Being warm/strict as a teacher is part of a methodology which, if executed correctly, makes clear to students the expected classroom culture, behaviours and etiquette, and holds them to those expectations unwaveringly. This isn’t ‘strictness’ in the sense that one must be or pose as a dominator. No. Severus Snape was way out of line. Rather, it is situated, reflexive and compassionate.
Dominators are typically cold and unapproachable, and whilst their dominance may be self-affirming to other or aspiring dominators, dominator teachers risk ostracizing, intimidating and/or committing other forms of cognitive violence upon those— students and colleagues— who do not conform to their way of being, seeing and acting. This has nothing to do with ideology per se but ontology. (For instance, many traditionalist and progressive teachers alike encourage ‘tolerance’ as though it were an inclusive term, all the while neglecting to recognise how exclusionary the notion of being tolerated can be. Yet, by insisting on tolerance we risk making two implicit demands on the tolerators and tolerated respectively: (i) rather than inwardly confronting your negative feelings toward the ‘Other’, suppress those feelings; and (ii) if you truly desire acceptance or respect, assimilate. Though, of course, within many contexts tolerance may indeed signal a positive step in the right direction; it is something to build from).
Conversely, teachers who are ‘warm/strict’ allow their students to glimpse the person behind the teacher and give them the freedom to be, see and act for themselves (within reason, of course). Warm teachers are willing to be vulnerable when the moment is right; to tell stories; not to self-aggrandize but to share insights and anecdotes which pedagogically encourage reflexivity, curiosity, empathy, and ambition; and compel students to consider things otherwise. Being warm/strict in this sense is no mean feat. Not least because it can be risky— emotionally and professionally (such as when dominance is culturally pervasive or institutional). This certainly cannot be done lazily.
Sure, dominators sometimes get some quick and significant wins, such as instantaneous behavioural control (albeit, nearly always through fear). The warm/strict teacher, however, addresses their students as subjects rather than objects. They must be patient. Typically they have to endure a slower transition, not towards control but cooperation. They have clear and consistent boundaries and high yet contextually situated expectations. This helps to cultivate a classroom which values— and underpins a pedagogy qualitatively concerned with— personal dignity, character development, and academic rigour. That is, as opposed to a predominantly quantitative, objectifying pedagogy which focuses on statistics and results; a pedagogy concerned with and which ultimately ensures hegemonic continuity.
Megapedagogy 