Revisiting an Anti-Machiavellian model for teacher education: A critical perspective

Abstract

This study examines a borrowed concept from politics, that is, Machiavellian, in second language teacher education (SLTE), develops an anti-model to it, and explores teacher educators’ viewpoints about the developed model with an eye on critical aspects of teacher education, that is, Anti-Machiavellian. To do so, the literature on Machiavellian thoughts was studied thoroughly based on which a model was proposed and interview questions were constructed. Then, five Iranian expert teacher educators were selected based on non-random convenient sampling to attend individual extensive semi-structured interviews in which they discussed their opinions about the principles of Anti-Machiavellian SLTE. Adopting a thematic analysis, the data revealed that Anti-Machiavellian SLTE associates closely with critical teacher education where teacher education is context-specific, responsive to learners, dialogically engaging, reflective, and practical. The results of the in-depth interviews also indicated that Anti-Machiavellian SLTE is compatible with critical teacher education which, albeit widely advertised, is hard to practice.