Donald Schon (Schön) - learning, reflection and change - The Diigo Meta page

• 17 Apr 13
  

  Matt Rosati

  schön reflection learning

• 30 Mar 13
  

  Mariano Fernández Enguita

  Schon SdA profesional reflexivo Aprendizaje difuso

  • His first book, Displacement of Concepts (1963)  (republished in 1967 as Invention and the Evolution of Ideas)
  • collaboration with  Chris Argyris.  This collaboration involved teaching, researching and  consulting and resulted in three key publications: Theory in Practice:  Increasing Professional Effectiveness (1974), Organizational Learning: A  Theory of Action Perspective (1978), and Organizational Learning II:  Theory, Method, and Practice (1996).
  • the deeply  influential series of books around the processes and development of reflective  practitioners (1983; 1987; 1991).
  • Stewart Ranson (1998: 2) describes Donald Schon as ‘the  great theorist of the learning society’

  • Hutchins, in a book first  published in 1968, had argued that a ‘learning society’ had become necessary.  ‘The two essential facts are… the increasing proportion of free time and the  rapidity of change. The latter requires continuous education; the former makes  it possible (1970: 130). He looked to ancient Athens for a model. There:

     

     

    education was not a segregated activity, conducted for  certain hours, in certain places, at a certain time of life. It was the aim of  the society. The city educated the man. The Athenian was educated by culture, by  paideia. (Hutchins 1970: 133)
  • Donald Schon (1973, first published 1971) takes as his starting point the  loss of the stable state. Belief in the stable state, he suggests, is belief in  ‘the unchangeability, the constancy of central aspects of our lives, or belief  that we can attain such a constancy’ (Schon 1973: 9).
  • The loss of the stable state means that our society and all of its  institutions are in continuous processes of transformation.
  • The task which the loss of the stable state makes imperative, for the person,  for our institutions, for our society as a whole, is to learn about learning.
  • Donald Schon argues that social systems must learn to become capable of  transforming themselves without intolerable disruption. In this ‘dynamic  conservatism’ has an important place.
  • A learning system… must be one in which dynamic  conservatism operates at such a level and in such a way as to permit change of  state without intolerable threat to the essential functions the system fulfils  for the self.
  • Our systems need to maintain their identity, and their ability to  support the self-identity of those who belong to them, but they must at the same  time be capable of transforming themselves.
  • The business firm, Donald Schon  argues, is a striking example of a learning system. He charts how firms moved  from being organized around products toward integration around ‘business  systems’ (ibid.: 64).
  •  

    Classical models
  • Learning systems’ models
  • The unit of innovation is a functional system.
  • Chris Argyris and Donald Schon suggested that two theories  of action are involved. They are those theories that are  implicit in what we do as practitioners and managers, and those on which we call  to speak of our actions to others. The former can be described as  theories-in-use. The words we use to convey what we, do or what we would  like others to think we do, can then be called espoused theory
  • The opening salvo of The  Reflective Practitioner (1983) is directed against ‘technical-rationality’  as the grounding of professional knowledge.
  • The notions of reflection-in-action, and reflection-on-action were central to  Donald Schon’s efforts in this area. The former is sometimes described as  ‘thinking on our feet’. It involves looking to our experiences, connecting with  our feelings, and attending to our theories in use. It entails building new  understandings to inform our actions in the situation that is unfolding.  
  • The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise,  puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He  reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which  have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves  to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the  situation. (Schön 1983: 68)
  • The notion of repertoire is a key aspect of this approach.  Practitioners build up a collection of images, ideas, examples and actions that  they can draw upon.

  18 more annotations...

• 07 Mar 13
  

  Jindrich Strejcek

  "Indeed Donald Schon may well have failed to clarify what is involved in the reflective process - and there is a problem, according to Eraut, around time - 'when time is extremely short, decisions have to be rapid and the scope for reflection is extremely limited' (1994: 145). "

  nature of reflection Schon psychology of reflection

  • The reflective practitioner –  reflection-in- and –on-action

     

    Donald Schon's third great contribution was to bring ‘reflection’ into the  centre of an understanding of what professionals do. The opening salvo of The  Reflective Practitioner (1983) is directed against ‘technical-rationality’  as the grounding of professional knowledge. Usher et. al.  (1997: 143) sum up well the crisis he identifies. Technical-rationality is a  positivist epistemology of practice. It is ‘the dominant paradigm which has  failed to resolve the dilemma of rigour versus relevance confronting  professionals’. Donald Schon, they claim, looks to an alternative epistemology  of practice ‘in which the knowledge inherent in practice is be understood as  artful doing’ (op. cit.). Here we can make a direct link between Donald  Schon and Elliot Eisner’s (1985; 1998) interest in practitioners as connoisseurs  and critics (see Eisner on evaluation).

