The social dynamics of changing practice

Abstract

In this paper we develop a socio‐dynamic account for the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on practice. The model we propose for changing practice challenges the essentially individualised explanation of practical learning offered by a number of writers and researchers in the field of CPD such as Joyce and Showers (1988), Eraut (1994), and Schön (1983). It also offers a basis for exploring the micro‐political realities of changing practice and the links between individual and group learning that are largely absent in the socio‐cultural accounts of organisational and situated learning (Senge, 1990; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Weick, 1995). It proposes a model that allows for tracking the influence of discourses in relation to teacher re‐professionalism from the level of policy to the point of enactment in the school and re‐examines the connections between individual and group learning to arrive at a dynamic framework for understanding changing practice.

Notes

* Corresponding author: University of Stirling, Institute of Education, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jenny Reeves *

* Corresponding author: University of Stirling, Institute of Education, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland.