On the adequacy of expert teachers: From practical convenience to psychological reality

Abstract

This literature review examined approximately 10000 titles in five representative journals in education. It is conducted at two levels. Section A identified the preferred terms and metaphors to describe teachers at different expertise levels. Results indicated a great inconsistency in terms of terminology as well as definition of the same terms or metaphors in different journals, with a lot of them being suggestive and poetic. Section B started with the two most frequent terms, “expert” & “experienced”, and put thirty two empirical studies into content analysis to uncover how their respective samples were operationally defined and selected. Findings showed both terms were constantly under-represented and there was a lack of dependable agreed-upon definition of experienced and expert. It is argued our limitations in educational knowledge could be partly attributed to such poor conceptualizations, imprecise operationalizations, and reductive bias of researchers.