     

    The notions of reflection-in-action, and reflection-on-action were central to  Donald Schon’s efforts in this area. The former is sometimes described as  ‘thinking on our feet’. It involves looking to our experiences, connecting with  our feelings, and attending to our theories in use. It entails building new  understandings to inform our actions in the situation that is unfolding.  
  • Indeed Donald Schon may well have  failed to clarify what is involved in the reflective process - and there is a  problem, according to Eraut, around time - 'when time is extremely short,  decisions have to be rapid and the scope for reflection is extremely limited'  (1994: 145).
  • There have also been no psychological elaborations of the  psychological realities of reflection in action (Russell and Munby 1989).
  • Russell, T. and Munby, H. (1991) ‘Reframing. The role of experience in  developing teachers professional knowledge’ in D. A. Schön (ed.) The  Reflective Turn. Case studies in and on educational practice, New York:  Teachers Press, Columbia University.

  2 more annotations...

• 26 Feb 13
  

  Christine Lampe

  shared by Pam Jarvis

  Schon reflective practice Block 1

• 25 Feb 13
  

  explanation of the work of Donald Schon on reflection

  reflection schön

  • ‘thinking on our feet’. It involves looking to our experiences, connecting with  our feelings, and attending to our theories in use. It entails building new  understandings to inform our actions in the situation that is unfolding.  
  • reflection-on-action.  This is done later – after the encounter.  Workers may write up recordings, talk things through with a supervisor and so  on. The act of reflecting-on-action enables us to spend time exploring why we  acted as we did, what was happening in a group and so on. In so doing we develop  sets of questions and ideas about our activities and practice.
  • Reflection requires space in  the present and the promise of space in the future

  1 more annotation...

• 19 Feb 13
  

  Jannicke Røgler

  schön reflection learning innovation change technology schon

• 17 Feb 13
  

  michael parkinson

  reflective practice

• 14 Jan 13
  

  Daniel Staemmler

  Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as ‘the learning society’, ‘double-loop learning’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ has become part of the langu

  lernen organisationales wissensmanagement

• 07 Jan 13
  

  Emma Ahmed

  "Single-loop learning seems to be present when goals, values, frameworks and, to a significant extent, strategies are taken for granted. The emphasis is on ‘techniques and making techniques more efficient’ (Usher and Bryant: 1989: 87) Any reflection is directed toward making the strategy more effective. Double-loop learning, in contrast, ‘involves questioning the role of the framing and learning systems which underlie actual goals and strategies’ (op. cit.)."

  5151M MA reflection learning schön single loop double loop

  • They are those theories that are  implicit in what we do as practitioners and managers, and those on which we call  to speak of our actions to others. The former can be described as  theories-in-use. The words we use to convey what we, do or what we would  like others to think we do, can then be called espoused theory.
  • Single-loop learning seems to be present when goals,  values, frameworks and, to a significant extent, strategies are taken for  granted. The emphasis is on ‘techniques and making techniques more efficient’  (Usher and Bryant: 1989: 87) Any reflection is directed toward making the  strategy more effective. Double-loop learning, in contrast, ‘involves  questioning the role of the framing and learning systems which underlie actual  goals and strategies’ (op. cit.).
  • reflection-in-action,
  • is sometimes described as  ‘thinking on our feet’.
  • The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise,  puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He  reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which  have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves  to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the  situation. (Schön 1983: 68)
  • We can link this process of thinking on our feet with reflection-on-action.  This is done later – after the encounter.  Workers may write up recordings, talk things through with a supervisor and so  on. The act of reflecting-on-action enables us to spend time exploring why we  acted as we did, what was happening in a group and so on. In so doing we develop  sets of questions and ideas about our activities and practice.
  • In this way we engage with a situation. We do not have a  full understanding of things before we act, but, hopefully, we can avoid major  problems while 'testing the water'. When looking at a  situation we are influenced by, and use, what has gone before, what might come,  our repertoire, and our frame of reference. We are able to draw upon certain  routines. As we work we can bring fragments of memories into play and begin to  build theories and responses that fit the new situation.

  5 more annotations...

• 27 Dec 12
  

  susangredley

  ADD to reference list

  • Schön, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. How professionals think in  action, London: Temple Smith. 3
• 09 Nov 12
  

  Ann-Margaret Day-Osborne

  A Biography of theorist Donald Schon, parts of his life and his theories on learning, reflection and change.

  theories education learning

• 

  DAVID GARCIA CARDENAS
• 14 Oct 12
  

  Anthony Rankin
  • The loss of the stable state means that our society and all of its  institutions are in continuous processes of transformation.
  • We must, in other words, become adept at learning

  • What is the nature of the process by which organizations,  institutions and societies transform themselves?

     

    What are the characteristics of effective learning  systems?

     

    What are the forms and limits of knowledge that can  operate within processes of social learning?

