Dr Pip Bruce Ferguson, February 2014
Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
Teaching Development Unit, Wāhanga Whakapakari Ako
How can I
improve my
practice?
www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu 1
INTRODUCTION
“If you always do what you always did, then you’ll always get what you always
got.”
“One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things, but expect a
different result.”
These quotes illustrate the necessity for practitioners in any environment to consider how best
to refresh their practice, to get better at what they do, to benefit from good practice that they
may have seen in others, or to avoid aspects of their own practice that students or others have
told them need correction.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
The learning outcomes for this workshop include the following:
Students will be expected to be able to:
• Provide a rationale for why reflection is encouraged in teacher education;
• Describe the main features of the history of reflective practitioner movement;
• Analyse and discuss own preferred ways of learning in a variety of contexts;
• Critically evaluate the claimed benefits and disadvantages of being a ‘teacher-as-researcher’;
• Determine own preferred ways of reflecting, based on past experience;
• Consider and critique exemplars of reflective practice presented at the workshop.
Activity:
Using the materials provided, spend ten minutes capturing your reflections on the kind of
learning environment that you would most prefer, when you are learning a new skill. It can be in a
university, community education or other context. Be prepared to share your reflections with your
colleagues shortly.
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Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
GROUP TASK
THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT
Group 1
Over time, in education, various writers have suggested why and how teachers might work to
improve their own practice. Back in the 1930s, John Dewey (1933) described the difference
between impulsive action, routine action and reflective action. The first, Dewey believed, was
based on trial and error. The second relied on traditional ways of operating, sanctioned by
authority. Both of these methods he felt were used by practitioners without engaging in much
thought about how they were operating. However, Dewey claimed that reflective action arose
from the work of educators who were active; who persistently and carefully considered how they
practised and what they were teaching, and was often the result of a need to solve a particular
problem. Reflective thought is a “chain (which) involves not simply a sequence of ideas but a consequence” (Dewey, 1933, p. 4).
Dewey believed that if teachers did not operate reflectively, they risked basing their practice
on prejudice and uninformed or outdated thinking. However, if they critically reflected on their
practice, this should improve, provided that they used such skills as observation and reasoning,
working within a framework of responsibility for their students, open-mindedness to better ways
of operating, and passion for their work.
Group 2
The notion of teachers as reflective practitioners was further developed in reaction to a
tendency for research to be done on, rather than by, teachers. In the early 1970s Stenhouse, at
the University of East Anglia, promoted the change from reliance on outside ‘expert’ research
(Stenhouse, 1970; Stenhouse, 1975), a discourse in which teachers were the intended recipients
of advice from university-based researchers who wrote papers on what constituted good practice.
As Kincheloe (1991) pointed out, this advice was usually ignored by the teachers who perceived it
as irrelevant if they were aware of it at all (see also Elliott, 1994: Smith & Lovat, 1991, Zeichner &
Noffke, 1998).
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Stenhouse was at the forefront of the ‘researching teacher’ movement in the U.K., claiming
that all teaching ought to be based on research but that research and curriculum development
should be the preserve of teachers who gain understanding of their work through studying
their own problems and effects (McKernan, 1991). Stenhouse coined the term “teacher as
researcher” (quoted in Zeichner & Noffke, 1998). Elliott and Adelman (1973) further promoted
teacher-research work using action research in their Ford Teaching Project, which aimed to
promote pupil independence, teacher identification of problems through utilising systematic
reflection, and the ongoing development of teacher self-awareness.
Elliott’s later work (1978) argued that teaching is inescapably a theoretical activity (quoted
in McKernan, 1991:22). Teachers, according to Elliott, should interpret their everyday practice
through the pursuit of reflective self-development. His thesis was that the two areas, split by
the tendency for theory to be developed in universities and promoted to practitioners, should
be reunified through being developed by teachers themselves. This kind of thinking has been
continued and further developed in other countries around the world. It has been used at
Deakin University in Australia by Kemmis and McTaggart, (1982); Carr and Kemmis, (1986,
2009); Kemmis and McTaggart (1988); Walker (1993, 1995, 2009), and in the U.S. by CochranSmith & Lytle, (1990, 2009), and Noffke & Zeichner, (1987), among other educators.
Group 3
“Teachers as researchers” is a disputed concept. The notion is currently contested terrain.
Despite the promotion of teachers as researchers who utilise the skills of reflective practice
to improve their own situations, there is some debate about the extent to which the teacheras-researcher movement is, or even should be, replacing a reliance on university based
research. Zeichner (1995) discussed the way that many classroom teachers still see research
as an activity conducted by those outside the classroom for the benefit of those outside the
classroom.
