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Tomlinson
Tomlinson
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PETER TOMLINSON
INTRODUCTION
Although it is the past couple of decades that have seen the term reflection become
central to teacher education discourse across many countries, a central emphasis on
conscious thinkinghas arguablybeen one of the definingfeaturesof the whole post-war
tendency to construe the preparation of teachers as education rather than training.
Indeed, this emphasis seems rooted in a long-standingpsychological dualism which
narrows the notion of intelligentaction to that guided by conscious deliberation.The
present paper seeks to show how traditionalphilosophical critiques of this stance are
strengthenedsignificantly by recentresearchin implicitlearning,expertiseand connec-
tionistmodelling,but also how certaincentraldistinctionshave been prone to reductive
interpretation.A second, linked paper will propose that the combination of available
sources offersa more balanced and effectiveapproach to the preparationand develop-
ment of teachers.
Emphasis on TeacherThinking
A firststrand,as the thirdHandbook ofResearchon Teaching(Wittrock,1986) empha-
sised in a clear and self-consciousway, is that fromthe late 1970s onwards the study
of teacher thinkingcame to hold a dominant position in educational research, this
cognitiveparadigm being seen by many (e.g. Freeman, 1994) as a welcome replace-
ment forthe Behaviourismassociated with the formerprocess-product approach. This
shiftpersiststo this day, with a considerable range of perspectivesand methodologies
having been used to studyan increasingset of aspects of teacherknow-how (cf. Carter,
1990; Calderhead, 1995). The traditionallyassumed centralityof conscious processes
has arguablybecome even more firmlyensconced by association withthe narrative-phe-
nomenological approaches that have increased in popularityover the last decade or so
(cf. Bruner, 1986; Carter, 1993).
CognitivePsychologyand SkilfulExpertise
A second consciousness-emphasisingstrand seems evident in education's assimilation
of certain paradigms in modern psychological theorising. A central, if paradoxical
example is provided by the psychologyof skill. Whilst many educationalists still seem
to reject any attemptto see teaching in terms of skill preciselybecause of this term's
association with Behaviouristpsychology(cf. Tomlinson, 1998), by contrastthe more
developed modern psychologicalapproach to the studyof human action and skill,now
typicallyreferredto as expertise, was actually firmlycognitive (cf. Miller et al., 1960;
Welford, 1968; Gellatly, 1986; Bereiter& Scardamalia, 1993; Zeitz & Glaser, 1996).
Indeed, by allowing us to consider teaching capability as a particularlyopen form of
intelligentskill,whose purposes and contextsare typicallycomplex, multi-layeredand
ill-structured,it can be argued that cognitivepsychologicalresearch on skilfulexpertise
offersa number of highlyrelevantand well-grounded insights,as well as providinga
conceptual frameworkthatis highlycompatible withrecentinsightsfromothersources,
most obviously Neo-Vygotskianand sociocultural ideas (cf. Tomlinson, 1995, 1998).
But by the same token, this allows re-emphasis on conscious processing. Whilst the
cognitivepsychologicaltraditionin skillpsychologyhas highlightedthe role of automa-
Linking more closely with the previous perspective than is often recognised, another
consciousness-emphasising source has been extremely influential in the realm of
teacher education and development over the last decade and a half: Donald Schon's
ideas on reflection.Paradoxically, their initial appeal seemed to lie in the apparent
bridging of the dualist thought-action divide, as suggested by Schon's innovative
expression reflection-in-action. Yet, whilst the nature of his expositions allowed this
terminology to be pressed into service under a rather disparate range of adoptive
meanings (Calderhead, 1989) and we had to wait too long for healthy critiques (cf.
Gilroy, 1993; Eraut, 1994, 1995), what Schon was centrallyand most usefullyseen as
referring to seems to be, as Eraut puts it, a formof practical metacognition(cf. Simons,
1996).
This characterisationsuggests how easily Sch6n's emphasis on reflectionis assimil-
able to the traditionaldualist model of thought-and-action,according to which 'you've
got to thinkabout what you're doing'. That is, this model has recourse to a meta-level
consciousness as condition forthe intelligenceof first-order processes, whetherthese be
physical or cognitive. On such an interpretationSchon would be seen not as breaking
with the dualist tradition,as seems often to have been assumed, but if anythingas
There are, however, various indications that the dualist-conscious story is seriously
limited as an account of intelligentcapabilityand its acquisition, and that the implica-
tions drawn fromit regardingtrainingand development are at least inefficient,if not
actually dangerous in some respects. These indications come from a disparate set of
sources, each of which has weaknesses. Yet their complementyelements lend them
considerable strength.I discern four such strands.
