Reflective Practice in Teacher Education

In this paper I want to raise four issues: Why the interest in reflective approaches, now? What is to be gained from this approach? What are some of the advantages? What are the drawbacks? The basic argument of the paper is that the notion of "reflective practice" has generally had a positive history and connotation in schools, and that it is worth persisting with, but unless we develop some touchstone principles to guide us as to what it means to act reflectively, there is a distinct danger that a constructive and useful approach will be "at risk" as good ideas are appropriated by governments for other ends - ones that are not necessarily in the interests of students or teachers. I want to conclude by canvassing some of the principles that might underlie a re-assertion of what it is that is fundamentally important about reflective approaches.