Vulnerability and Love of Learning as Necessities for Wise Teacher Education

Abstract

May Sarton's (1961) novel, The Small Room, provides a rich and compelling description of the complex relations among teachers, students, and subject matter at Appleton College. This article explores that “wild triangle of relations” in the context of teacher education, arguing that teacher educators and their students (prospective teachers) should recognize and embrace vulnerability and love as necessary relational qualities in developing and maintaining both the art of learning and the art of teaching. This requires that teacher education in both language and practice relinquish a focus on control and mastery, relinquish a focus on an enclosed and controlling self, and redirect attention to nurturing a loving gaze to what lies outside of us.