Theory, Practice and Performance in Teaching: Professionalism, intuition, and jazz

Accounts of the so-called 'crisis in professionalism' in teaching and teacher education in recent years have turned on the epistemological undermining of professional knowledge and the problems surrounding the synthesis of theory and practice which underpins teacher performance. It is argued that the concentration on performance in teaching and professional development is to be welcomed, provided that 'performance' is not defined in purely technicist or instrumental terms. In response to the trend towards evidence-informed policy and practice and mechanistic outcome-based educational effectiveness in contemporary educational debate, we conclude - drawing on the 'teaching as artistry' tradition and using arguments drawn from jazz music and insights gained from the jazz metaphor - that teacher professionalism can be enhanced through attention to the intuitive, improvisatory and existentialist spontaneity of teaching as artistic performance