Theory, Practice and the Student of Education

Abstract

Theory/practice is an important topic but a tired one. It 's difficult to say anything new about it. I'm going to try , however, and to that end I shall avoid concentrating very much on three engaging areas of inquiry that beckon comfortingly but , a las, can become ends in themselves rather than shedding any fresh light on the concern of this conference. First, for purposes of this paper, I intend to shun the task of doing a literature review on what counts as a theory, and whether as a field of study education can claim to have any. Second, I shall not be detained by the cousin literature on what kind of theory an educational theory is supposed to be. And finally, I ' II sidestep detailed analysis of the literature that purports to tell whether and how theory relates to practice in the abstract