ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the value and potential of reflective practice for musicians who teach in conservatoires. It reports on action research designed to catalyse collaborative reflection at an international level, with a view to addressing the challenges of pedagogical development at the heart of conservatoire education and to positioning musicians' practice more centrally within the global knowledge economy. The chapter reports on participative action research designed to stimulate and enable reflective practice amongst professional musicians who teach in higher music education. It examines the features and impact of a collaborative process of articulating and engaging with a diverse range of 'sources' that conservatoire teachers consider fundamental to their work. The chapter considers how this process builds skills in knowledge exchange, catalyses professional and paradigm reflection and the development of an inquiry stance, and illuminates core aspects of professional identities.
