1. Emotional dimensions in transformative learning processes of novice teachers.
A qualitative study
Loretta Fabbri & Claudio Melacarne, University of Siena - Maura Striano, University of Naples Federico II.
fabbri@unisi.it - claudio.melacarne@unisi.it - maura.striano@unina.it
Abstract
The qualitative study has involved 100 novice teachers attending a two year training course in
Teacher College at the Universities of Florence and Siena and has been focused on the analysis of
transformative learning processes (Mezirow, 1990; 1991) occurring during the practicum within
the interaction among novice and expert teachers using a narrative inquiry approach (Connelly &
Clandinin, 1995).
Novice teachers have been asked to write a professional short narrative about a problematic
experience in their training framed as “critical incident” (Brookfield, 1990). Narratives have been
collected in order to identify transformative processes and turning points in the construction of
teacher’s professional epistemology focusing on their epistemic and emotional involvement.
Narratives have been processed both by statistic classification and qualitative analysis using a
process of methodological and investigator triangulation.
Contents
1. Scientific background
2. Theoretical framework
3. Study questions
4. Research focus and objectives
5. Methodology
6. A first quantitative analysis: the focus of the reflective action
7. The qualitative analysis
7.1. Unsaid emotions. I do what I feel like doing. I learn as a professional by observation, by trial
and errors. Emotions are imbedded in the practices. No cognitive apprenticeship occurs
7.2. Helplessness. I won’t do as you teach me.
7.3. Emotions are an “individual thing”. I learn by opposition because I feel that what you
propose is not right
7.4. Exploring reflectively emotional relationships with students and colleagues
7.5. Socializing emotions
8. Critical points
9. Essential references
1

2. 1. Scientific background
In the last thirty years educational research has been increasingly focused on the relationship
among knowledge construction processes, emotions and practices in educational and professional
contexts, according to a constructivist paradigm.
Within this framework, a growing body of research has examined the relationship between teachers’
epistemological beliefs and the practice of teaching (King, Kitchener, 1994). The understanding of
teachers’ beliefs systems about teaching and learning is particularly informative about the manner
in which their classroom practice is constructed. Some studies, in detail, have focused on how in
service teachers’ beliefs are deeply linked to their practices and have reported that teachers who
hold constructivist beliefs are more likely to explore student alternate conceptions of phenomena;
have a richer repertoire of teaching strategies; and are more likely to use teaching strategies to
induce conceptual change (Arredondo and Rucinski, 1996, Hasweh 1996). Other studies have been
focused on the epistemological differences in pre-service teachers, finding that pre-service teachers
with naïve epistemological beliefs tend to have a simplistic view of classroom problems and solve
them by drawing on some past personal experience, while pre-service teachers with more
sophisticated epistemological beliefs are more likely to see complexity in classroom problems and
reflectively seek out alternative viewpoints, including those of the child, family and school, before
deciding on a course of action (White, 2000).
In particular, some studies have been focused on teachers’ personal and “folk”
epistemologies and psychologies, showing that individuals with relativistic beliefs are more able to
conceive teaching as a facilitating process rather than a process for knowledge transmission; the
study of teachers’ folk psychology show how teachers understand their pupils’ learning and how
this knowledge influences their teaching practices: teachers who believe that the focus in their
teaching should be on pupils’ behaviour rather than thinking look at learning as a reproduction and
at teaching as a process of transmission, while teachers who look at their pupils as at competent
thinkers, consider their learning a process of interpretation and interpret teaching as a constructivist
endeavour (Brownlee, 2001, 2003; Olson and Bruner 1996). In this framework, research on children
learning show that children in constructivist child-centred environments compared with children in
directive teaching environments increase motivation, decrease stress and increase problem solving
and language skills (Daniels & Shumow, 2003). Recent research has investigated the nature of early
childhood teachers’ epistemological beliefs and its relationship with practice. exploring the nature
of epistemological beliefs of childcare workers as a mediating factor in the nature and quality of
practice (Brownlee, Berthelsen, & Boulton-Lewis, 2004; Brownlee and Berthelsen, 2006).
Within this framework, two conceptual constructs are particularly relevant to the study and
analysis of professional practices: the construct of “personal epistemology” (Hofer, Pintrich, 2001)
which refers to personal epistemological beliefs reflecting an individual’s views about what
knowledge is, how knowledge is gained, and the degree of certainty with which knowledge can be
held; and the construct of “professional epistemology” which refers to the use of different forms of
rationality in knowledge construction and transfer in the course of professionals’ actions and
practices (Schön, 1983; 1987).
