Authenticity
Chapter Four in Brookfield’s book, entitled ‘What Students Value in Teachers’, is about teacher authenticity. Brookfield believes that students appreciate an ‘authoritative ally’ (p.42) in their teachers, which is a blend of credibility (teacher has valuable expertise and experience to share) and authenticity (teachers are open, honest, mindful and responsive). In 2009, Mazur, Murphy and Simonds found that teachers that were perceived to be trustworthy (a factor of authenticity) were also given higher ratings in competence (a factor of credibility) (Donovan, 2009) - if students perceive an ally in their teacher, they have more confidence in their expertise and experience. When students experience learning with a credible and authentic teacher, they will learn skills to pursue their own authenticity, which “goes beyond changing what students know – it can change who they are” (Weimer, 2012). Teacher authenticity has been identified as an important factor in increased student engagement – in a study of 300 college students, Johnson and Labelle found that students achieved “higher levels of understanding and deeper learning” (found in Fernandez, 2017) with ‘authentic’ teachers. ‘Authentic’ teachers are perceived as more credible and their students learn deeply and engage in critical thinking and transformative learning – their classes become places where risks are taken and norms are challenged, and students and teachers learn and grow together.
One aspect of authenticity is about bringing one’s whole self to school and work; to “join self and subject and students in the fabric of life” (Palmer, 1998, p. 11). This idea goes against a popular belief that people should leave their personal lives outside of the workplace – in the words of a teacher named John: “I think it is important that what we teach is a part of who we are and I wonder if a dilemma in university education today may be that learning has become separated from who we are as human beings” (Carusetta & Cranton, 2005, p. 291). This dichotomy is a barrier to wholeness, which is an important piece of the authenticity puzzle. Palmer asserts that “Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not in conforms to some image of who we ought to be” (2000, p. 16). Along the path to aligning all of our ‘selves’, is the process of individuation, which, according to Jung, means to ”differentiate ourselves from the collective of humanity while at the same time finding our place in that collective” (Cranton, 2006, p. 84). To become authentic, teachers must ensure that they are being true to themselves in all aspects of their lives or they run the risk of losing the trust of their students, which could result in loss of their credibility in their subject area.
Authenticity requires us to take off our masks and be true to ourselves at home, at work, in our communities and in our hearts and minds. I think that we all feel, at some level, like we are unique and strange, and that we must keep our insecurities and vulnerability safe inside of ourselves so that we avoid judgement, criticism and having to face the parts of ourselves that we are not proud of. Years ago, a friend of mine encouraged me to ‘let my freak flag fly’ – and I have tried to do so in my personal life, but I have been more guarded in my professional life – I was raised to believe that it is appropriate to separate my personal and professional lives. Teachers at Renaissance College in New Brunswick experienced great joy when they when they were encouraged to remove their teaching facades and participate in an interdisciplinary, student-centred, personalised experimental program (Carussetta & Cranton, 2005). Authentic teaching not only benefits students, it also increases engagement for teachers. Engaged teachers are unlikely to deliver the same course over many years – their course material and activities evolve over time, as the teacher learns from their experience.
Authenticity is a complex idea that is constantly evolving; just as becoming our authentic selves is constantly evolving. For example, Kreber (2007) identified six dimensions of authenticity (Weimer, 2011), Cranton & Carusetta (2004) generated five categories, Brookfield described four indicators, and De Bruckere & Kirschner (2016) found four criteria that student used to describe authentic teachers.