The harms of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media

Alkis Kotsonis; Gerry Dunne

The harms of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media

Journal article

Alkis Kotsonis, Gerry Dunne
Journal of Moral Education, 2023

Semantic Scholar DOI

Cite

APA Click to copy
Kotsonis, A., & Dunne, G. (2023). The harms of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media. Journal of Moral Education.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Kotsonis, Alkis, and Gerry Dunne. “The Harms of Unattainable Pedagogical Exemplars on Social Media.” Journal of Moral Education (2023).

MLA Click to copy
Kotsonis, Alkis, and Gerry Dunne. “The Harms of Unattainable Pedagogical Exemplars on Social Media.” Journal of Moral Education, 2023.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{alkis2023a,
  title = {The harms of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media},
  year = {2023},
  journal = {Journal of Moral Education},
  author = {Kotsonis, Alkis and Dunne, Gerry}
}

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper scrutinizes the nature and scope of deleterious consequences arising from the pursuit of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media. We cash out this phenomenon using exemplarist theory to emphasize the fact that social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) are platforms in which the vast majority of users present idealized and curated versions of themselves. We focus specifically on educational practitioners and show that attempting to emulate unattainable pedagogical exemplars has negative impacts on agents’ emotional well-being: It can cause burnout and self-conflict, decrease motivation, and also inflict detrimental outcomes on agents’ self-esteem. We conclude that attainable, relevant, relatable, and authentic exemplars are key to a successful exemplarist approach and that safeguarding against unattainable pedagogical exemplars is of paramount importance for the wellbeing of pedagogues, and by extension, the success of educational systems.

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