     

    What demands are made on a person who engages in this  kind of learning? (Schon 1973: 28-9)
  • The reflective practitioner –  reflection-in- and –on-action
  • third great contribution was to bring ‘reflection’ into the  centre of an understanding of what professionals do.
  • directed against ‘technical-rationality’  as the grounding of professional knowledge.
  • It involves looking to our experiences, connecting with  our feelings, and attending to our theories in use. It entails building new  understandings to inform our actions in the situation that is unfolding
  • The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise,  puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He  reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which  have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves  to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the  situation
  • this allows to develop further responses and moves.
  • We test out our ‘theories’
  • Practitioners are able to describe how  they ‘think on their feet’, and how they make use of a repertoire of images,  metaphors and theories.
  • People draw upon the  processes, experiences and understandings generated through reflection on  action
  • We have to take certain things as  read. We have to fall back on routines in which previous thought and sentiment  has been sedimented. It is here that the full importance of reflection-on-action  becomes revealed. As we think and act, questions arise that cannot be answered  in the present. The space afforded by recording, supervision and conversation  with our peers allows us to approach these. Reflection requires space in  the present and the promise of space in the future

  11 more annotations...

• 26 Sep 12
  

  Johanna McNicholl

  Reflective practice: reflection in action and reflection on action!

  education theory reflection

• 18 Sep 12
  

  dan mcquillan

  reflection donaldschon print practice

• 09 Sep 12
  

  riss leung

  LTP PD

• 05 Sep 12
  

  forensicmed

  philosophy teaching theory education reflection learning

• 25 Jul 12
  

  Trudi Van Wyk

  Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as ‘the learning society’, ‘double-loop learning’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ has become part of the language of education. We explore his work and some of the key themes that emerge. What assessment can we make now?

  theory and practice of learning learning organisation reflection

• 24 Jun 12
  

  Rebecca McLelland-Crawley
• 

  stephdank
• 21 May 12
  

  Wenying Huang-Stolte

  learning reflection fslt12

• 17 May 12
  

  V Pallo

  The act of reflecting-on-action enables us to spend time exploring why we acted as we did, what was happening in a group and so on. In so doing we develop sets of questions and ideas about our activities and practice.