The development of personal and professional epistemologies can be understood n a
constructivist framework referring to theories of adult learning which portray it as a process of
conceptual change. In particular, transformative learning theory explains adult learning as a process
which occurs through deep transformations in the frame of references adults use to give meaning to
personal and professional experiences and involves epistemic, sociolinguistic and psychological
dimensions; this means that change of the frames of reference used to give meaning to their
experiences and involves deep epistemological changes (Mezirow, 1991; 2002). In this perspective,
teachers epistemological changes can be viewed as changes in the “epistemic perspectives” they use
to frame and reframe their personal and professional experience according to “transformative
learning" theory.
2

3. 2. Theoretical framework
A research framework which integrates the constructs of personal epistemology, professional
epistemology and transformative learning is particularly useful to understand the relation between
teachers’ knowledge, practices and emotions for two reasons:
1) a first reason is that teachers administrate learning and teaching processes and these processes
are influenced by beliefs, representation, theories (tacit theories, naïve theories, common sense
theories) teachers use to interpret their personal and professional experiences and professional
practices change according to a transformative process regarding the frames of reference of these
beliefs, representations, theories.
2) a second reason is that professional epistemologies are always linked to personal
epistemologies where emotions play a central role in the construction of beliefs, representations,
theories regarding various dimensions of teacher’s self; emotions, thus, are deeply involved in the
way teachers give meaning to their professional practices. Emotions are very different in novice
and expert teacher and have a central role in the development of professional epistemologies.
Professional epistemologies are developed through a process which implies deep
epistemological change which can be understood using the construct of “transformative learning”
(Mezirow, 1991; 2002). Assumptions on what’s the natural learning process, how the others
teachers value our work, or what’s the correct way to plan the curriculum, are implicit knowledge
and are usually very different from expert teachers’ practice but are a strong frame of reference
novice teachers would use to frame their practicum and training experiences, since those are pivotal
elements that mediate their interpretations of reality. Novice teachers’ uncritically assimilated
meaning perspectives, can this determine what, how, and why they feel and act in their classroom
practice as observers and as practitioners.
Promoting change is adult education and training is extremely challenging and can be
sustained through reflective devices (Schön, 1983; 1987; 1991¸Mezirow, 1990, 1991; Brookfield,
1990). Which help the learner think through choices posed by the learning situation, explains its
theoretical context, provides supplementary information relevant to the professionals transition,
makes referrals, and leads group discussion. The use of a a critical reflective practicum (Schön,
1987; Mezirow, 1990) in teachers’college activities is thus particularly supportive of
epistemological change as well as of emotional awareness in novice teachers.
The construction of a professional identity is strictly connected to the
construction/deconstruction of a personal identity and in this complex process, epistemic and socio-
linguistic meaning perspectives change together with psychological perspectives. Emotions play a
strong role in the construction and development of professional epistemologies and personal growth
and changes have a deep impact in the framing and reframing of professional identities and roles.
The acknowledgment of the emotional dimension involved in teachers’ professional epistemology
construction through reflective devices is thus extremely important to help novice teachers in
becoming critically aware of the frames of reference they use to give meaning to their experiences
and practices and helps them to develop a reflective competence. The emotional dimension
involved in teachers’ framing and reframing their practices according to their personal
epistemologies has thus become a central focus of the tutoring activity in the Teacher College’s
curriculum.
3. Study questions
Novice teachers participate to the classroom experience and the training activity in school
without any form of previous professional knowledge and competences and are challenged to
develop a reflective competence. They use their personal frames of references (Mezirow, 1991) and
personal epistemologies (Hofer & Pintrich, 2001) to frame their first experiences of legitimate
3

4. peripheral participation to professional practices (Lave, Wenger, 1991) and this use implies deep
emotional involvement. Moreover, the practicum experience and the challenges that the encounter
with a different frame of reference provided by the expert teacher- whose practices are observed
and reflected upon- lead the novice teacher to a deep reframing of their meaning perspectives, an
poses a strong focus on their emotions.
Novice teachers come to learn and to develop their professional identity and epistemology
through a deep process of framing and reframing the professional experiences they participate in
during the practicum, and thus it is extremely important to promote a reflective awareness of this
process as well as of the impact the frame of references they would use has on their professional
practices.
