Professionally present – highlighting the temporal aspect of teachers’ professional judgment

Abstract

Novice teachers need to develop their professional judgment. Teaching is performed in the face of imperfect, complex but above all continuously emergent situations. These matters have not received adequate attention in theories relating to professional judgment and professionality in teaching or in the contemporary discourse of education policy. The purpose of this conceptual article is therefore to contribute to the understanding of teachers’ judgment. By discussing empirical examples that indicate how sensing and knowing guide judgment, concepts are introduced that are intended to further the understanding of teachers’ professional judgment; something that will hopefully benefit teacher education as well as practicing teachers.

Keywords:

• professional judgment
• teacher development
• teacher judgment
• teacher professionality
• temporality

Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments. I owe Göran Fransson and Christina Gustafsson a debt of gratitude for their generous support and advice. I would also like to extend my warm thanks to the Curriculum Studies Faculty seminar at the University of Gävle, to Silvia Edling at Uppsala University and to Jan Grannäs at the University of Gävle, for their helpful comments on various versions of this text. This article was written in conjunction with the project ‘Aspects of Newly Qualified Teachers’ Professional Development’ dnr 721-2005-3582, sponsored by the Swedish National Research Council.

Notes

1. Description of a preschool class: http://www.skolverket.se/sb/d/2651.