John Dewey’s Reception in “Schönian” Reflective Practice

Abstract

Contemporary discourse on professional learning tends to claim John Dewey’s paternity for what has become a tradition of “Schönian” reflective practice.1 I wish to challenge this claim to Dewey’s legacy and to demonstrate how “reflective practice” discourse suggests a limited and, at times, distorted reception of his thought. Positively, I suggest some directions for reconsidering how Dewey’s theories of experience, habit, and the ideal offer more expansive, more integrated notions