A Vision of Teacherpreneurism by Sunni Brown
Hey John,
Thanks for giving such solid perspective on the present confusion with the term “teacherpreneur.” After our retreat this weekend to the Center for Teaching Quality’s headquarters, I had plenty of discussion with the rest of our co-authors on this topic, one I didn’t want to touch up until a few months ago.
The term “teacherpreneur” was wrought out of the conversations about professionalism of the teaching profession. Frankly, the binary conversation about the current state of our unions need not be. For instance, I’m not sure why our current union can’t simultaneously create more opportunities of agency for individual teachers and still fight for the basic rights of the collective. I’m a strong proponent of an elevated teaching profession, but it has to be done in a supportive environment for creativity.
This is not one of them.
Thus, the term “teacherpreneur” gets mixed up with terms like “education entrepeneur” (see: Rhee) instead of what it’s intended to do: allow teachers to create their own opportunities while still serving in the classroom. If we continue to perceive the teachers as the hired help (Renee Moore’s a genius), then we’ll continue to get treated as such. It’s amazing that, even as the ideas in the book gain traction with futurists and unionists alike, we’re still having a discussion about whether teachers should be compensated better. We discuss Finland now as the epitome of success for their superior assessments and 100% union membership, but don’t recognize that they also compensate their teachers well above living expenses. Why, then, do we still chastise those teachers who discuss compensation in the context of advancing the profession?
Because too many people still consider teaching as nothing more than an advanced degree in babysitting. And people usually have very fond memories of getting babysat.
Now, I’m not in favor of merit pay because that term is too loaded in the current environment of test scores, and even the most convoluted formulas project a 35% margin of error over a 4-year period and an 11% margin of error over 10 years. Instead, we need to consider better evaluations and evaluators, too. We can develop better ways of assessing teachers while minimizing the biases our current supervisors may or may not have about what constitutes good teaching. We can speak up about matters other than education and still be considered educators.
We have to create the narrative now, not just a counternarrative.
Or maybe it’s a matter of the name itself. If even our most intelligent colleagues are getting confused about the intent of the message (usually without a remote understanding of the context from where it comes), then we can only expect where the general public might confuse this term. Then there’s the present possibility of these ideas getting in the wrong hands instead of the people who need to occupy this third rail. Those of us entrenched in the work know how vital our work will be for advancing the profession we both love. Teacherpreneurship isn’t for everyone, but these can be the agents of change needed to push the envelope for those who think simply adding more responsibilities on a teacher’s plate is a sustainable model for schools.
Teacher leadership is the present. Teacherpreneurism, or whatever we call it, is a part of the hopeful vision for the future.
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Good gracious, change the name–”teacherpreneurism” sounds like a vascular disease, and the word itself just sounds ugly.
Of course it gets mixed up with “entrepreneur”! Nothing wrong with entrepreneur per se, but the word has long been co-opted by others, and words being the slippery devils they are, belong to those who use them loudest. “Whatever it is we call it” matters.
If we want to create a professional class, we need to act professional, which means creating our own opportunities, pushing our values, chastising each other when necessary (ever been to a Morbidity and Mortality conference?). Until we do that, we are not professionals. We don’t need a new word for this.
(If we believe, as a profession, that the NCLB testing damages education, then as a profession, we should not be doing it. But we do it anyway.)
Hi Jose,
Great article! Can I repost this as a guest blog on “Learning 2030″?
Cheers!
dave
@ Michael: I agree with you. But let’s be real. We are probably the only profession that has almost NOTHING to do with creating the standards for said profession. Politicians who haven’t spent a day in the classroom dictate what we do.
As for looking at other nations as models for education. I always find this a a seach for fool’s gold. I mean, can we really do what Finland does? When Finland, or Japan, or any other European nation discusses national standards…it’s truly that. But we have in effect 50 nations to bring together here. All funded differently.
As for being viewed as professionals, I think it’s not just up to us. As long as politicians play with education like it’s something to gain at the polls, then we are always going to be at a deficit. The military faces some of the same dilemmas, but at least when it comes down to it…ultimately, politicians and the public respect the leadership and authority of the military leadership to do their job. They will give them whatever resources necessary to get it done. I wonder if the fact that education is a predominantly female dominated job is the reason behind the lack of respect for the professionals in the positions? Makes you wonder.
Thoughtful comments by all. But isn’t it time that expert teachers define and use the vocabulary that frames their profession. This is why we chose the term teacherpreneur – representing the best from the classroom (and those who remain actively engaged with students and families in teaching and learning) who spread their expertise. My article in the recent Kappan responds and transcends most of the critiques, many of them grounded in 20th century debates.
http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/92/6/28.abstract
The difficulty of the use of Teacherpreneur is the business model which can give a bad name to working to create a profit, not always to create a quality product. A Teacherpreneur needs to be able to do both to be successful. One area of the chart that seems to be lacking is specialized skills and training which allows for greater value for the veteran over the rookie.
I had come across a term I have embraced which is transdiciplinarian. This is a person who has expertise in numerous areas enough to ask the right questions of specialists in order to develop a holistic, comprehensive and fluid course of action. While skills and specialization are good to have, there is a need to look with a generalist eye in order to see the layers and the parochial issues that can interfere with the education of a student. The teacherpreneur has many merits but may have difficulty being accepted by people wary of a hand out to carpetbaggers looking to cash in on the educational dollar.
The difficulty of the use of Teacherpreneur is the buisness model which can give a bad name to working to create a profit, not always to create a quality product. A Teacherpreneur needs to be able to do both to be successful. One area of the chart that seems to be lacking is specialized skills and training which allows for greater value for the veteran over the rookie. I had come accross a
It’s a terrible name. I consider the edupreneurs the bottom feeders of the industry. They are worse than the textbook companies.
Let’s find a word that expresses our values, not the values of those who would like to see us go away.
Barnett Barry says, “This is why we chose the term teacherpreneur – representing the best from the classroom (and those who remain actively engaged with students and families in teaching and learning) who spread their expertise.”
There is another name for active engagement with students and families in teaching and learning… and spreading that expertise. It’s called “teaching.”
The connotations of “entrepreneur” are about business and competition. Too many corporate concepts have recently been applied to education and the results are dismal. I’m not against improving schools. I’m a teacher and I am improving mine, but entrepreneurship is certainly not a model that I find helpful.