Therefore, there are two important questions to answer: what kind of emotional dimension does
the novices’ experience involve? And how it is possible to help novice teachers in developing an
effective awareness of their frames of reference and of their emotions, assuming a critical point of
view about the educational experience they are involved and developing a reflective competence.?
4. Research focus and objectives
The empirical research focus is on the interplay of the tacit emotional dimension and the tacit
knowledge and epistemology involved in the development of professional identities and
epistemologies in novice teachers through transformative learning and reflective processes.
The unit of analysis is thus the practicum experience as it is framed and reframed by novice
teachers’ beliefs, epistemologies, feelings and emotions.
The objective is to understand which kind of emotions are involved in the transformation of
epistemic, sociolinguistic and psychological frames of references in novice teachers’ practicum
experiences in order to support them with reflective devices useful to promote transformative
learning.
5. Methodology
The research has been developed within a qualitative framework using a narrative inquiry
approach (Connelly & Clandinin, 2001).
The qualitative study has involved 100 novice teachers attending a two year training course in
Teacher College at the Universities of Florence and Siena and has been focused on the analysis of
transformative learning processes (Mezirow, 1990; 1991) occurring during the practicum within the
interaction among novice and expert teachers.
Novice teachers have been asked to provide narratives of their practicum experiences; in
particular, they have been asked to write a short narrative about a problematic experience in their
training framed as “critical incident” (Brookfield, 1990). Critical incidents have been used widely
in educational research (Killen and McKee, 1983), ever since Flanagan' (1954) initial formulation
s
of the method. The researcher using critical incidents gives learners a set of instructions that
identifies the kind of incident to be described and asks for details of the time, place, and actors in-
volved in the incident and the reasons why the event was so significant. In this framework, critical
incidents are particularly useful to explore personal and professional assumptions and
epistemologies and to understand personal and professional change and growth focusing on a
personal and emotional dimension.
Professional short narratives -produced by novice teachers- have been collected in order to
identify transformative processes and turning points in the construction of teacher’s professional
epistemology and to focus on their emotional involvement. Professional narratives focused, in
particular, on situations which have triggered deep change in the way the novices perceive and
represent their professional identity and roles and on the new perspectives they come to use in order
to reframe their professional identity.
4

5. Narratives have been processed both by statistic classification and qualitative analysis using a
process of triangulation.
A first analysis of the narratives has been developed by a statistic classification of the narratives’
central topic. It has been useful to draw a preliminary framework about the focus of novice teachers
‘problems.
A second process of analysis has been developed using a qualitative methodology. Narratives
have been analyzed according to a triadic matrix, useful to identify the intersection of epistemic,
psychological and emotional, socio-linguistic meaning perspectives (Mezirow, 1991) and their
change in the construction of professional identities. The analysis of narratives has been done using
investigator triangulation involving multiple researchers (two internal and one external to the
research framework) and considering the pre-service teachers themselves part of the data analysis
and interpretation process.
6. A first quantitative analysis: the focus of the reflective action
Narratives have first analysed using a quantitative approach. The outcomes of this process show
that the main part of the problems novice teachers come to face during their practicum are focused
on the relationship between teacher and students. About 59% of the total amount of problems and
issues portrayed in the professional narratives refer to the difficulty to establish a “good”
relationship with the students in the class, or
with a single student, with a little group of Learning
students. Relationship
Only 10% of the narratives collected is
Evaluation
explicitly focused on teacher’s professional
and personal beliefs, emotions as well as on Professional self
teachers’ motivations which lead to the
identification of a “professional self”.
We have used the construct of “professional
self” in order to focus on the difficult
relationship occurring in the interplay of the
perception of the self and the representation of
the professional role emerging during the 10%
practicum experience as well as during 3% 28%
reflective processes. So, only 10% of the
narratives is explicitly focused on the
professional self or on novice teachers’
personal ad existential issues and dilemmas.
It is very interesting to note that the
relationship among teachers is rarely
considered in the narratives. This implies that 59%
the relationship between expert and novice
teachers in the practicum -which has a strong
part in the process of professional identity and
epistemology construction- is rarely reflected
upon. Novice teachers tend to focus on and to
portray the relationship teacher/pupil or
teacher/class more than the relationship
novice/expert teacher, but this relationship (which is mainly an epistemological confront of
different frames of reference, is mostly implicitly portrayed in the narratives.
