Thinking about the Thinking about Self-Study: An Analysis of Eight Chapters

Abstract

This chapter has specifically been written to offer the perspective of critical friends on the issues raised in the first section of this Handbook. As a crucial aspect of self-study, there is an ongoing need to move beyond oneself and to grasp alternative viewpoints on situations. Attending to alternative perspectives is important in self-study so that the development of ideas and actions and, the resultant learning, might be informed by careful consideration of perspectives beyond the self in line with the ideas of framing and reframing described by Schön (1983, 1987). However, framing and reframing is itself problematic and this chapter explores how, through a careful analysis of the first eight chapters of the Handbook, critical friends are able to question and critique the work of others in meaningful ways. This chapter is illustrative of the underlying approach to self-study whereby honest and professional critique is sought to enhance learning and to better inform the subsequent claims derived from such learning.