IP 90-7 Making new or making do: An inconclusive argument about teaching.
Abstract
The idea that "breaks from experience" are necessary in teacher learning is a response to the fact that teachers come to their preparation with set ideas about their work that tend to fit with the given. This paper examines justifications for such "breaks" centering, first, on the limitations of what teachers learn through experience and, second, on comparisons of teacher learning with socialization in other professions. The argument questions the notion of teachers as experts and cautions against the confident pursuit of reforms.