5

6. About 28% of the narratives are focused on the definition or understanding of learning processes
occurring in the classroom and have a strong epistemological focus. Learning is a central issue in
teachers’ practice. Narratives are very useful to explore implicit theories about learning which are
deeply imbedded in the practicum experience, in particular, the narratives analysed are mainly
focused on the relationship between motivation an learning in different educational contexts and
have thus a strong focus on the emotional dimension.
Only 3% of the narratives has been focused on the difficulties and the problems in the practice of
learning assessment and evaluation.
According to this first level of analysis, it is possible to assume that professional identity and
epistemology is being constructed and developed within mainly three problematic areas which lead
to specific learning interests for novice teachers.
- A didactical-relational-communicative area: here teachers are committed to solve problems
such as: “How can I solve the problem to establish a good communicative climate in order to
mediate and transfer effectively new knowledge structures?”; “Which kind of knowledge,
competences, strategies, tools do I need to manage effectively a class of students?”.
- A personal-introspective area: “Why did I choose to become a teacher?” - “What does it mean
to be a good teacher?”.
- Learning theories area: “What does learning mean?” - “Which strategies ands methodologies
should I use in order to support learning?”.
7. The qualitative analysis
The qualitative analysis shows how novice teachers construct their professional identity referring to
their practicum experiences where epistemological and emotional dimensions are deeply
interconnected. Beliefs, representations, implicit theories, emotions frame and reframe their
experiences and change as personal frames of reference are being transformed.
7.1. Unsaid emotions. I do what I feel like doing. I learn as a professional by observation, by
trial and errors. Emotions are imbedded in the practices. No cognitive apprenticeship occurs
A first theory about professional identity and epistemology could be synthesized in the idea that
training and practicum are mainly to be understood as experiences which lead to professional
practices and not as a full immersion in professional experiences and practices.
Novice teachers experience practicum by encountering or facing by observation the different
ways expert teachers have to organize and manage classroom practice but they are not involved in
it, even if they experiment strong feelings and emotions to frame the new experience. No events and
situations portraying the expert teacher as a scaffolder of a facilitator of a cognitive apprenticeship
through reflection. Novice teachers have themselves activated several reflective processes on their
experience which have not been supported by a further reflection facilitated by the expert teacher.
This shows how in the practicum there is still a strong separation between the experiential context
and the process of reflection in situation.
The following narrative is particularly explicative .
In my fist experience as a teacher I have faced the case of a difficult girl; no information has been
previously provided by the school…After several challenging provocations, to which I have
responded in a strong way, one day I have asked the girl to go out of the classroom since she had
refused to perform and exercise in front of the class like all her classmates had previously done.
The girl has left the classroom, but then I have found her crying .
After some lessons the girl has drop-outed from the course (a support course).
6

7. I have been very sorry about this because I believe it has been a great mistake I have made and I
felt I have been incapable to deal with the situation.
After several years and after Teacher College I can tell that today I would react in a different way
and maybe I would control my rage and try to understand the student’s motivations and find
possible solutions.
This story portrays a classical apprenticeship experience. The novice teacher learns from
experience but is not supported in reflecting on the experience and in exploring different possible
solutions negotiated with the expert teacher. No discussion on the episode has occurred. The
emotions of frustration and rage have a strong role in the construction/deconstruction of the
professional identity and epistemology but have not been analysed in the practicum setting itself.
7.2. Helplessness. I won’t do as you teach me.
Emotions are an “individual thing”. I learn by opposition because I feel that what you
propose is not right
In a critical incident, the problematic experience activates a reflection on different focuses of
professional development experience. A particularly interesting focus is on the relationship between
novice perspectives and export teacher perspectives. In some occasions the novice teachers does not
agree on the theoretical and methodological framework used by the expert teacher and activates
processes of construction of an individual professional point of view by opposition, supported by
emotions of dislike. The case does not portray a practicum contexts where narratives and verbal
exchanges, knowledge sharing and negotiation between novice and expert teacher have occurred..
Novice students in Teachers’College mostly learn by observing and reflecting on an individual and
personal basis. The narratives have sometimes portrayed episodes where novice and expert teachers
during the practicum have experienced reciprocal syntony, respect and appreciation, but it is
relevant that no narrative has been focused on problems emerging in the relationship novice/expert,
i.e. on relational, communicative, disagreement problems. Professional competence can be taught
and learnt through participation, but cognitive apprenticeship is a practice not yet considered in the
practicum. It is very interesting to look at the following narrative. The novice teacher reflects by
himself, poses himself some questions, but is not asking them to the expert teacher.
My tutor had given the students an assessment test on language structures. This test involved two
exercises regarding two structures that the teacher had not previously explained to the class.