  metacognition reflection

• 16 May 12
  

  marcella marcelli
  • key themes arise out of Donald Schon’s discussion of learning systems
  • emergence of functional systems as the units around which institutions  define themselves;
  • ecline of centre-periphery models of institutional  activit
  • earning isn’t simply something that is individual. Learning can  also be social:
  • Very much after Carl Rogers,  Donald Schon asserts that, ‘Central comes to function as facilitator of  society’s learning, rather than as society’s trainer’
  • Donald Schon’s work on learning systems fed nicely into a very significant  collaboration with Chris Argyris around professional effectiveness and  organizational learning.
  • starting point was that people have mental  maps with regard to how to act in situations
  • it is these  maps that guide people’s actions rather than the theories they explicitly  espous
  • that there is split between  theory and actio
  • Chris Argyris and Donald Schon suggested that two theories  of action are involved
  • hose theories that are  implicit
  • practitioners
  • those on which we call  to speak of our actions to others.
  • The former can be described as  theories-in-use.
  • ords we use to convey what we, do or what we would  like others to think we do, can then be called espoused theory
  • fully appreciate theory-in-use we require a model of  the processes involved.
  • Argyris and Schon (1974) initially  looked to three elements:
  • dimensions that people  are trying to keep within acceptable limits
  • Governing variables:
  • any situation can trigger a trade-off among  governing variables.
  • moves and plans used by  people to keep their governing values within the acceptable range.
  • Action strategies:
  • Consequences:
  • what happens as a result of an  actio
  • intended
  • intended - t
  • and  unintended.
  • For Argyris and Schön (1978: 2) learning involves the detection and  correction of error.
  • Where something goes wrong, they suggested, a starting  point for many people is to look for another strategy that will address and work  within the governing variables.
  • given or chosen goals, values,  plans and rules are operationalized rather than questione
  • According to Argyris  and Schön (1974), this is single-loop learning.
  • alternative response  is to question to governing variables themselves, to subject them to critical  scrutiny
  • double-loop learning
  • learning may  then lead to an alteration in the governing variables and, thus, a shift in the  way in which strategies and consequences are fram
  • error detected and corrected permits
  • error-and-correction process is single-loop learnin
  • thermostat that learns when it is too  hot of too cold and turns the heat on or off.
  • thermostat can perform this  task because it can receive information (the temperature of the room) and take  corrective actio
  • Double-loop learnin
  • error is detected and  corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization’s underlying  norms, policies and objective
  • Single-loop learning seems to be present when goals,  values, frameworks and, to a significant extent, strategies are taken for  granted
  • reflection is directed toward making the  strategy more effectiv
  • Double-loop learnin
  • ‘involves  questioning the role of the framing and learning systems which underlie actual  goals and strategies’ (op. cit.)
  • ‘Abstract conceptualisation now becomes something one  can analyse and work from’
  • wist to pragmatic learning the
  • Dewey’s, Lewin’s or Kolb’s learning cycle, where  one had, so to speak, to make a mistake and reflect upon it… it is now possible…  to learn by simply reflecting critically upon the theory-in-action
  • notion of double-loop learning adds considerably to our appreciation  of experiential learning.
  • third great contribution was to bring ‘reflection’ into the  centre of an understanding of what professionals do
  • The  Reflective Practitioner
  • opening s
  • directed against ‘technical-rationality’  as the grounding of professional knowledge.
  • Technical-rationality is a  positivist epistemology of practic
  • alternative epistemology  of practice ‘in which the knowledge inherent in practice is be understood as  artful doing’
  • reflection-in-action
  • described as  ‘thinking on our feet
  • looking to our experiences, connecting with  our feelings, and attending to our theories in us
  • actions in the situation that is unfolding.  
  • allows himself to experience surprise,  puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or uni
  • reflects on the phenomenon before him,
  • prior understandings which  have been implicit in his behaviour.
  • Schon is using a  distinction here that would have been familiar to  Aristotle – between the technical (productive) and the  practical.
  • reflection-on-action.
  • We can link this process of thinking on our feet wit
  • later – after the encounter.
  • act of reflecting-on-action enables us to spend time exploring why we  acted as we did, what was happening in a group and so on.
  • develop  sets of questions and ideas about our activities and practic
  • notion of repertoire is a key aspect of this approach.
  • Practitioners build up a collection of images, ideas, examples and actions that  they can draw upon
  • When a practitioner makes sense of a  situation he perceives to be unique, he sees it as something already present in his repertoire.
  • To see this site as that one is not to subsume the first under a familiar category or rule
  • to see the unfamiliar, unique situation as both similar to and different  from the familiar on
  • without at first being able to say similar or different  with respect to wha
  • familiar situation
  • an exemplar for the unfamiliar one.
  • In this way we engage with a situation. We do not have a  full understanding of things before we act, but, hopefully, we can avoid major  problems while 'testing the water'.
  • When looking at a  situation we are influenced by, and use, what has gone before, what might come,  our repertoire, and our frame of referen
  • We are able to draw upon certain  routines
  • we work we can bring fragments of memories into play and begin to  build theories and responses that fit the new situation.
  • three important areas of criticism with regard to this model
  • First
  • distinction between reflection in and on action has been the subject of some  debate
  • Eraut 1994 and Usher et al 1997
  • Schon may well have  failed to clarify what is involved in the reflective process
  • Eraut, around time - 'when time is extremely short,  decisions have to be rapid and the scope for reflection is extremely limited'
  • no psychological elaborations of the  psychological realities of reflection in action
  • Russell and Munby 1989
  • Practitioners are able to describe how  they ‘think on their feet’
  • here is a clear  relationship between reflection in and on action
  • things can be left and returned to.   
  • we think and act, questions arise that cannot be answered  in the prese
  • space afforded by recording, supervision and conversation  with our peers allows us to approach thes
  • Second,
  • some question as to the extent to which his  conceptualisation of reflective practice entails  praxis
  • clear emphasis on action being informe
  • a descriptive concept, quite empty of content'
  • less focus on the commitments entailed
  • Richardson  1990: 14
  • what he tends to look  at is the process of framing and the impact of frame-making on situation
  • As [inquirers] frame the problem of the situation, they determine the features  to which they will attend,
  • order they will attempt to impo
  • directions in which they will try to chan
  • The ability to draw upon a repertoire  of metaphors and images that allow for different ways of framing a situation is  clearly important to creative practice and is a crucial insig
  • We can easily  respond in inappropriate ways in situations through the use of an ill-suited  fram
  • we also must hold in view is some sense of what might make  for the good
  • Third
  • while  Donald Schon is engaged here in the generation of formal theory –
  • what we do  not find in Schon is a reflection by him on his own textual practice in giving  some kind of account of that he does of reflection-in-action and the reflective  practicum
  • He does not interrogate his own method
  • (Usher et. Al 1997: 14
  • A more  sustained exploration of his methodology may well have revealed some significant  questions,
  • ‘neglects the situatedness of  practitioner experience
  • dimension that we have  become rather more aware of following Lave and Wenger’s (1991) exploration of  situated learning.
  • failure to attend to method and to problematize the production of his  models and ideas has also meant that his contribution in this area has been  often used in a rather unreflective way by trainers.
  • The impact of Donald Schon's work on reflective practice has been significant
  • there is a very real sense in which his work on  reflective practice has become ‘canonical’
  • frequently appealed to by trainer
  • they have suffered from being approached in ways that would have troubled  Donald Schon
  • For him  reflective practice was to be enacted.
  • his work with Chris Argyris still features very  strongly in debates around  organizational learning and the possibilities,
  • of  learning organizations.
  • Interestingly, though, it is difficult to find a  sustained exploration of his contribution as a whole.
  • discussions of different aspects of his thinkin
  • his work has  not been approached in its totality
  • Beyond the Stable State. Public and private learning  in a changing society
  • A very influential  book (following Schön’s 1970 Reith Lectures) arguing that ‘change’ is a  fundamental feature of modern life and that it is necessary to develop social  systems that can learn and adapt.
  • many of the themes t
  • collaboration with Chris Argyris and his  exploration of reflective practice.
  • The Reflective Practitioner. How professionals think in  action
  • Influential book that examines  professional knowledge, professional contexts and reflection-in-actio
  • move from technical rationality to reflection-in-action
  • Educating the Reflective Practitioner
  • understanding the need for artistry in professional  education
  • how the reflective practicum work

  132 more annotations...

