Professional Development: Practice as Text, Reflection as Process, and Self as Locus

Abstract

This article considers the issue of practising educators continually learning to perform more effectively. The emphasis is on professional development as a self-directed rather than an externally prescribed process. The requirements and outcomes of the former are very different from the latter. The educator is addressed as the reader of the practice text. Through this reflective action, the practitioner manages the development of the ‘self’ within the educational community, thus making an important contribution to its enhanced performance. The assumption is that the educator is always in the process of ‘becoming’ what is required by the ever-changing parameters of the learning context