Donald A. Schon's Epistemology Of Reflective Practice And China's Adult Higher Educational Problems

Donald A. Schon is one of the most important founders of the contemporary concept of reflective practice. Since the 1980s, Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice has been attracting attention from the adult educational scene worldwide and has made a profound impact to adult education. Schon is whereby recognized as "a thinker of adult and continuing education of the 20th century". However, in China's adult educational area, little attention has been paid to Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice, and few researches have been carried out in this field. This academic thesis is devoted first to a systematical introduction to Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice and then to exploring the application of Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice to solving problems with China's adult higher education, with the author's hope that the thesis will contribute to the reform of China's adult higher education. The author develops the thesis, by using the methods of induction, deduction, citation, comparison, etc. The thesis first deals with the derivation and philosophic basis of Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice and then place emphasis on the discussion of the two most important aspects of Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice: the professional artistry of the reflective practitioner, and the training of the reflective practitioner. Schon thinks that, in order to solve the varying professional complexities, the practitioner needs the professional artistry of reflect-in-action. Therefore, the connotation, the process and structure of reflect-in-action make up the main body of the discussion. In regard of how to train the reflective practitioner, Schon thinks the best way is through reflective practicum. The author makes a detailed description of the characters of reflective practicum and how to perform and popularize reflective practicum. Lastly, the circle of China's adult higher education can draw a great inspiration from Schon's Epistemology of Reflective Practice: The aim should be to train the learner to have the ability to reflect-in-action, the ability to originate things, and the ability to be a life-long learner; the most important content of the course should be practical knowledge; the learner should learn to reflect-in-action during the course through reflective practicum; there should be an army of reflective-in-action teachers; interactive reflective-in-action dialogue should be advocated between the teacher and the Iearners, etc.