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Assumption Interrogation: An Insight into a Self-Study Researcher’s Pedagogical Frame

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Research Methods for the Self-study of Practice

Part of the book series: Self Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices ((STEP,volume 9))

Embedded assumptions about teaching, and learning through teaching, are not easy to identify and are even more difficult to alter. This chapter seeks to contextualize Dewey’s (1933) attitude of “responsibility” (p. 12) through identifying and interrogating taken-for-granted assumptions about learning and teaching. Using self-study of teaching as my methodology and assumption hunting (Brookfield, 1995) as a lens, I came to understand how powerful this combination was in revealing more about the complexities of teaching. Through questioning and ‘suspending’ (van Manen, 1990) taken-for-granted assumptions, more has been revealed about the structures which enabled the creation of new knowledge and the subsequent challenges to my conceptualization of learning and teaching as a teacher educator. A consequence of my systematic evaluation has been the modification, and in some cases, major alteration of practice.

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  1. University of Ballarat, 12 Crocker Street, Ballarat, Victori 3353, Australia

    Robyn Brandenburg

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  1. Robyn Brandenburg
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Correspondence to Robyn Brandenburg .

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    Brandenburg, R. (2009). Assumption Interrogation: An Insight into a Self-Study Researcher’s Pedagogical Frame. In: Fitzgerald, L., Heston, M., Tidwell, D. (eds) Research Methods for the Self-study of Practice. Self Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9514-6_12

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