ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals how a Popperian approach can advance teacher knowledge and how such an approach can contribute to the improvement of educational practice. Karl Popper's epistemology has had a significant influence on practice in the natural sciences but very little in the social sciences and education. Criticism is also viewed as a way of 'proving' that someone else's ideas are wrong and that our ideas are right. However, Popper's critical approach is rooted in human fallibility, with its recognition that we can never prove that our ideas and solutions are right or correct; we can only discover what is wrong with them through criticism. Popper's method of conjecture and refutation is powerful and consists of four stages: First is the "identification of problem". Second is the attempted solution or 'theory'. Third is the attempted falsification of the theory by 'testing', through 'critical discussion' and, finally, there is the generation of new knowledge.
