February 2007

Lead article: Seeing teaching as inquiry a key part of teaching as intellectual work

In the introduction to one of her most important works, Making Teaching Community Property (1996), Pat Hutchings proposes that teaching, like other forms of scholarly activity, is substantive, intellectual work. Hutchings states, “Teaching is a matter … of selecting, organizing, and transforming one’s field so that it can be engaged and understood at a deep level by students. Like scholarly research, our courses are acts of intellectual invention, and our teaching of those courses enacts the ways we think about and pursue our fields of study” (1).

Hutchings draws three corollaries for teaching as scholarly work. The first is to see teaching as a process of ongoing inquiry and reflection. The author believes that “teaching is a matter not simply of standing and delivering (no matter how skillfully or with what eloquence) but also of examining and advancing one’s knowledge and practice” (1).

Her second corollary is the need for collegial exchange and publicness. Hutchings refers to a Lee Shulman essay entitled “Teaching Alone, Learning Together,” in which he points out how hard it is in the confusion of the classroom for faculty members to see themselves as teachers and, therefore, to know what and how to improve. Shulman suggests that assistance from colleagues is what’s needed.

Hutchings’ third corollary of teaching as scholarly work is that faculty members take professional responsibility for the quality of their role as teachers. Hutchings notes, “In the context of research, faculty belong to scholarly communities that serve to set standards for the field—not in rigid exclusionary fashion, but as a constant process of defining and redefining the field, identifying and addressing its major issues, determining what’s important, making judgments about work that is (and is not) seminal” (2–3).

The conclusion of Hutchings’ piece has become more significant the last few years. She suggests that if “teaching is a scholarly activity, with all that implies, then faculty must play a central role in ensuring and improving its quality. Doing so is a professional responsibility, … and it’s also a practical necessity. For if faculty do not take charge of ensuring (and setting the standards for) the quality of teaching, bureaucratic forms of accountability from outside academe will surely rule the day” (3).

—JE

Hutchings, P. (1996). Making Teaching Community Property. Washington, DC: AAHE.