Kinsella - Critiques of Reflective Practice
Kinsella - Critiques of Reflective Practice
Kinsella - Critiques of Reflective Practice
Roundtable:
Introduction
Over the course of the last fifteen years, professional educators have witnessed the
unprecedented popularity of the theory known as reflective practice. Schn (1983) coined the
term reflective practice in his seminal and oft quoted book The reflective practitioner.
Reflective practice has been adopted in the continuing education programs of a wide range of
professional groups, and is a dimension of the quality assurance programs of numerous
regulatory bodies. Although critiques of the theory of reflective practice have been articulated,
they have rarely been examined with a consideration of how such critiques open up possibilities
for further theoretical developments. In this paper, I raise four critiques of Schn's theory of
reflective practice with a view to considering how such critiques open an avenue for productive
dialogue. I conclude by suggesting directions for further theoretical work.
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