Examining the aesthetic dimensions of teaching: Relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion Linda Hobbs * RMIT University, School of Education, P.O. Box 71, Bundoora VIC 3083, Australia article info Article history: Received 12 July 2011 Received in revised form 16 December 2011 Accepted 18 January 2012 Keywords: Aesthetics in education Teacher identity Teacher knowledge Teacher passion and motivation abstract Having an appreciation for the subject, their students and what the subject can offer their students has both cognitive and emotional dimensions for teachers. This paper uses empirical data to explore the efficacy of a Deweyan inspired framework called “Aesthetic Understanding” to scrutinise relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion. The paper uses case study data of three teachers of maths and/or science generated from a video study to illustrate the relationships between the three elements of Aesthetic Understanding. The need to value the aesthetic dimensions of teaching when examining the subject-specific nature of secondary teaching is discussed. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction A tradition of subject specialisation at the secondary level in Australia and internationally has meant that teachers are educated in disciplinary knowledge, and subject-specific knowledge of how and what to teach in schools and of how children learn. In most cases, secondary teachers have a history of engaging with a subject and discipline from school, university, the workplace or life, establishing certain attitudes and preferences that they may bring into the classroom. In mathematics and science, teachers trained in one will often be expected to teach both, sometimes regardless of training, because there is a belief that they share “linear ways of approaching things, step-by-step procedures, quantitative methods, and a mature paradigm” (Siskin, 1994, p. 174). However, maths and science are distinguishable epistemologically and methodologically, and these differences are represented in the subject matter, pedagogies and purposes associated with their respective school versions. The study reported in this paper examined the roles of the subject in shaping pedagogical differences and teachers’ orienta- tion to their teaching. Throughout the study I became aware of the specific needs and experiences of the “out-of-field” teacher, high- lighting the subject-specific and more general aspects of what it means to be a subject teacher. This practice of teaching out-of-field has the potential to impact on teacher quality. But in what ways, and how could this effect be evaluated? Being clear about what constitutes a quality teacher is essential for teacher educators preparing the next generation of teachers, for principals making decisions about who to appoint, for schools setting up school leadership teams, for those writing and implementing policy on education, and for researchers as they unravel the many complexities of the education scene. A number of themes emerged from the study, one of which related to the aesthetic dimension of teaching and how this aesthetic might be tied to subject. In this paper I examine these aesthetic dimensions of teaching, focussing specifically on the important dimensions of teacher passion, coherence and identity, and how such a framework might assist in teacher reflection and evaluation. Various frameworks have been developed over the years to evaluate and inform discussions about what teachers (should) do and know, what drives them, and how they see themselves. For example, the Principles of Effective Teaching and Learning (PoLT) by the Victorian Department of Education and Training consists of seven principles that describe how teachers should teach and create learning environments. Shulman’s (1986, 1987) classification of teacher knowledge sets out different types of knowledge domains, with pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical knowledge (PK) as the areas of knowledge that educators and researchers most commonly focus on (see, for example, Loughran, Berry, & Mulhall, 2006). Other theoretical lenses that examine how teachers see themselves * Tel.: þ61 03 99257095, þ61 0407881765 (mobile); fax: þ61 03 99257586. E-mail address: linda.hobbs@rmit.edu.au. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate 0742-051X/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2012.01.010 Teaching and Teacher Education xxx (2012) 1e10 Please cite this article in press as: Hobbs, L., Examining the aesthetic dimensions of teaching: Relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion, Teaching and Teacher Education (2012), doi:10.1016/j.tate.2012.01.010