‘If they're the customer, I'm the meat in the sandwich’: an exploration of tertiary teachers' metaphorical constructions of teaching

Abstract

Metaphors are a primary influence on the way we perceive and construct our world; they are also a way of revealing beliefs and attitudes that might otherwise be difficult to identify. Furthermore, metaphor has been found to be an effective way of shifting people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. This paper details the findings of a pilot study designed to explore New Zealand tertiary teachers' understanding of the consumer metaphor, and metaphor more generally, within tertiary education. Examining the responses of over 200 tertiary teachers to questions concerning their use of metaphor in relation to teaching, using Sfard [1998. On two metaphors of learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27, 4–13] and Martinez and colleagues' [2001. Metaphors as blueprints of thinking about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(8), 965–977.] system of categorising metaphor, our findings suggest that teachers are generally resistant to the consumer metaphor as it is applied to tertiary education. However, rather than rejecting the metaphor outright, teachers have tended to transform the metaphor from a purely behaviourist interpretation to a more cognitive interpretation, thus repositioning the student as active within the teacher−learner relationship, and focusing on transformation or enlightenment as the product of learning. The ambiguity of the metaphor may be contributing to a mismatch of expectations between teachers, institutions and policy-makers.