Often we talk about "empowering" learners, but that word doesn't ring true for me. It implies that there is something that I can do to learners that will make them powerful people. Instead, I have come to think about my role as getting out of the way, so that students can claim power over their learning. Instead of focusing on students and what they need to be "empowered," I have come to concentrate on myself. What barriers do I put in the way of students having power over themselves and their learning? What can I do to chip away at those barriers?
In 2001 I moderated an on-line discussion sponsored by Literacy BC called "Getting Out of the Way." The theme of the conference was power—the power we have as instructors, the power students have, and the dance of taking power, giving power and sharing power as individuals and in groups.
For six weeks we talked about our practice as instructors, tutors and administrators; we talked personally about "striking a balance," and about "walking a fine line" in our attempts to provide leadership while leaving room for students also to lead. We talked about the leadership that the teacher provides as part of the contract between teacher and student, and the leadership students take as they strive to make schooling work for them. That leadership, contrasted with control, was everywhere in the discussion, as people strove for balance. As instructors, we have expertise and experience that makes us valuable leaders, but when that expertise and experience give us control over the teaching-learning process, and leave the students with little or no control, there we are, back in that old situation, with us at the front telling students what to do, and students lying back in their seats, arms folded, saying, "So, teach me. (If you can!)"