ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some distinguishing features of espoused theories and theories-in-use and introduces the Aristotelian concepts of episteme and phronesis. The model of Gestalt formation has been drawn on to examine the relationship between teacher cognition and teacher behaviour.
Shulman’s knowledge base for teaching has been discussed to foreground the extensive range of knowledge, skills and understanding required by teachers and those learning to teach. His recursive model of pedagogical reasoning and action incorporating the processes of comprehension, transformation, instruction, evaluation, reflection and new comprehension has also been examined. These examples not only reveal the complex mosaic of factors involved in the process of teaching and of learning how to teach but also signpost the numerous ways in which teachers can link theory and the formation of theory with their own practice.
