the most significant and deeply embedded influences are the images, models, and conceptions of teaching derived from our own experiences as learners. (Brookfield (2017, p. 153)
Brookfield (1998) argues that our autobiography as a learner represents one of the most important sources of insight into practice to which we have access. Yet, he argues, in much professional education research, personal experience is dismissed and demeaned as ‘merely anecdotal’– in other words, as hopelessly subjective and impressionistic.
It is true, of course, that at one level all experience is inherently subjective. However, when personal experience is reflected upon critically, in conjunction with other forms of evidence, it forms a tighter junction of evidence and a more valid approach to teacher decision-making.
Brookfield (2017) contends that analysing our autobiographies as learners often helps to explain those parts of our practice to which we feel strongly committed. Recalling emotionally charged dimensions of our autobiographies as learners helps us to understand why we act in certain ways. As we progress through our careers, Brookfield argues it becomes harder and harder to recall these emotional dimensions of our initial experiences. Prompts which trigger the images relating to initial experiences become important in examining the effects of those experiences on our current teaching (Abbs, 1974; Grumet, 1976; 1990). Reflecting on personal and educational experiences allows a person to gain knowledge of the kinds of influences likely to affect their present and future abilities as teachers.
First we need to find out what our assumptions are … To uncover these implicit assumptions, it is often helpful to involve other people (friends, family, work colleagues) who help us see ourselves and our actions from unfamiliar perspectives. Sometimes reading books, watching videos or having new experiences such as traveling to other cultures, going to college or being an intern help us become aware of our assumptions. (p. 14)
What learners bring to an experience, the personal foundation of experience and the intent, can significantly affect what is noticed. This is because, according to Boud (1991), noticing is a selective process, and the things to which learners are predisposed by previous experience or intent will be more easily noticed than others. Thus, the event is often interpreted according to the personal foundation of experience or intent.
It is common to read presuppositions into events and to interpret the event and its elements in the light of those presuppositions. Hence, the event can be experienced as an expression of, and reinforcement of, presuppositions. When that happens, taken-for-granted assumptions that may have unknowingly shaped past ways of knowing can make it difficult to consider other ways of viewing our experience (Boud & Walker, 1991).
Surfacing teachers’ personal knowledge and experience is critical because teacher knowledge is by its very nature practical, personal, situated (Clandinin 1986, Elbaz 1983) and embodied within teachers’ actions (Schön 1983). As a form of reflective knowing, autobiography may help teachers understand more fully aspects of learning, knowledge and education, by exploring various contexts that influence such understandings. Such reflective knowing explores some of the experiential and purposive contexts that influence knowledge creation.
Bushnell & Henry (2003) argued that intellectual maturity and self-awareness may arise from teachers reflecting on their past experiences, leading them to be more confident critical thinkers and problem solvers. Given that autobiographical reflection (according to Calkins & Harwayne, 1991), is mostly about rendering the ordinariness of our lives so that it becomes significant, this type of reflection has potential to develop greater self-awareness in individuals. The challenge of undertaking autobiographical reflection lies within the experience of discovering memories no-one talks about to understand how they shape who we are.
In a similar vein, Mason (2002) stated that what ‘seem[s] to be helpful is prompting people to experience something which sheds light on their past experience and offers to inform their future choices’ (p. 5). Clark & Rossiter (2008) noted that stories have an explicit role in linking to autobiographies:
Stories draw us into an experience at more than a cognitive level; they engage our spirit, our imagination, our heart, and this engagement is complex and holistic. Good stories transport us away from the present moment, sometimes even to another level of consciousness. They evoke other experiences we’ve had, and those experiences become real again. (p. 65)
Riessman (1993), in her book Narrative Analysis, also posited that the analysis of narratives becomes a way of analysing past experience. Because we do not have direct access to experience, our sense of who and what we are, as well as the character of our social worlds, is constructed by formulating these into stories. Through teachers reflecting autobiographically as a result of narrative, they develop a new awareness of their agency and the structural components of their lived experience (Hillocks, 1999).
The knowledge gained through reflection about our selves and our learning is underrated as an important source of data to inform teaching practice. If this statement is true, it highlights the need to find way ways to support teachers to reflect on their practice whereby teachers understand how their past experiences shape the decisions that they make in the classroom. In this way the valuable evidence which comes unconsciously from a teacher’s past experiences forms a more valid and reliable form of evidence to inform their teaching.
Teaching Wisdom 