Students have rightly pointed this out to the teacher and she said that those structures are not easy
to acknowledge.[…]Evaluating the test has been very difficult, for me because I have been not fair
to the studens. I felt I was in a deep crisis. How is it possible to ask the students to perform about
something that has not been previously explained?. If loyalty and consistency are missing, how can
we think we can encourage and motivate the students? If we do not listen to them and consider their
difficulties, that have been explained and were justified because of the unfairness of the test
situation, how can we ask respect from them? At the end, this experience has left in me a trace of
bitterness and many doubts.
The novice teacher experiences the practicum as a space where his ideas come to face a crisis. His
personal epistemology regarding learning assessment, professional ethics and professional
responsibility deeply contrast with the experience and pose and implicit question: “is the expert
teacher wrong or should I review my ideas because they are naïve?”. This issue is very powerful
and involves a great deal of emotion.
The first professional experiences mostly challenge personal and intimate dimensions more than
professional and practical competence which the novice teacher is not jet provided with.
7

8. Narratives portray the practicum as an experience, and do not focus on the professional problem
through analysis of the different variables implied or with a deep involvement and participation in
the professional experience. In any case, the practicum is not experienced as a place where novice
teacher can negotiate competences, i.e. relational competences, or personal theories on learning.
Novice teachers are involved in observation first, then in a “limited and controlled” participation to
classroom practice focusing on particular activities. Problems arise from practice in two different
forms: problems regarding emotional implications of didactics (how should interact with students,
how should I manage assessment? How can I motivate the students?) and epistemological problems
(should I revise my theories of learning and teaching?).
7.3. Exploring reflectively emotional relationships with students and colleagues
Narratives have portrayed a widespread convincement that a determining factor facilitating
knowledge construction and learning processes is the capability to manage relationships with a
particular focus on the emotional dimension. Novice teachers feel and believe that a “good
relationship” grounds a “good learning” even if they would not explain why and how. This novice
teacher’s narrative is explicative.
….Though this experience I have understood how it is important to have a good classroom climate
for learning. At the end of this support activity the girl not only improved her academic
performance, but has become more mature affectively and emotionally: she has become more self
confident and has developed critical capacities. .
This experience has been fundamental to me because I could understand the relationship between
cognitive and affective dimensions of learning and the necessity to create a classroom environment
supportive and eliciting spontaneous performances from the students.
Relationship has thus a central role and is understood both as direct relationship between
teacher-classroom or teacher-single student as well as a climate, a general feeling which
reassures students. A good relationship and a good “classroom climate” give the opportunity to
make mistakes and to be understood? From the narratives collected novice students seem deeply
convinced of the necessity to develop a relationship grounded on respect and reciprocal esteem.
In cases where novice teachers focused on the competence of teachers for special needs students
this factor is considered to be essential to activate a good learning process.
The following narrative shows how from her point of view classroom climate deeply influences
academic performances. It is interesting to note that professional development requires
experience but also excitement.
This experienced has put away from me the terror to teach in a junior high school and has lead me
to understand that it is possible to motivate students, to elicit their interest, to make them beautiful
to your eyes even if- of course-this implies fatigue, but you can be supported by experience and
excitement.
7.4. Socializing emotions
Another understanding of the relationships between learning and emotions is present in the
following narrative. The novice teacher tells us how “aggressive behaviours” are often the by
product of a frenetic climate, with no opportunity to exchange ideas, opinions, stories or personal
narratives. The implicit theory recalls a vygotskijan view of learning processes and uses the
metaphor of the class as a “social” context. In particular, class is understood as a space where it is
not possible anymore to tell stories, to meet different point of view and narrative
8

9. …I have also learned to listen, to define spaces where the kids can tell their experiences or what
makes them upset or whatever they may need to tell, because I have noticed that forced rythms to
which they are submitted force them not to stop and their aggressiveness comes out of this.
…
Another novice writes:
I believe that any time I get into a class it i an educational experience for me because the time I
spend with kids to which I teach is useful to learn how to build relationships with them, to
understand them and help them in their formative process. I speak about my experience as a
teacher and not as a novice teacher referring to the practicum because I believe that continuity in
the relationship with kids is fundamental to build up a better and deeper personal relationship.
A strong attention for relational and emotional dimensions of teaching is not accompanied by a
reflection about which strategies would be more useful to manage learning-teaching processes
besides “empathy” or “grounding a good relationship”.