McIntyre, presenting his presidential address to the British Education Research Association,
questioned the ‘relation between the practice of teachers on one hand and research done by
professional researchers on the other’ (1997:131). In this statement McIntyre clearly polarised
the two areas, which Elliott had worked to integrate. He quoted Elliott’s 1989 presidential
address in which Elliott claimed that there could be no educational research in which teachers
played no important role in the process of articulating, analysing and hypothesising solutions
to complex educational problems, and that professional researchers should be subordinate
to this. McIntyre, by contrast, argued that ‘It seems to me simply unreasonable to demand of
teachers that they be researchers as well as teachers, when the expertise required for the two
activities is so very different’ (ibid., 132).
Why did McIntyre think that teaching and research were incompatible activities? His argument
was based on the notion that the split-second judgements which teachers need to make to
practice effectively are at variance with the single-minded concern with clearly-formulated
agendas, careful planning and analysis of what has happened, the skills which McIntyre argued
are needed from researchers. Woodhouse, then Director of the New Zealand Universities
Academic Audit Unit, agreed, stating that there is ‘an assumption that all academics can be
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Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
good at both teaching and research, which, given the quite different nature of the two activities,
should not be expected to be universally true’ (Woodhouse, 1997:360; italics not in original).
Group 4
The notion of reflection is debated (Adler, 1991; Bengtston, 1995; Cole, 1997; Grimmet
et al, 1990; Hatton and Smith, 1995 - all quoted in Haigh, 1998), and McTaggart, 1995:32).
The most frequently quoted proponent of reflectively practising teachers was Donald
Schon, whose 1983 The Reflective Practitioner most concisely presented the developing
discourse. The kinds of split-second judgements based on professional past experience which
McIntyre considered both typical of good teachers and simultaneously incompatible with their
adopting of a research function concurrently, are spelled out in Schon’s work, summarised by
Gilbert. As Gilbert explained it, Schon described:
Knowing-in-action [which] is the professional knowledge that practitioners actually use,
as distinct from the theoretical, scientifically derived knowledge that technical-rationalist
approaches assume that they used. [There is also] Reflection-in-action [which] occurs when
new situations arise in which a practitioner’s existing stock of knowledge - their ‘knowingin-action’ is not appropriate for the situation. It involves reflecting on ‘knowing-in-action’.
‘Reflection-in-action’ is a process through which hitherto taken for granted ‘knowing-inaction’ is critically examined, reformulated and tested through further action. It is a process of
research through which the development of professional knowledge and the improvement of
practice occur together (in much the same way as in action research)
(Gilbert, 1994:516, emphasis in original).
Some Theory That Underpins Reflective Practice
Much of our traditional learning experience has led us to believe that we learn best by listening
to experts. It has been found, however, that learning that results in increased self-awareness,
changed behaviour, and the acquisition of new skills must actively engage the individual in the
learning process. In particular, adults have been found to learn more effectively by doing or
experiencing.
Adult learning specialist, David Kolb, has described this learning process as a four-phase cycle in
which the learner:
• does something concrete or has a specific experience which provides a basis for
• the learner’s observation and reflection on the experience and their own response to it.
• These observations are then assimilated into a conceptual framework or related to other
concepts in the learner’s past experience and knowledge
• from which implications for action can be derived; and tested and applied in different
situations.
The adult learner assimilates useful information into their personal “experience bank” against
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which future learning events will be compared and to which new concepts will be related. Unless
what is learned can be applied to actual work or life situations the learning will not be effective or
long lasting.
People responsible for designing learning events should keep these phases in mind as they develop
ways to help the learner understand and be able to use the new knowledge and/or skill.
How can you use Kolb’s model to help students learn to learn?
• “The whole point of education is that a person develop capacities in all four of the learning
modes.
• Learning is the process by which development occurs… We want to accomplish an increase
in students’ cognitive complexity. We want to move them to a higher level of critical
thinking.
• We used to think we were arming or empowering students when we gave them the facts.
Now we realize we must give them the theory [of learning] - not just for a successful college
life, but for a successful productive life.”
Quoted from The National Teaching and Learning Forum, Vol. 1, No. 5, 1992, pp2 -3.
Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University. On http://222.augsburg.edu.depts/
infotech/learn/sld005.htm, Dr Lori Lohman and Dr Kathryn Schwalbe
Pip will talk about reflective practice and action research
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Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
There is also a large amount of theoretical work that connects reflective practice with action
research. We will discuss this during the workshop, but writers such as Kemmis and McTaggart,
Stenhouse and Elliott, McNiff, Somekh and Whitehead have all written extensively about how
reflective practice underpins action research. Kolb’s cycle is the basis of the ‘standard’ action
research spiral:
The preceding section has described how the teacher-as-researcher concept developed over
time, and also some of the arguments that have been advanced against the notion. Let’s take
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BENEFITS OF BEING A ‘TEACHER-AS-RESEARCHER’
time to reflect on our own perceptions of the approach.
Task:
For five minutes, reflect on what you think might be the benefits of becoming a researching
teacher who inquires into your own practice. These benefits might be theoretical, practical
or both. Write them down, and be prepared to share them with others. You may also want to
capture any ideas about the disadvantages of this approach also, for later discussion.
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Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
Following group discussion and feedback, list the benefits you have shared or heard below.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
List any reservations or disadvantages you have shared or heard below.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CAPTURE REFLECTIONS
IN SOME WAY AS YOU PRACTISE?
There is a variety of ways of capturing reflections, and we’ll look at some of these shortly.
Meanwhile, why is it important to record your thoughts as these happen? Teachers have said:
• “When I’ve been doing professional reading, I sometimes come across really great ideas that
someone has tried out in their class, and written about. I’d like to try those out in my own
work, but the pressures of work often mean that I don’t get around to it unless I actually
write into my plan for a subsequent session that I’ll try one of them in that session.”
• “Sometimes, when I’m teaching a session, I’ll get to the end and think that something didn’t
go quite right. At the time, I can remember why that happened. But if I don’t write it down,
then the next time I come to teach that session I have a gnawing feeling that something
didn’t go well, but I’m darned if I can remember what it was! It can make me feel quite
anxious about how the session will proceed.”
• “When I’ve been out walking, I’ve often had flashes of insight into how to teach a class in a
better way. If I don’t take the time to write down my insight when I get home, I often can’t
remember it in the future.”
• “I’ve been observing someone else’s teaching, either in a formal sense when I’ve been asked
to give peer feedback, or sometimes through something I’ve seen in a movie or on TV. I
think there are some aspects of the way that person is teaching that I’d love to try out. But I
don’t always remember how they set the situation up, or what they did, so I can find myself
reluctant to try it.”
If we do not take the time to write down or record ideas in some way as these occur to us,
we’re in danger of losing them. So, as you develop as a reflective practitioner/teacher-asresearcher, we encourage you to find a way of capturing ideas that works for you.
A further benefit of capturing ideas and then formally reflecting on the effectiveness or
otherwise of these, is that they are data for academic papers. A number of these are on display
during the workshop.
Reflection time:
Take a couple of minutes and write down ways in which you keep a
record of reflections on your practice as these occur, or subsequently. Be
prepared to share these with the group.
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Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
EXEMPLARS: HOW DO PEOPLE CAPTURE
THEIR REFLECTIONS?
The way that people capture their reflections is largely dependent on
• their own learning style
• their discipline – whether they’re in a predominantly written-oriented, performance-oriented
or oral discipline; and
• what resources they happen to have at hand at the time!
For practical reasons, most people capture their reflections via written forms such as diaries,
post-it notes on lesson plans, journals, portfolio materials, poetry, sometimes short stories,
novels or books (e.g. McWilliam, 1994).
However, some capture reflections in dance, some in drama, some in song. We will look at a
couple of these ‘alternative’ forms of reflection during the workshop. You may even choose to
present your own reflection in such a way.
A student at the University of Waikato gained her Masters thesis through the combination
of dance and reflective practice (Bright, 2005) and then completed her doctorate at this
university, dancing during her oral (Bright, 2010). She has taken a number of academic papers
to conferences reporting on this work.
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REFERENCES
Atkinson, T., & Claxton, G. (2000) The Intuitive Practitioner: on the value of not always know what
one is doing. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Bright, D. (2005) Light Reflections: a Grief Embodied. Thesis for M. Sports and Leisure Studies,
Hamilton, N.Z.: University of Waikato,
Bright, D. (2010) Exploring female art-making through reflective practice: A multi-dimensional
cultural , spriritual and embodied experience. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. Hamilton, N.Z : University of Waikato.
Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (2009). Educational Action Research: A Critical Approach. In S. Noffke
& B. Somekh (Eds)The Sage Handbook of Educational Action Research (pp. 74 – 84), Los
Angeles: Sage.
Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming Critical: Education, Knowledge and Action Research.
London: The Falmer Press.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (1990). Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge. New
York: Columbia: Teachers College Press.
