Teachers' Practical Theories: Reflective Insights

Reflective Teaching: An Introduction 2nd Edition Routledge 2013 Kenneth M. Zeichner and Daniel P. Liston In order to understand and direct our educational practices, we need to reflect on our own beliefs and understandings. So much of teaching is rooted in who we are and how we perceive the world. TEACHERS PRACTICAL THEORIES Chapter 3 Transmitted Knowledge Values Let s turn our attention to teachers' beliefs and understandings and the relation between these understandings and practices. Experience Personal

Norwegian teacher educators Gunnar Handal and Per Lauvas (1987), maintain that teachers practical theories can be understood as the intermingling of personal experiences, transmitted knowledge, and core and Lauvas (1987) state that: Focusing on the experiences that prospective teachers encounter in a teacher education program, Handal Handal and Lauvas Framework for Understanding the Source of Teachers Practical Theories values. At a minimum, such teaching practice will give the "raw experience of having taken part and performed a role in teaching situations. At its optimum, it will also give rise to an understanding of the situation and of the student teacher's own role in it, of Personal Experience All adults have had a variety of life experiences, including educational experiences that can potentially inform their work in the present-as pupils being educated, as teachers in various roles, as parents, and so on. seen in light of this particular experience. Per Lauvas Gunnar Handal why things went as they actually did; and even an understanding of more general phenomena in education, Educational experiences, along with innumerable other life experiences, form an "experiential" basis for teachers' practical theories.

Transmitted Knowledge In addition to what we directly experience ourselves, we And still other knowledge encourages a reexamination of some of our basic assumptions. also pick up and use other people's knowledge and understandings. We watch others act, we listen to and talk to others, we read books, watch films, live in particular cultures and subcultures, and so forth, all of which potentially inform our practical theories. evidence to help teachers accept, reject, and/or modify their existing beliefs based on their assessment of the external knowledge in light of their own experience and values. A way of bridging external knowledge with teachers' practices is when external knowledge is used by teachers to test their beliefs. Here the external knowledge is used as This notion of transmitted knowledge also includes concepts, categories, theories, and commonly held beliefs, that are transmitted to us by persons, the media, and the world around us.

Values With regards to issues of cultural diversity, some educators believe that the establishment of a common culture, a core set of beliefs The third element of teachers' practical theories according to Handal and Lauvas (1987) is the values that we have about what is good and bad in life generally and, more specifically in education. shared by all, is an essential goal of public schooling. Focusing on values close to the classroom, child-centered individuals believe that the teacher should be first and foremost concerned with the well-being and interests of the children. disenfranchisement felt by those who are not part of mainstream U.S. society. Others maintain that such an emphasis only adds to the sense of oppression and Knowledge-centered teachers place a greater emphasis on the content, the knowledge, and the skills that students are supposed to learn.

Most all practicing and prospective teachers have definite value reactions to environments that are highly competitive or collaborative, and have attitudes and values about relationships of authority. These values affect how we interpret and react to our experiences and how we look at and examine transmitted knowledge and, as a result, affect how we teach and interact with students and colleagues.