The Reflective Practitioner

Following substantial changes throughout the Australian education system, primary schools are no longer in the protected position of having a regulated flow of clients, a pre-determined curriculum and marginal levels of staff development. Recent moves have brought new or increased responsibilities for all schools in areas such as: *curriculum and policy development *staff development *monitoring and assessment *the use of new technologies *resource allocation This book seeks to review the impact of this change on Australian primary schools, on the people who are involved with them and the issues they face. Primary education is being re-structured throughout the world, and therefore these issues are of great interest and relevance to educators worldwide.

Donald A. Schön, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Contents: Professional Knowledge and Reflection-in-Action: The crisis of confidence in professional knowledge; From technical rationality to reflection-in-action. Professional Contexts for Reflection-in-Action: Design as a reflective conversation with the situation; Psychotherapy: The patient as a universe of one; The structure of reflection-in-action; Reflective practice in the science-based professions; Town planning: Limits to reflection-in-action; The art of managing: Reflection-in-action within an organizational learning system; Patterns and limits of reflection-in-action across the professions. Conclusion: Implications for the professions and their place in society.