D Ramaa Muthukumaran

According to Palmer, “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” It is important for a teacher to know the content and practice relevant skills but also develop the disposition leading to a teaching style that “emerges from one’s inwardness” and a teacher prepared to examine their inner world has an opportunity to gain “self-knowledge”. Examination of the self requires the teacher to develop the skill of critical thinking. Dewey in How We Think says, “The essence of critical thinking is suspended judgment”. To paraphrase Dewey, once a difficulty presents itself, and a solution is sought, it is essential to critically examine the circumstances that shape this practice of reflection. Critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends, as described by Glaser. Teachers need to be self-aware and build knowledge about themselves to be able to critically think and therefore, as elaborated by Mezirow, critical reflection as an exercise of agency requires exploration in teacher preparation. The teacher as a reflective practitioner engages in collaborating with self to critically examine her beliefs and attitudes that shape her teaching philosophy and subsequently the practice of teaching.