what or how to think (a curse of the modern school system), the Socratic Method allows students to think for themselves. True knowledge is more than just the recitation of "facts alone" as Dickens's Gradgrind would have us believe. It is about obtaining a deep understanding of different views and arguments and about challenging our own thoughts as well as those of others.
The ability to think critically is a key skill and one which brings significant rewards. It is also a vital skill if we are to make conscious, well-informed choices and decisions. I would proffer that, for SHAPE subjects, there is no better pedagogy than the Socratic method to encourage and inspire others in the pursuit of wisdom.
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