Resistanceto ReflectiveDeliberation
Practitioner
A firststrandconcerns the failureof the relevantpractitionersthemselvesto confirmthe
importance of reflection.Published work on student-teachers(cf. Sanders & McPeck,
1976; Calderhead & Shorrock, 1997; McIntyre et al., 1994) echoes my own experience
that large numbers of them still appear to espouse a practical immersion view of
learningto teach, along with an antipathytowards deliberate reflectiongenerallyand
formal 'theory' in particular. Corresponding views amongst a noticeable number of
experienced teachers engaging in mentor preparation at my own institutionwere
consistentwith published studies (e.g. Anning, 1988) and with such work as we have
on the folk psychologyof skill and its acquisition (cf. Bereiter& Scardamalia, 1989).
A traditionalteacher educator response to this might once have been to comfort
oneselfwith the view that 'it's just the good ones who are reflective',pointingout that
studentsof skilland its counterparthuman error(e.g. Reason, 1990) have oftennoted
the widespread human tendency to preferautomatic (easy) modes of processing as
opposed to effortful deliberation.We may also remind ourselvesthat withhis reflective
practice emphasis, Schon was not afterall describingwhat people typicallydo engage
in, but proposing what could work for professionallearning in the context of a crisis
concerning what did not. Nevertheless,by now one of the more acceptable lessons of
the post-modernistwave is hopefullythat we should open-mindedlycontemplate the
possibilitythat these opponents of reflectionmay have some sort of valid point. Either
way, the extentof practitionerresistance to reflectionappears to imply a dilemma for
pro-reflectionists:between believing on the one hand that there may be substantial
numbers of teacherswho are professionallylacking,in thattheyare not and do not wish
to be reflective,and on the otherhand admittingthat theremay be many teachers who
manage to become professionallycompetent withoutbeing reflective.
Researchon ImplicitLearning
A third anti-dualism strand has come recently from empirical research on implicit
Connectionism
's Constructs
Linking with the previous three strands, though not arising from them, a recent
paradigm shiftin psychological theorisingabout the way human knowledge is repre-
sented and used may furtherlegitimateconcerns neglected by traditionalrationalism
and point to new ways of thinkingabout learning and teaching.
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FIG. 2. A two-layerneuralnetwork.
theProcedural-Declarative
Deconstructing Distinction
Knowledge object
Action Reality
(procedural/ (descriptive/
prescriptive
capacity) contemplativeawareness)
(A) (B)
Explicit Deliberativeaction capacity Explicitrepresentational
awareness
Knowledge (conscious, declarative)
mode
(D) (C)
Implicit Intuitiveaction capacity Implicitrepresentationalawareness
(unconscious,tacit)
a Non-reductiveView
Reconstructing
Having analysed an issue into what are proposed as its constituentaspects, it may be
temptingto remain at this apparentlymore respectable level of precision. However, to
do justice to what is at stake it is usually importantto consider in turnhow the aspects
inter-relatewithin the whole. In the present case the juxtaposition and interplayof
aspects seem to apply both to issues of implicitness-explicitnessand to those concerning
action and awareness, but also to the way these two dimensions interact.
Mixtureand Performance
(i) Implicitness-Explicitness Period Time Pressure.Perhaps the
most obvious possibility is that implicit and explicit cognitive processes may exist
side-by-sidewithin the same activity.A number of workersin the field of expertise,
much of theirworkbroughttogetherby Eraut (1994, chapter7), have pointed out that
most thinkingis neither purely intuitivenor purely analytical, but that the balance
between them depends to a considerable extenton time pressureswithinthe 'perform-
ance period' in question. Fast-changing,dynamic contextsrequire instantpattern-read-
ing and intuitivelymatched response. Eraut labels this kind of action 'routinised
unreflective'and sports commentatorsoftencall it 'pure instinct',though any dualism
suggested by such phrases needs correcting.What is speedily directhere is the linking
of an appropriateclass of action to the perceived situation:the response is adapted and
flexible,and in thatsense intelligent,thoughimplicit.At the otherextreme,where there
is ample time, one can engage in consciously deliberativeanalysisand decision-making,
as forinstance in the preactive('planning') phase of teaching.The intermediatekind of
case, which Eraut labels 'rapid mode', involves the more Schonian kind of decision-
making where there is at least some time for on-the-hoofdeliberation, interspersed
withinthe flowof implicitadaptation. The literatureon teacher decision-makingduring
the interactivephase of classroom teaching (cf. Clark and Peterson, 1986; Calderhead,
1987) seems to indicate just this kind of implicit-explicitmix.
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