2012 Volume 21 Pages 83-93
The aim of this paper is to review the theory of a reflective practicum that Donald A. Schön proposes, and to clarify the characteristic and the problem of the practicum. The theory-of-action seminars that Schön and Chris Argyris undertook since the early 1970s is suggested as the means to resolve the problem.
It is said that many countries adopt Schön's theory of the reflective practice as the basic philosophy of teacher training policies, and curricula that train the reflective practitioners have been discussed and come to be carried out.
However, the reflective practicum that Schön proposes for training the reflective practitioners has not been examined in detail. So far, the practicum is referred to only as a model of the teacher training curriculum. Therefore, the important characteristic of Schön's reflective practicum and the problem attendant to this characteristic have been missed. The characteristic is that the practicum includes the process of the improvement of the dialogical relations. On the other hand, the problem results from the difficulty of the process. If we didn't cope with the difficulty, the practicum might be ineffective.
One promising means is the theory-of-action seminars. The purpose of the seminars is the improvement of the dialogical relations. Though Schön explains the seminars closely in Educating the Reflective Practitioner, he doesn't point out the function that solves the difficulty the reflective practicum has. In this paper, the difficulty is clarified from the viewpoint of the collaborative work of Schön and Argyris that is theoretical background of both the reflective practicum and theory-of-action seminars. Then, the seminars are related with the practicum as the solution of the difficulty.
The above consideration will help to design a curriculum for training teacher students as reflective practitioners.
