The Power of Humble Teaching and What it Takes to Master it

Keywords: Humble teaching, humble leadership, process consulting

Abstract: Building upon the ground-breaking work of Edgar Schein (Lambrechts, Bouwen, Grieten, Huybrechts & Schein, 2011) on Process Consulting, Humble Leadership, and Humble Inquiry, this paper introduces the concept of Humble Teaching (HT). Humble Teaching is a personalized, relationship-based process of constant inquiry, reflection, empathy and adaptation that is internalized by the instructor to facilitate a learner’s empowerment and long-lasting personal learning. The paper summarizes the benefits of HT and outlines both external (discipline-based) and internal (personal values and experience-based) boundaries. We see the added value of the paper in its focus on the question “What does it take to become a Humble Teacher?” We also share some of our teaching tools and class assignments, designed with the premises of HT in mind. Lastly, the paper discusses faculty aspirations and concerns related to "Humble Teaching and grading" and "Humble Teaching and student engagement”.