• 13 May 12
  

  Bonnie Boaz

  learning reflection schön

• 24 Apr 12
  

  Carlos Petersen-Farah

  reflectivepractice

• 03 Apr 12
  

  Heather Tillberg-Webb

  reflection schön resources pedl id

• 28 Mar 12
  

  Sibrenne Wagenaar

  Website over Schon en reflection.

  reflecteren

• 20 Mar 12
  

  Daniel Muller

  reflection schön

• 08 Mar 12
  

  Cody Tal
  • but it was his concern with the  development of reflective practice and learning systems within organizations and  communities for which he is remembered.
• 21 Feb 12
  

  Kristi Dehart

  reflection schön MSD Research design theory

• 13 Feb 12
  

  Lotty Larson

  reflection learning change technology

• 03 Feb 12
  

  Donald Burkins

  "Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as ‘the learning society’, ‘double-loop learning’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ has become part of the language of education. We explore his work and some of the key themes that emerge. What assessment can we make now?
  contents: introduction · donald schon · public and private learning and the learning society · double-loop learning · the reflective practitioner – reflection-in- and –on-action · conclusion · further reading and references · links · how to cite this article"

  Schön Schon reflection learning change innovation

• 31 Jan 12
  

  neilmurray
• 13 Jan 12
  

  Alana Callan

  @alanacallan http://t.co/g3bRJowi via @digitalnative

• 12 Jan 12
  

  Lucie deLaBruere

  thinkers reading

• 07 Jan 12
  

  Jeannine Hirtle

  "reflection in action"

  reflection in action

• 04 Nov 11
  

  Esther Fink

  reflection learning change schön innovation DonaldSchon technology

• 26 Aug 11
  

  Marianne Riis

  reflection learning DonaldSchon change

• 20 Aug 11
  

  James Hobson

  learning e-learning education research design

• 31 Jul 11
  

  Els Consuegra
• 19 Jul 11
  

  Terry Brown
• 08 Jul 11
  

  Chad Gorski

  knowledge learning development

• 23 May 11
  

  Scot Evans

  Schön - Educating the reflective practitioner

  reflection learning organizations

• 08 May 11
  

  George Squire

  reflection

• 03 May 11
  

  A P

  PGCLTHE reflection

• 11 Apr 11
  

  Robert Cooper

  Learning

• 10 Apr 11
  

  ref lective
  • Donald Schon
  • The focus  for his doctoral dissertation (1955) was John Dewey’s theory of inquiry – and  this provided him with the pragmatist framework that runs through his later  work.
  • The interest in metaphor expressed in  that book, would grow years later toward his elaborations on “generative  metaphor,” and its role in allowing us to see things anew. Thus, he was already  showing some of what would be epistemological enduring interests for his  inquiry, namely: learning and its cognitive tools, and the role of reflection  (or lack of it) in learning processes in general, and conceptual and perceptual  change in particular.

  • In many respects, we could not ask for a better rationale for  Peter Senge’s later championship of the Fifth Discipline (systemic  thinking) in the generation of learning organizations.

     

    Two key themes arise out of Donald Schon’s discussion of learning systems:  the emergence of functional systems as the units around which institutions  define themselves; and the decline of centre-periphery models of institutional  activity (ibid.: 168). He contrasts classical models of diffusing  innovation with a learning system model.

     

                         

    Classical models for the diffusion of innovations	Learning systems’ models around the diffusion of innovation
    The unit of innovation is a product or technique.	The unit of innovation is a functional system.
    The pattern of diffusion is centre-periphery.	The pattern of diffusion is systems transformation.
    Relatively fixed centre and leadership.	Shifting centre, ad hoc leadership.
    Relatively stable message; pattern of replication of a central message.	Evolving message; family resemblance of messages.
    Scope limited by resource and energy at the centre and by capacity of  ‘spokes’.	Scope limited by infrastructure technology.
    ‘Feedback’ loop moves from secondary to primary centre and back to all   secondary centres.	‘Feedback’ loops operate local and universally throughout the systems  network.
  • He argues for formulating projective models  that can be carried forward into further instances (a key aspect of his later  work on reflective practice).

  • Moreover, learning isn’t simply something that is individual. Learning can  also be social:

     

     

    A social system learns whenever it acquires new capacity  for behaviour, and learning may take the form of undirected interaction between  systems…
  • he opportunity for learning, Donald Schon suggests, is primarily in  discovered systems at the periphery, ‘not in the nexus of official policies at  the centre’ (ibid.: 165).
  • Donald Schon, they claim, looks to an alternative epistemology  of practice ‘in which the knowledge inherent in practice is be understood as  artful doing’

  • The notions of reflection-in-action, and reflection-on-action were central to  Donald Schon’s efforts in this area. The former is sometimes described as  ‘thinking on our feet’. It involves looking to our experiences, connecting with  our feelings, and attending to our theories in use. It entails building new  understandings to inform our actions in the situation that is unfolding.  

