Results (
Thai) 1:
[Copy]Copied!
Donald A. Schon was Ford Professor of Urban Studies and Educationat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the time of thepublication of this book. He had been a researcher and consultanton organisational learning and professional effectiveness andwas active in a number of American professional organisations.Earlier publications included The reflective practitioner (1983),Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective (1978, withChris Argyris), and Theory in practice: Increasing professionaleffectiveness (1974, with Chris Argyris).The comment shared when I received this book for review was,‘I’d forgotten how good this is’, and so in reviewing this book, Iembarked on a journey back to my earliest postgraduate courseworkand then employment as a TAFE teacher. Schon had begun his questin The reflective practitioner to answer the question: What kind ofprofessional education would be appropriate to an epistemologyof practice based on reflection-in-action? Educating the reflectivepractitioner seeks to answer this question in more detail.Schon proposes that higher education professional undergraduateand postgraduate programs need to learn from the rich history of(deviant) education for practice in the studios of art and design,conservatories of music, athletics coaching and apprenticeships inthe crafts. He argues that the teaching of applied sciences in manydisciplines needs to be combined with ‘coaching in the artistry ofreflection-in-action’.Schon illustrates his thesis by studying architectural education via theteaching of architectural design in studios as prototypes of reflectionin-action.He coins the term ‘reflective practicum’ as the frameworkfor students learning by doing with the assistance of professionalsas coaches. The design studio is explored as a blueprint for thedevelopment of a three-fold model of professional coaching: ‘followme!’, ‘joint experimentation’ and ‘hall of mirrors’. These are stages ofa learning process that creates learning relationships which graduallyincrease the experiential learning of the learner within a framework ofknowledge and skill development.Schon seeks to reveal the positive nature of reflective practicumby choosing examples where coaching and learning have beenimplemented as best practice, particularly in coaching in musicalperformance, psychoanalytic practice, and counselling and consultingskills. Some of these examples may now seem dated but theframeworks of coaching for professional practice are as relevant asever before.450 Rob TownsendPart One of the book explores architectural education as a caseexample for the reflective practicum. Part Two describes the dynamicsof design studies, the ritual of instruction and the varied stylesof coaching. Part Three explores the three variations of reflectivepracticum in music, psychoanalytic supervision and seminars oncounselling and consulting. Part Four explores the implications of thestudy examples and the ideas that arise for redesigning professionaleducation in many other disciplines.The essence of Schon’s study examples is the relationship betweencoach and student, who coordinate demonstrating and imitating,telling and listening, with each component addressing the gapsinherent in each of the other processes. Learning and coaching thenbecome experiments in the work of professional education andhow communication facilitates this education. Experimentation inprofessional problem-solving can then generate new problems andconfusions which become material for reciprocal reflection betweenthe student and coach. This model of communication as learning,challenges the didactic lecture and instructional tutorial as processesthat cannot create meaning in professional education. Professionalsneed to be able to solve real-world problems which can only beexplored in the context of higher education through a process of‘studio’ or reflective practicum.Schon doesn’t gloss over the problems that can arise in the designand practice of reflective education. The outcomes of a reflectivepracticum can be as varied as the possible evolutions of any learningprocess. The practicum or studio can produce high quality learningoutcomes via the search for meaning, a convergence of meaningbetween the student and the coach. If the essential elements ofcoaching and experimentation are frozen in miscommunication, thereflective practice can then produce counter-learning (giving coacheswhat they want) or over-learning (there is only one way), which isoften an outcome of more traditional academic and professionaleducation.The author concludes this study by acknowledging the issuesinherent in introducing reflective practicum into complex intellectual,institutional and political contexts of contemporary higher educationprofessional education. Questions are explored, such as: What formdoes the practicum or projects take? At what point
Being translated, please wait..
