Practice, theory, and person in lifelong professional learning

Abstract

Looking back to the time when the first ISATT conference took place, major changes have taken place in the theoretical frameworks and concepts guiding our thinking on teaching and teacher education. In this chapter, I discuss some of these changes, and their relations to each other. First, I focus on different models for teacher education, and more specifically, on a description of the tenets of the realistic model. Next, I explain the shift in teacher education towards a more realistic approach by relating it to new views of the intrapersonal sources of teacher behaviour including the nonrational and unconscious parts of a teacher's functioning. These new insights clarify why reflection is so important for teachers, and lead on to a specific view of what aspects are important in promoting reflection, and help us develop a different view on the role of theory in teacher education. Finally, I broaden my holistic view on teachers and teaching, and introduce a model of levels of reflection that helps to integrate into teaching the professional and the personal. I recommend attention to core reflection, for example, reflection that includes the levels of personal identity and mission. © 2005 Springer.