Beyond deliberation—radical reflexivity, contemplative practices and teacher change

• Published in: Journal of educational change Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 1 - 23
• Main Author: McCaw, Christopher T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Administration; Beginning Teachers; Classroom Techniques; Concept Mapping; Education; Educational Change; Educational Policy and Politics; Educational Practices; Emotional Response; Faculty Development; Metacognition; Organization and Leadership; Professional identity; Reflection; Reflective Teaching; Reflexivity; Self Concept; Teacher Attitudes; Teachers; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills; Transformative Learning; Reflexivity; Contemplative practices and meditation; Reflective practice; Teacher thinking; Teacher identity
• ISSN: 1389-2843; 1573-1812
• DOI: 10.1007/s10833-021-09432-4

At the level of classroom practice, forms of teacher thinking are central to local processes of educational change. In the last decade, reflexivity has been promoted as a mode of teacher thinking which has the capacity to transform several aspects of teaching practice. The developing interest in reflexivity both emerges from, and seeks to extend, the prior (and continuing) emphasis on reflective practice as an essential avenue to teacher change and improvement. In this article, I aim to both clarify and extend thinking about teacher reflexivity, developing a conceptual mapping which organizes forms of teacher thinking along temporal and ontological dimensions. This mapping clarifies important distinctions between related practices of reflection-on-action, reflection-in-action, critical reflection and radical reflexivity. Radical reflexivity is characterized by both temporal synchronicity and the bending back of the reflective arc to form a subject-object-subject structure. This structure, I argue, extends teacher thinking beyond the deliberative, reflective mode. Subsequently, I propose that contemplative practices (mindfulness, meditation, etc.) provide avenues by which teachers can access radical reflexivity, through the cultivation of present-moment, non-judgemental, embodied awareness. Selected findings from a qualitative study of seven beginning teachers are presented as illustration, focusing on participants’ experiences of putting the ego aside and responding to strong, embodied emotions in classroom contexts. The findings presented demonstrate the distinctive implications of radical, contemplative reflexivity as an avenue for the professional transformation of teachers.