     

     

    The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise,  puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He  reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which  have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves  to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the  situation. (Schön 1983: 68)

    We test out our ‘theories’ or, as John Dewey might have put it, ‘leading  ideas’ and this allows to develop further responses and moves. Significantly, to  do this we do not closely follow established ideas and techniques - textbook  schemes. We have to think things through, for every case is unique.
  • We can link this process of thinking on our feet with reflection-on-action.  This is done later – after the encounter.  Workers may write up recordings, talk things through with a supervisor and so  on. The act of reflecting-on-action enables us to spend time exploring why we  acted as we did, what was happening in a group and so on. In so doing we develop  sets of questions and ideas about our activities and practice.

  • The notion of repertoire is a key aspect of this approach.  Practitioners build up a collection of images, ideas, examples and actions that  they can draw upon. Donald Schon, like John Dewey (1933: 123), saw this as  central to reflective thought.

     

     

    When a practitioner makes sense of a  situation he perceives to be unique, he sees it as something already present in his repertoire. To see this site as that one is not to subsume the first under a familiar category or rule. It is,  rather, to see the unfamiliar, unique situation as both similar to and different  from the familiar one, without at first being able to say similar or different  with respect to what. The familiar situation functions as a precedent, or a  metaphor, or... an exemplar for the unfamiliar one. (Schön 1983: 138)
  • In this way we engage with a situation. We do not have a  full understanding of things before we act, but, hopefully, we can avoid major  problems while 'testing the water'. When looking at a  situation we are influenced by, and use, what has gone before, what might come,  our repertoire, and our frame of reference.
  • However, when we take reflection in and on action together it does appear that  Schon has hit upon something significant. Practitioners are able to describe how  they ‘think on their feet’, and how they make use of a repertoire of images,  metaphors and theories.

  • There is a clear  relationship between reflection in and on action. People draw upon the  processes, experiences and understandings generated through reflection on  action. In turn, things can be left and returned to.   

     

     

    We have to take certain things as  read. We have to fall back on routines in which previous thought and sentiment  has been sedimented. It is here that the full importance of reflection-on-action  becomes revealed. As we think and act, questions arise that cannot be answered  in the present. The space afforded by recording, supervision and conversation  with our peers allows us to approach these. Reflection requires space in  the present and the promise of space in the future. (Smith 1994: 150)

  • In other words what he tends to look  at is the process of framing and the impact of frame-making on situations:

     

     As [inquirers] frame the problem of the situation, they determine the features  to which they will attend, the order they will attempt to impose on the  situation, the directions in which they will try to change it. In this process,  they identify both the ends to be sought and the means to be employed. (Schön  1983: 165)
  • The ability to draw upon a repertoire  of metaphors and images that allow for different ways of framing a situation is  clearly important to creative practice and is a crucial insight. We can easily  respond in inappropriate ways in situations through the use of an ill-suited  frame.

  14 more annotations...

• 08 Apr 11
  

  Jan Stoner

  rem'd by pem
  reflection in action theory

  reflection learning change innovation Schon

• 30 Mar 11
  

  Rob Clarke

  reflection professionallearning reading article pedagogy learning leadership

• 23 Feb 11
  

  Ben Jones

  Donald Schön - learning, reflection and change

  reflection learning

• 08 Feb 11
  

  Kevin Forgard

  reflection schön

  • hris Argyris and Donald Schon suggested that two theories  of action are involved. They are those theories that are  implicit in what we do as practitioners and managers, and those on which we call  to speak of our actions to others. The former can be described as  theories-in-use. The words we use to convey what we, do or what we would  like others to think we do, can then be called espoused theory.
  • The  Reflective Practitioner (1983) is directed against ‘technical-rationality’  as the grounding of professional knowledge.
  • Technical-rationality is a  positivist epistemology of practice. It is ‘the dominant paradigm which has  failed to resolve the dilemma of rigour versus relevance confronting  professionals’
  • Donald Schon, they claim, looks to an alternative epistemology  of practice ‘in which the knowledge inherent in practice is be understood as  artful doing’
  • there is a very real sense in which his work on  reflective practice has become ‘canonical’ – frequently appealed to by trainers  in a variety of professional fields  (Usher et . al. 1997: 143). As  such they have suffered from being approached in ways that would have troubled  Donald Schon. Rather too often, practitioners are exhorted to ‘apply’ his  theories and exemplars to their own situations and experiences. For him  reflective practice was to be enacted.

  3 more annotations...

