Framing professional discourse with teachers: Professional Working Theory

This chapter has a dual focus. First, we describe our development of a process that facilitates the articulation and discussion of Professional Working Theory with teachers – a process based on the dynamic interaction between “practice” (what teachers do), “theory” (how they understand what they do), and “ethics” (why they do what they do). We conclude the first section with an outline of the expanded discourse on teacher professionalism initiated by teachers as they discussed their “Professional Working Theory”. Second, we describe and critically reflect on the self-study through which we developed this approach to Professional Working Theory. In this latter stage we raise questions about the nature and purpose(s) of self-study and the contribution of self-study (and practitioner research) to knowledge creation in education.