The appropriateness of the metaphor of the teacher as expert is examined through a theoretical and historical critique that examines expertise as a general social phenomenon. The metaphor is questioned because it tends to turn students and the public into passive receivers of expert service. (SLD)

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for the learning disabilities field identifies issues in the metaphor's use and concludes that effective special education has been inhibited by isolation of interventions from theory and by the way teacher education is structured. Use of the scaffolding metaphor to refocus…