Reflective Practice and Teacher Education - Azim Premji University

Among others, Solomon (1987) critiqued Schön’s conception of reflective practice and
pointed out that the social and discursive dimension of teaching learning was missing.
He suggested reflection as a social practice in which articulation of ideas to and with
others was crucial to the development of reflective practice. Core features of reflective
practice include situated, goal directed activities and dialogues. Reflection is not wholly
contained in the mind of the individual but is “distributed” across the “situated learning
discourse community” (Hoffman-Kipp et al, 2003).
In India, there is a strong tradition of reflection (Kumar, 1995). The ideal of a ‘Guru’ has
been to continuously develop oneself as an individual and as a teacher, be committed to
the growth of one’s students, and have deep concern for the society (Sharma, 2008).
Swami Vivekananda identified a teacher as “one who can convert himself, as it were, into
a thousand persons at a moment’s notice” (Swami Vivekananda, 1941). For Tagore, “the
highest education is that which does not merely give us information but make our life in
harmony with all existence” (Tagore, 1921). Gandhi’s constructive programme including
his system of basic education was similar to Swami Vivekananda’s educational aims and
Tagore’s holistic approach to education. Like Tagore, Gandhi also believed that the
ultimate goal of education was to develop the whole person – body, mind and spirit. The
essential aspects of Gandhi’s philosophy of education include developing character,
drawing out latent talents of students and revealing the qualities of the spirit (Richards,
2001). To Krishnamurti, education is spontaneous perception which makes one free. All
his addresses to teachers were innately geared towards reflective practice. For example,
he stipulates that a teacher must be “constantly alert, intensely aware of his own thoughts
and feelings, of the ways in which he is conditioned, and of his activities and his
responses” (Krishnamurti, 1953).
Starting from Aristotle’s crucial conceptualization of exercising judgment, Dewey’s
moral and ethical aspects, R S Peters’ account of teacher autonomy of professional
judgment, to Schön’s idea of harmonizing theory and practice in professional
development, and Indian thinkers’ insights, the notion of reflective practice straddles a
wide spectrum. Several writers and researchers have extended and extrapolated these
ideas of reflective practice within teacher professional development. This is elaborated in
the next section.
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