RADICAL TEFL

validation stage (sec. 3 above). The thinking of Stenhouse and McIntyre seems to
have in common the core idea that reflection and ongoing 'research' are part of the
same looping and self-correcting 'continual process' of learning from teaching. The
teacher is investigating her classroom, ‘investigating’ used here in a wider sense than
reductionist ‘research’ with the focus of careful design leading to data collection for
analysis. If we follow the line of thought presented above, then not only are teaching
and 'research' somehow intertwined, but it might even be argued that they cannot be
kept separate from each other...
4. 2 Enquiry, memories and Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
In this sub-section I try to link an understanding of teacher cognition with Dewey’s
theory of enquiry (see the footnotes in this sub-section for citations from the
educational literature on teacher cognition).
If a teacher is taking decisions for classroom work, based on feedback from students,
then we have a short-term loop in operation, as follows: Teacher's input (which leads
to); some result, eg student output (which leads to); evaluation or scrutiny of the
result (which leads to); modified input, and which so leads to new student output.
However, if this loop is understood to take place over years, as a teacher gains
experience and understanding, then a link seems to exist between specific enquiries,
and with an enquirer who is growing and developing understanding of his/her
specialism over time, that is, there may be implications in Dewey's theory for some
conditions for CPD to occur. 26 I will now explore further a connection between
short-term enquiry and longer-term CPD, in the context of an enquirer drawing on
memories of similar enquiries, taking an example from a dentist's work.
But can a connection really be looked for between a dentist's work or enquiries, and a
teacher's? Yes, because if, as Dewey argues, there are similarities within enquiry in
different fields, then this commonality presents an opportunity, by understanding
enquiry in one field, to try to understand implications of insights gained for enquiry in
another field. There are common processes at work, if only we can uncover them.
Specifically, a craftsman or dentist's enquiries and long-term learning may have
lessons (if we can see them) for understanding a teacher's enquiries and her CPD.
Recently I was able to observe an enquiring, problem-solving dentist at work, as I
was the patient. My dentist, in carrying out her enquiry into my problem, made a
tentative diagnosis (formulation of the problem and of action needed), and as
treatment progressed, took several X-rays to get new information, and so tested
26 Note on teacher cognition. The educationalist David Berliner (1987: 61) observes that the following
reflective strategies by a teacher, consistent with Dewey's theory of enquiry, may help her to learn from
her experience, and to develop her teaching, over time:“the ability to ask questions of oneself as one is
performing some activity” and“monitoring one's own and others' behaviour in a setting” and“seeking
alternative solution strategies to problems” . For critical and probing work on 'reflection' in teaching,
see articles by Michael Eraut; Jan Bengtsson; and Max von Manen's On the epistemology of reflective
practice, which are all in issue 1/1 of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice (1995), edited by
Christopher Day. For a probing overview of the concept of 'teacher-reflection' see Calderhead & Gates
(eds. )(1993), Introduction, and also the papers which follow, especially by Donald McIntyre (1993),
and paper 8 by Tom Russell. In researching this study I found the work of James Calderhead very
perceptive and helpful for understanding issues in teacher cognition. On teachers' decision-making, see
Calderhead (1984: ch. 1). For a survey of work on teacher cognition see Simon Borg (2003), and see
Leinhardt & Greeno (1986), and Calderhead (1996).
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