This paper discusses a contemporary debate concerning the separation of teaching qua instruction from the social needs of students and the implications that such a bifurcation might have for the overall idea of what a teacher is. Drawing from the work of Rousseau and Arendt, our aim is to argue for the necessity of understanding education as a process of formation, and by doing so, highlighting the importance of establishing trusting intergenerational relationships. Starting with Rousseau’s conception of formation in Emile, we will illustrate how education as formation necessarily entails a process of ethical maturation guided by the educator qua self-sufficient adult. The role of the educator, in this account, moves from a passive to a gradually more active educator as Emile passes from childhood to adolescence. We will then turn to Arendt’s critique of Rousseau’s ‘negative’ education and of the subsequent modern dismantling of adult authority. Having outlined some of the continuities and tensions between Rousseau and Arendt’s understanding of formation we will end this paper by arguing for the importance of appreciating the reciprocity of the teacher-child relation in a contemporary understanding of education.