Teachers' Reflection and Their Wisdom: Foundations of Teaching Profession

Abstract

  Inquiry on teaching profession is destined to encounter an aporia, which contains two dichotomous rational interpretations on the professional, teacher as a technical expert and teacher as a reflective practitioner. The dichotomous approaches generate different conceptions on teaching profession, professional competence, practical discourse on teaching and its mode of presentation.

  This paper illuminates several epistemological components which reflective teachers retain, such as reflective thinking in practice, deliberative thinking as theory through practice, practical epistemology and wisdom of teachers. Through rethinking these coceptions, this paper elucidates critical issues for reform, such as social context of professional growth, role of mentor teacher and structure of preservice and inservice teacher education.

  The idea of reflecitve teaching opens an alternative way to empower teachers' professionalism. It enables teachers to emancipate themselves from bureaucratic school system and its culture, and to restructure their schools through building professional community and establishing a solid professional culture of teaching.