“Reconstruct” the epistemology of educational reflective practices. A critical analysis of Dewey’s legacy in Schön’s professionalisation model

Abstract

The epistemological and methodological model of the reflective practitioner, developed by D.A. Schön in the 1980s, is an essential reference point in the initial and continuous academic training of non-formal education professionals. However, this model does not seem to have sufficient critical force to stem the actual emergence of a neoliberalist conception of education. This difficulty does not only derive from the political-economic pervasiveness of neoliberalism, but also from the theoretical limits of the reflective practitioner model, which interprets Dewey’s legacy in education in the light of the constructivist perspective. In order to support this thesis, the paper analyses the epistemological conditions within which the Schönian model emerged and illustrates the main criticisms to which it is exposed because of its constructivism, and then proposes a transactional interpretation of reflective educational practices.