The Intuitive Practitioner: On the Value of Not Always Knowing What One is Doing

This volume investigates, both conceptually and empirically, the role of intuition in professional practice and its significance for professional development, especially within the world of education. The relationship between rationale or explicit ways of knowing and learning and inarticulate, intuitive or implicit ones is explored in the context of professional practice and development. The tendencay to interpret reflection solely in terms of articulation is questioned and the value of other forms of reflection is reasserted. The working relationship between reason and intuition is illustrated in a variety of case studies in distinctive educational and professional settings. From this reassessment of intuition, practical lessons for the initial training and continuing professional development of educators and others are highlighted and extracted.

The editors and contributors are all staff and associates of the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education with exception of Michael Eraut of the School of Education at the University of Sussex. Between them, they bring together expertise in, on the one hand, researching and theorising teacher thinking and teacher education, and, on the other, in the practice of teacher training and teaching itself.