Tensions of Teaching: Beyond Tips to Critical Reflection

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

The widespread recognition that teachers play a central role in the
education process is being reflected in calls in political jurisdictions
across North America for rigorous licensing standards for new teachers
and regular performance reviews for licensed teachers. The thesis of
this book is that improved teaching will result not from regulatory
changes but rather from Action Research, a process in which teachers
critically reflect (in writing) on their own beliefs and practices,
review relevant scholarship, and transform their performance
accordingly.

The author, a former professor of education in Halifax who served as
Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba for five
years in the 1990s, begins her book with a discussion of Action Research
and concludes it with reflections on her own teaching. In between are
mostly interesting essays by Newman’s former students, in which they
apply various aspects of Action Research to their own teaching. Based on
their experiences, it would seem that Action Research is the answer to
public concerns about quality teaching. Unfortunately, as Newman herself
points out, most teachers have difficulty keeping a detailed running
record of their work, much less reflecting on their teaching in writing
and using available research to refine their practices. It well may be
that governments have it right when they argue that the only realistic
way to improve education is to impose standardized tests on students and
conduct rigorous and regular performance reviews of those who teach
them.