ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature of reflective practice, its purposes and contexts, and the kinds of investment which are needed by the individual and the organization in order to build, sustain and develop quality of teaching over the course of a career. It discusses the purposes of reflective practice, different modes of reflection, and the need to address emotion as well as cognition in the context of maintaining teachers’ substantive selves and preventing burnout. It charts the cultural, organizational and practical time constraints and the need to take account of teachers’ own development phases as part of the conditions for reflective practice; and it highlights the difficulties in promoting reflective practice as a part of systemic development efforts. Finally, it suggests a model of reflective professionalism through partnership.
