Teaching as mediation: The cogenerative dialogue and ethical understandings

The mediation by teachers of the many activity systems that constitute any given class has traditionally been an ignored aspect of teaching. In this paper we argue that the teacher's responsibility for this mediation exists and must therefore be accounted for in the praxis of teaching. In addition we argue for the cogenerative dialogue as one viable solution for teachers to mediate in an ethically responsive manner. We construct these arguments because teachers must be better prepared to understand their complex role in the classroom along with their ethical responsibility to the students for the effective negotiation of the systems they navigate each day. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.