Teacher learning: Schön and the language of reflective practice

Philpott (2014) considered experiential learning and the reflective practitioner and drew attention to the work of Schön to ask how Schön’s model of professional learning might help develop practitioners’ critical understandings, what the limitations might be, and what might be the implications for initial teacher education. Philpott suggested that Schön sought to develop a view that “emphasises the importance of personally generated, contextually specific solutions to ever-changing circumstances” (p. 9). Philpott was worried that such ‘personal knowledge’ might be restrictive, that Schön’s account is “arguably over reliant on considering learners as decontextualised individuals” (p. 13), and that it pays insufficient attention to the “social aspects of professional learning” (p. 13). This chapter critically interrogates Schön’s account and addresses Philpott’s concerns. It is argued that, whilst Schön offers some interesting descriptions of practice in his case studies, the analysis that he gives of them is flawed and that Schön’s account cannot be accepted without qualification. An alternative perspective using the later work of Wittgenstein is considered, to draw out the implications for the organisation and practices of teacher education both pre-service, as posited by Philpott, and in-service. Philpott’s conceptualisation is itself reinterpreted to address the so-called ‘theory-practice gap’, which he characterised in terms of ‘supply-side and demand-side learning’. The implications for a new understanding of reflection for teachers’ learning and teacher education are considered.

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