• 09 Jan 11
  

  Simon Shadow

  reflection learning schön

• 26 Nov 10
  

  Neil Weaver

  e-learning education learning reflection research social teaching

• 25 Nov 10
  

  Adrian Greig

  learning spaces learningspaces reflection education research theory teaching design innovation philosophy schon

• 10 Nov 10
  

  sjdavies

  to_read_oct10

• 

  Paul Bouchard

  Aded220 schon

• 08 Nov 10
  

  Tony Searl

  it is necessary to develop social systems that could learn and adapt.

  reflection learning schön change innovation technology

  • There is a concern with professional learning, learning processes in  organizations, and with developing critical, self-reflecting practice.
  • Frame Reflection (Schon and Rein 1994) is concerned with the ways in  which intractable policy controversies can be reconciled
  • ‘The two essential facts are… the increasing proportion of free time and the  rapidity of change. The latter requires continuous education; the former makes  it possible
  • Hutchins’ argument is that ‘machines can do for modern man what slavery did for  the fortunate few in Athens’
  • Institutions are characterized by ‘dynamic conservatism’ – ‘a tendency to fight  to remain the same’
  • we must invent and develop institutions which are ‘learning systems’, that is to  say, systems capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation.
  • If government is to learn to solve new public problems, it must also learn to  create the systems for doing so and discard the structure and mechanisms grown  up around old problems.
  • While his critical analysis of systems theory substitutes responsive networks  for traditional hierarchies, his theory of governance remains locked in top-down  paternalism
  • An alternative response is to question to governing variables themselves, to  subject them to critical scrutiny. This they describe as double-loop  learning

  7 more annotations...

• 03 Nov 10
  

  Will Stewart

  "Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as ‘the learning society’, ‘double-loop learning’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ has become part of the language of education. We explore his work and some of the key themes that emerge. What assessment can we make now? "

  schon schön innovation learning reflection change

• 

  djplaner

  technical

  reflection isdt schon emergent

• 

  Joan Vinall-Cox

  reflection learning schön

• 02 Nov 10
  

  Jenni Parker

  reflection learning change innovation

• 26 Oct 10
  

  Jeremy Cushman

  Schon OOO

  • Donald Schon (1973, first published 1971) takes as his starting point the  loss of the stable state. Belief in the stable state, he suggests, is belief in  ‘the unchangeability, the constancy of central aspects of our lives, or belief  that we can attain such a constancy’ (Schon 1973: 9). Such a belief is strong  and deep, and provides a bulwark against uncertainty. Institutions are  characterized by ‘dynamic conservatism’ – ‘a tendency to fight to remain the  same’ (ibid.: 30). However, with technical change continuing  exponentially its pervasiveness and frequency was ‘uniquely threatening to the  stable state’ (ibid.: 26). He then proceeds to build the case for a  concern with learning (see inset).
  • We must, in other words, become adept at learning. We must become able not  only to transform our institutions, in response to changing situations and  requirements; we must invent and develop institutions which are ‘learning  systems’, that is to say, systems capable of bringing about their own continuing  transformation
  • A learning system… must be one in which dynamic  conservatism operates at such a level and in such a way as to permit change of  state without intolerable threat to the essential functions the system fulfils  for the self. Our systems need to maintain their identity, and their ability to  support the self-identity of those who belong to them, but they must at the same  time be capable of transforming themselves. (Schon 1973: 57)

  • A firm is:

     

     

    … an internal learning system in which the system’s  interactions… must now become a matter of directed transformation of the whole  system. These directed transformations are in part the justification for the  business systems firm. But they oblige it to internalise processes of  information flow and sequential innovation which have traditionally been left to  the ‘market’ and to the chain reactions within and across industry lines –  reactions in which each firm had only to worry about its own response as one  component. The business firm, representing the whole functional system, must now  learn to effect the transformation and diffusion of the system as a whole.  (Schon 1973: 75)
  • and the decline of centre-periphery models of institutional  activity (ibid.: 168). He contrasts classical models of diffusing  innovation with a learning system model.
  • The need for public learning carries with it the need for  a second kind of learning. If government is to learn to solve new public  problems, it must also learn to create the systems for doing so and discard the  structure and mechanisms grown up around old problems. (Schon 1973: 109)

  • hris Argyris and Donald Schon suggested that two theories  of action are involved. They are those theories that are  implicit in what we do as practitioners and managers, and those on which we call  to speak of our actions to others. The former can be described as  theories-in-use. The words we use to convey what we, do or what we would  like others to think we do, can then be called espoused theory. This was  an important distinction and is very helpful when exploring questions around  professional and organizational practice (see Chris Argyris and theories of  action for a full treatment of this area).

     

    To fully appreciate theory-in-use we require a model of  the processes involved. To this end Argyris and Schon (1974) initially  looked to three elements:

     

     

    Governing variables: those dimensions that people  are trying to keep within acceptable limits. Any action is likely to impact upon  a number of such variables – thus any situation can trigger a trade-off among  governing variables.

     

    Action strategies: the moves and plans used by  people to keep their governing values within the acceptable range.

     

    Consequences: what happens as a result of an  action. These can be both intended - those actor believe will result - and  unintended. In addition those consequences can be for the self, and/or for  others. (Anderson 1997)

  • When they came to explore the nature of organizational learning Chris Argyris  and Donald Schon (1978: 2-3) described the process as follows:

     

     

    When the error detected and corrected permits the  organization to carry on its present policies or achieve its presents  objectives, then that error-and-correction process is single-loop learning. Single-loop learning is like a thermostat that learns when it is too  hot of too cold and turns the heat on or off. The thermostat can perform this  task because it can receive information (the temperature of the room) and take  corrective action. Double-loop learning occurs when error is detected and  corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization’s underlying  norms, policies and objectives.

