Schön set out the limitations of those teaching disciplines in universities that were in the business of creating and promulgating largely propositional knowledge [knowing that or textbook knowledge or knowing about] (…) he suggested that propositional knowledge, on its own, is of limited value for the emerging professional because it does not take into account the realities of professional life and practice (…) yet the emergent professional develops practice experience [knowing-in-action and knowledge-in-use] (…) He referred to this as professional artistry,where professionals deal with the unique, the unanticipated, the uncertain,the value conflicts and indeterminate conditions of everyday practice for which there was no ‘textbook’ response (…) He looked to those relatively unusual institutions where reflecting in and on professional practice was an intrinsic part of the professional’s training [reflection in action: immediate significance for action and a critical function, questioning the assumptional structure of knowing-in-action] (…) Schön found the teachers and students engaged in reflection on emergent practice that was to underpin their learning and therefore enhance their practice: they reflected on their practice and they were able to reflect in the action: one is to convey interaction between action, thinking and being. The second is to suggest an immediacy inherent in reflection and action (…) First, consciously engaging in reflective practice enables the teacher to learn from and therefore potentially enhance their practice and learning about their practice (…) Secondly, by engaging in reflective practice, I as teacher can uncover, unravel and articulate my practice with a view to learning from that reflection (…) Thirdly, making reflective practice accessible to student learners, enables the latter to become more conscious of their own approaches to their learning and thereby promote critically reflective learning

References

Brockbank, A., McGill, I., 1998. Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Education. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press

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