Education, collaboration and pedagogical phronesis: essential dimensions in professional learning and development

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article aims to elaborate multiple dimensions of ethical perception in professionalism and introduces novel didactic viewpoints on educational routes through which professionals learn and develop the moral competencies essential to praxis. Results are discussed from recent innovative research projects on professional didactics, education and work practice. The article explores new research pathways through which to learn and develop professional ethics for teachers and social educators in collaboration between several agents in the field: students, teachers and educational leaders, as well as public institutions. Through lifelong learning trajectories, professionals are enabled to skilfully confront ethical challenges in reality, to develop concrete ethical perception and discernment based on practical wisdom, here defined as pedagogical phronesis. Based on a synthesis of empirical findings and theoretical perspectives, we argue that an interchanging dynamic between subjective experiences and dialogical learning constitutes several dimensions of tacit practical wisdom, which is accentuated in the perception of practice. These are: 1) the existential-phenomenological dimension, 2) the life-historical dimension, 3) the dimension of inter-relational competence, and 4) the social dimension of learning. Our findings have significance and applicability for policymaking, professional training, and educational development, as well as wider research projects on professional learning and development.