    Single-loop learning seems to be present when goals,  values, frameworks and, to a significant extent, strategies are taken for  granted. The emphasis is on ‘techniques and making techniques more efficient’  (Usher and Bryant: 1989: 87) Any reflection is directed toward making the  strategy more effective. Double-loop learning, in contrast, ‘involves  questioning the role of the framing and learning systems which underlie actual  goals and strategies’ (op. cit.).
  • The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise,  puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He  reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which  have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves  to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the  situation. (Schön 1983: 68)
  • Significantly, to  do this we do not closely follow established ideas and techniques - textbook  schemes.
  • We have to think things through, for every case is unique. However, we  can draw on what has gone before. In many respects, Donald Schon is using a  distinction here that would have been familiar to  Aristotle – between the technical (productive) and the  practical.
  • In so doing we develop  sets of questions and ideas about our activities and practice.

  10 more annotations...

• 17 Oct 10
  

  Isobel Dutton
• 04 Oct 10
  

  gemma clarke
• 21 Sep 10
  

  Antonio Figueiredo

  Authors delicious

• 24 Aug 10
  

  Taimi Olsen

  reflective_practice

• 

  Taimi Olsen

  reflective_practice

• 04 Aug 10
  

  Natalie Spence

  prototypeideas reflection design

• 02 Aug 10
  

  serge lerner

  ThinkingDesign

• 29 Jul 10
  

  Betzi Bateman

  reflection

• 27 Jul 10
  

  laurahollinshead

  reflection TMA04

• 17 Jul 10
  

  Leonardo Langaro

  philosophy reflection schon

• 07 Jul 10
  

  Andre Malheiro

  Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as  ‘the learning society’, ‘double-loop learning’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ has become part of the langu

  learning article education

• 10 May 10
  

  Giorgio Bertini

  We can link this process of thinking on our feet with reflection-on-action.  This is done later – after the encounter. Workers may write up recordings, talk things through with a supervisor and so on. The act of reflecting-on-action enables us to spend

  learning change

• 30 Apr 10
  

  spencro

  schön

  learning education research philosophy theory teaching design

• 12 Apr 10
  

  Jonathan Kemp

  "We must, in other words, become adept at learning. We must become able not only to transform our institutions, in response to changing situations and requirements; we must invent and develop institutions which are ‘learning systems’, that is to say, systems capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation."

  reflected learning

• 06 Apr 10
  

  Jamie Baker

  DonaldSchon

• 22 Mar 10
  

  Cathryn Chellis
  • organizational learning
  • learning
  • learning society’

  1 more annotation...

• 05 Mar 10
  

  Linda Houston
• 01 Mar 10
  

  adelgordon

  FOLT learning teaching e-learning assessment theory schon

• 15 Feb 10
  

  Caroline Ladage

  Schon Portfolio

• 04 Feb 10
  

  Jo Turner-Attwell

  reflection learning

• 27 Jan 10
  

  Pablo Bleyer

  cognitive learning education theory donaldschon

• 04 Jan 10
  

  dolphin108

  From Internet Explorer

• 29 Dec 09
  

  Midwifepam Harnden

  reflection schön learning change

• 17 Dec 09
  

  Jennifer Dittrich

  pd

• 25 Nov 09
  

  Amy Perrey

  technology blog

• 31 Oct 09
  

  jtseaman

  learning education research theory social philosophy schon

• 07 Oct 09
  

  madmacnz

  Firefox

• 

  Helen Otway

  reflection schön learning change

• 30 Sep 09
  
• 12 Aug 09
  

  Terry Elliott

  reflection schön learning

• 11 Aug 09
  

  Bruce Niemann

  reflection-on-action

  learning change

  • become adept at learning
  • become adept at learning
  • reflection-on-action
  • become adept at learning

  2 more annotations...

• 10 Jul 09
  

  Gilbert Peffer

  informallearning

• 02 Jul 09
  

  Timo Nevalainen

  reflection schön learning

• 21 Apr 09
  

  Sveinung Igesund

  reflection schön learning

• 07 Apr 09
  

  paul lowe

  donald schon (schön): learning, reflection and change
  Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as ‘the learning society’, ‘double-loop learning’ and ‘reflection-in-action’ has become part of the language of education. We explore his work and some of the key themes that emerge. What assessment can we make now?

  schön reflection learning reflective_practioner wimbaconnect

• 06 Mar 09
  

  Allison Fine

  freeagent

• 16 Dec 08
  

  Donna Fry

  Donald Alan Schon (1930-1997) trained as a philosopher, but it was his concern with the development of reflective practice and learning systems within organizations and communities for which he is remembered. Significantly, he was also an accomplished pia

  reflective_practice reflection schon donaldschon reflective philosophy people e-learning learning research education

• 26 Nov 08
  

  Carmen Tschofen

  reflection schön society improvisation learning

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.