ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the ECtHR’s views on teaching, especially on the role and responsibilities of a teacher. It covers part of what is termed pedagogy on a narrow definition and raises a set of assumptions about learning. There are three broad issues within the current research to consider: teaching as vocation or profession; teacher agency and curriculum; teacher talk. These issues themselves position the relationship between teacher and learner differently and imply different models or metaphors of learning. Two cases are reviewed: Dahlab v. Switzerland, under A9, concerning a teacher’s right to wear hijab in school, and Fernández Martínez v. Spain, under A8, concerning whether a religious education teacher’s failure to comply with his church’s demands meant he could not be a teacher. These cases raise questions about the porosity of boundaries between personal religiosity and public professionality and about the relationship between the teacher and the curriculum. They also can be viewed through the lens of different models or metaphors for learning.
