Conceptualising An Approach To Clinical Reasoning In The Education Profession

Abstract

An increasing number of teaching qualifications are underpinned by the concept of clinical practice (Alter & Coggshall, 2009; McLean Davies et al., 2013) and draw on clinical education research in the health professions. Teaching as a clinical practice profession is an emergent approach in teacher education. Clinical practice is not a wholesale shift in approach; rather it is a change in perspective that has the capacity to create changes in thinking about learning and teaching. The concept of clinical reasoning presented in this paper is offered as a key element in teacher education that requires greater emphasis. By moving away from apprenticeship and craft frameworks of teaching that were prevalent in teacher education (Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez-Torres, 2003), this approach to clinical reasoning can produce teachers who are better able to articulate their reasoning for pedagogical choices drawing on both school-based and research-based evidence so as to improve their own teaching and improve the teaching of others.