Donald Schon: learning, reflection and change

Retrieved on March 6, 2010 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm

Introduction

This article introduces Schon's education and professional history - student of philosophy (Phd) and music - as a point of reference for the perspective and context he conducted his research in organisational behaviour. His focus was on professional learning, learning within the organisation, and in critical self-reflection, where he coined the term 'reflection-in-action'. He describes reflection-in-action as the ability to think on our feet, taking in our experiences, understanding the role our feelings play and making use of theories - generally understanding that circumstance arises from our actions. Reflection-on-action is described as the process of reflection upon actions once the experience is finalised, a post-mortem if you will, raising questions about the characteristics of actions, how it affected the group and what considerations should be adopted in future to develop a more effective process.

Schon was a believer of paideia, education that takes place outside school - that man is educated culturally, shaped by society. He believed that one never stops learning. The society he refers to appears in ancient Greek literature, where slavery was the norm and society freed of the banal, indicating more time to achieve personal development. Shon suggests that as modern man harnesses the power of technology to make his workload light, similar personal development should occur in this era. He spoke of a 'stable state' - "the unchangeability, the constancy of central aspects of our lives, or belief that we can attain such a constancy" - but indicates that we have lost this owing to evolution of industry and the continuous process of transformation, that we cannot expect new stable states to endure even through the course of one lifetime. Instead we are instructed to understand, guide and even influence and manage transformations by learning about learning. Our response to changing systems and requirements must incorporate invented and developed learning systems. In expecting our social systems to learn, we also require that transformation occurs with a minimum of disruption. That is to say that the identity of the social system, and therefore its members, must be retained during its transformation. He uses government by way of example where government learns for society - a learning system that carries the idea of public learning - the ongoing process of directing investigation as to probable causes, nature and resolution of issues.

Schon's collaborative work with Argyris in the late seventies led them to believe learning involves the detection and correction of error, either through a process of single-loop learning (going back to the starting point, choosing a different strategy to implement without questioning the original plan, goal or values) or double-loop learning (the subjecting of variables to critical scrutiny). Single-loop learning is likened to the adjustment of a thermostat, and double-loop learning is the reflection directed toward making strategy more effective, the modification of underlying norms, policies and objectives. This theory indicates that it is not necessary to traverse the full experience of a cycle (as in single-loop learning). Experience has taught us that we need only re-adjust the system (double-loop learning).

Criticisms that Schon encountered centred around a) the lack of time one has to make decisions that arguably cannot take into consideration all mitigating circumstance; and b) analysis that falters in the face of the wider picture. To the former Schon indicated the importance of reflection-on-action, the investigation of error, and subsequent evolving literature on a sequence of events that leaves markers with purpose for all who come after. To the latter Schon responded with faith, reflecting that by allowing ourselves space for recording, supervision and conversation, future generations will be able to look at the component parts with more insight than is afforded in the present.


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