Beyond Reflection to Being: The Contemplative Practitioner

The authors argue that teacher education needs to move beyond the 'reflective practitioner' concept, which integrates theory and practice through tacit knowing, toward a deeper level called the 'contemplative practitioner' or the level of Being. They critique Schön's view that professions have tended toward Technical Rationality, rooted in positivism and empirical science as the model for all inquiry, which reduces education to recall of knowledge and mastery of technique. The paper proposes that teachers can 'live' in their practice at this contemplative level, going beyond reflection-in-action to a more holistic, existential engagement with teaching.

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Abstract

needed discourse in education about how teachers can reflect on their own practice. Schon argues that the best professional practice is based on reflection-in-action where the practitioner integrates theory and practice through tacit knowing. This concept of the reflective practitioner has encouraged educators to view teaching as more than mastery of content and technical competence. We believe that there is yet another level beyond the reflective practitioner that teachers can “live ” in their prac tice; this is the level of Being. We call this educator the contemplative practitioner. Schon (1983) claims that the professions have tended toward Technical Rationality. Education as simply the recall of knowledge and mastery of technique falls into this category. According to Schon, Technical Ratio nality is rooted in positivism which rests on the premise that empirical science provides the best model for all inquiry and practice. Thus em piricism has been used as the model not only for the sciences, but for the social sciences and even areas such as philosophy. One of the principal thrusts of 20th-century philosophy has been analytic philosophy that rests on positivistic assumptions and abandons metaphysics as nonsensi cal. Technical Rationality involves instrumental problem solving and “depends on agreement about ends ” (Schon, 1983, p. 41). To solve problems the person immersed in Technical Rationality usually relies on a model that often is not directly related to practice. Schein (1973) argues that there are three components for professional knowledge based on a positivistic framework that is hierarchic in nature. The basic science component is deemed to be the most important. 1. An underlying discipline or basic science component upon which practice rests or from which it is developed.