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. (2009) Teacher Research as Stance. In S. Noffke & B. Somekh
(Eds)The Sage Handbook of Educational Action Research (pp. 39 - 49), Los Angeles: Sage.
Dadds, M. (1995). Passionate Enquiry and School Development: a story about teacher action
research. London: The Falmer Press.
Dadds, M. (2009) From Passionate Enquiry to Loving Detachment, in S. Noffke & B. Somekh
(Eds)The Sage Handbook of Educational Action Research (pp.278 - 289), Los Angeles: Sage.
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the
educative process, Heath & Co, Boston
Elliott, J. (1994). Research on Teachers’ Knowledge and Action Research. Educational Action
Research, 2(1), 133 - 140.
Elliott, J., & Adelman, C. (1973). Reflecting where the action is: The design of the Ford Teaching
Project. Education for Teaching, 92, 8 - 20.
Gilbert, J. (1994). The construction and reconstruction of the concept of the Reflective
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Science Education, 16(No. 5), pp. 511 - 522.
Haigh, N. (1998, July). Teaching ways of being reflective about practice. Paper presented at the
Transformation in Higher Education: Higher Education Research and Development Society
of Australasia Annual International Conference, Auckland, New Zealand. Available from
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nph-wb/20001210130000/http://www.auckland.ac.nz/cpd/
HERDSA/HTML/Workshop/Haigh.HTM
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Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (1988). The Action Research Reader. (3rd ed.) Geelong, Victoria:
Deakin University Press.
Kincheloe, J. L. (1991). Teachers as Researchers: Qualitative Inquiry as a Path to Empowerment.
London: The Falmer Press.
McIntyre, A. (1997). The Profession of Educational Research. British Educational Research
Association, 23(2), pp. 127 - 140.
McKernan, J. (1991). Curriculum Action Research: A Handbook of Methods and Resources for the
Reflective Practitioner. London: Kogan Page Ltd.
McNiff, J. (1988) Action Research Principles and Practice. London: Routledge.
McTaggart, R. (1995). Reflection on Teaching: Creating an Enquiry Culture in Education. Reflect,
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Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. et. al. (1982). The Action Research Planner. (Revised edition ed.)
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McWilliam, E. (1994). In Broken Images: Feminist Tales for a Different Teacher Education.
Columbia University: Teachers College Press.
Noffke, S., & Zeichner, K. (1987). Action Research and teaching thinking: The first phase of the
action research on action research project at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association,
Washington, D.C.
Noffke, S., & Somekh, B. (Eds) The Sage Handbook of Educational Action Research. Los Angeles:
Sage
Schon, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. (1995 ed.).
Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Schon, D. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Smith, D. & Lovat, T. (1991). Curriculum: Action on Reflection. Wentworth Falls, N.S.W.: Social
Science Press.
Somekh, B. (1995) The contribution of action research to development in social endeavours: a
position paper on action research methodology. British Educational Research Journal, 21 (3)
339—55.
Stenhouse, L. (1975). An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. London:
Heinemann Educational Books.
Stenhouse, L. (1970). The Humanities Project: An introduction. London: Heinemann.
www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu 13
Walker, M. (1993). Developing the Theory and Practice of Action Research: A South African case.
Educational Action Research, Vol. 1(No. 1), pp. 95 - 110.
Walker, M. (1995). Context, Critique and Change: doing Action Research in South Africa.
Educational Action Research, 3(1), pp. 9 - 26.
Walker, M. (2009) Capabilities, flourishing and the normative purposes of action research. In S.
Noffke & B. Somekh (Eds)The Sage Handbook of Educational Action Research (pp. 301 - 314),
Los Angeles: Sage.
Whitehead, J. (various) http://www.actionresearch.net/writing.shtml
Woodhouse, D. (1997, July). Auditing Research, and the research/teaching nexus. Paper
presented at the Research and the New Tomorrow Conference, UNITEC Institute of
Technology, Auckland.
Zeichner, K. (1995). Beyond the divide of teacher research and academic research. Teachers and
Teaching Theory and Practice, 1(2), pp. 153-172.
Zeichner, K., & Noffke, S. (1998). Practitioner Research. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook
of Research on Teaching (4th edition).Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research
Association.
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NOTES
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NOTES
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Becoming a Reflective Practitioner
Make a space at your place
for teaching.
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton 3240
New Zealand
Website: www.waikato.ac.nz
Teaching Development Unit
Centre for Tertiary Teaching and Learning
Phone: +64 7 838 4839, Fax: + 64 7 838 4573
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu
©The University of Waikato, February 2014.