The Hollowing Out of the Teacher as an Intellectual

The professor has ceased to be a leader of knowledge, and that's not the student's fault.

It would be desirable for students to recognize teachers as leaders of knowledge. However, reality reveals something deeper and more troubling: many teachers no longer perceive themselves in this role, instead occupying the position of curriculum executors, workbook mediators, or behavior managers.

This shift does not occur by chance, nor is it the result of a lack of intellectual capacity. It stems from a continuous process of delegitimizing teachers’ knowledge. Gradually, teachers are displaced from the position of those who think, interpret, and construct meaning, and are pushed into increasingly operational functions. Content is delivered, the methodology of the moment is applied, the classroom is managed — but the role of intellectual leadership is rarely claimed.

When teachers themselves stop seeing their work as the production and stewardship of knowledge, students learn — even if implicitly — that there is no cognitive leadership present. They learn that knowledge always resides elsewhere: in the workbook, on the platform, in the video, in the algorithm. The teacher becomes an intermediary rather than a reference.

There is also a recurring confusion between authority and authoritarianism. Leading knowledge does not mean controlling, silencing, or imposing. It means guiding thought, provoking better questions, expanding repertoire, establishing criteria, and sustaining arguments. This requires mastery, intentionality, and, above all, awareness of one’s own role.

The problem is structural. Fragile initial training, exhausting working conditions, hollow pedagogical discourses, and constant pressure for immediate results erode professional identity. In many contexts, mere survival already consumes all available energy — leadership becomes a luxury.

“Teachers should be viewed as intellectuals who actively participate in the production and legitimation of knowledge.”

Even so, it is precisely the recovery of this identity that can reframe teaching practice. Teachers who recognize themselves as leaders of knowledge do not depend on labels or pedagogical trends. They build authority through thought, clarity, and coherence between what they say and what they do.

Students notice. They always do.

As long as teachers do not authorize themselves as intellectuals of their own practice, they are unlikely to be seen as such. Leadership in knowledge begins from the inside out — as posture, as narrative, and as a daily choice.

Did you enjoy this topic? Explore more texts on education, culture, and critical thinking at lorenassuncao.com.

#Education

Elevate your journey!

Loren Assunção

Educator • English Teacher • Lifelong Learner