Mediator teacher

The concept of a mediator teacher, sometimes called a guiding teacher, accompanying teacher, advising teacher, or tutor concerns the role of the educator to act as a facilitator of the learning process, which mobilizes different resources and strategies to support students in the construction, development, and evaluation of their knowledge construction processes.

Instead of an instructor, who presents content, the mediator teacher uses instructional moments and expands his tools for group activities, encouraging research and systematization of knowledge, creating the mobilization of educational opportunities complementary at school and in the territory and different active learning methodologies.

Mediator teacher: the origin of the concept

The term comes from the pedagogical practices and formulations of Célestin Freinet, an important French educator, John Dewey, an American educational reformer, Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and thinker, and from the practices and activities of Educommunication, a theoretical and practical field that makes use of the tools and theories of communication to favor educational processes.

According to researcher Ebenezer Menezes, in the Interactive Dictionary of Brazilian Education, “the teacher’s role is no longer to spread knowledge but to play the role of provoking the student to learn,” a fundamental skill for the proposal of an education connected to the needs of the 21st century and building a sustainable future. At Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, the teacher is a fundamental agent to support young people in building their projects, encouraging them and actively participating in their discoveries and challenges encountered along the way.

Access the entry Teacher Mediator, from the Reference Center for Integral Education, available in Portuguese.

Also access the complementary article La practica educada del maestro mediador, available in Spanish, on the subject, published in the Revista Iberoamericana de Educação (Iberoamerican Journal of Education).