No mention is made to specific experiences where group work, project work, direct involvement
in specific learning experiences or audio-visual devices supported activities have provided good or
bad results. Maybe it is because novice teachers are still building up their professional identity, but
this seems to be very poorly grounded if it seems to be mainly focused only on the construction of
an educational relationship..
The following narrative points out this issue:
This experience has lead me to understand that in teaching its is important the way you deal with
learning contents; that is the methodology for teaching is fundamental, it is not enough to have a
good knowledge of the contents, but it is of primary importance to motivate the kids and in order
to do this it is important to build up a relationship based on esteem and strong affects.
Besides the affective and emotional dimension, the focus on didactical action shows the
importance to understand students knowledge structures. Teaching can not occur if it is not inserted
in student’s personal knowledge system and most of all grounded in the motivation that lead
students to become active epistemic actors.
8. Critical points
The study of novice teachers narratives has evidenced some critical points that are extremely
relevant in the development of a multifaceted professional competence in Teacher College,
While there is a strong focus on the necessity that the teacher builds up a competence useful to
manage both personal emotions in class as well as the emotions of the class and of the single
students, there is also the risk of misunderstanding of the teacher’s role interpretation., also because
teachers’ relational competences are not clearly understood and focused on.
Moreover, a strong focus on relationship as the basis of learning tends to minimize
epistemological issues and problems related to curriculum development and content mediation
within learning/teaching processes.
Practicum experiences if not considered as professional competence building setting both by
novice as by expert teachers, and if not provided of a reflective structure useful to confront,
mediate, negotiate meaning perspectives tend to confirm personal frames of references or, when
they are perceived as disorienting, there is not the opportunity to activate critical reflective
processes. Moreover, novice experiment strong emotions but they have no opportunity to make
meaning of them.
9

10. The use of critical incidents and of professional narratives has shown that whenever novice
teachers are lead to reflect on their experiences and practices they may become critically aware of
their beliefs, representations, theories, emotions and use them as a pivotal device to build up
reflective competence, which we can consider as a core competence for teaching.
9. Essential references
Altrichter, H., Posch, P. & Somekh, B. (1996), Teachers investigate their work; An introduction to
the methods of action research. London: Routledge.
Arredondo, D. E., & Rucinski, T. T. (1996), Epistemological beliefs of Chilean educators and
school reform efforts. Paper presented at the Tercer Encuentro National de Enfoques Cognitivos
Actuales en Educacion. Santiago, Chile.
Berthelsen, D., Brownlee, J. & Boulton-Lewis, G. (2002), Caregivers epistemological beliefs in
toddler programs in Early Child Development and Care, pp. 1-14.
Bogdan, R. C. & Biklen, S. K. (1992), Qualitative research in education: An introduction to theory
and methods (2nd ed.), Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Brookfield S. (1990), Using critical incidents to explore learners’ assumption, in Mezirow J and
Associates, Fostering critical reflection in adulthood, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 177-193.
Brownlee J. (2003), Changes in Primary School Teachers’ Beliefs about Knowing: a longitudinal
study in Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 87-98.
Brownlee, J. (2001), Knowing and learning in teacher education: A theoretical framework of core
and peripheral epistemological beliefs in Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education &
Development, 4 (1), pp. 167-190.
Brownlee, J., Berthelsen, D., & Boulton-Lewis, G. (2004), Working with toddlers in child care:
Personal epistemologies and practice. in European Early Childhood Education Research Journal,
12(1), pp. 55-70.
Brownlee, J.Berthelsen, D, (2006), Personal epistemology and relational pedagogy in early
childhood teacher education programs in Early Years: Journal of International Research and
Development, 26(13), Number 1/March, pp. 17-29.
Clandinin D.J., Connelly F. M. (1998), Personal Experience Methods, in Denzin N., Lincoln Y.S.,
Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, London: Sage, pp.150-178.
Clandinin D.J., Connelly F.M (2000), Narrative Inquiry. Experience and Story in Qualitative
Research, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Clandinin D.J.,Connelly F. M.(1991), Narrative and story in Practice and Research, in Schön D.
(Ed.), The reflective turn. Case Studies In and On Educational Practice, New York: Teachers
College Press, pp.258-283.
Cohen, L., & Manion, L. (1986), Research methods in education. London: Croom Helm.
Colton, A., & Sparks-Langer, G. (1993), A conceptual framework to guide the development of
teacher reflection and decision making, in Journal of Teacher Education, 44, pp.45-56.
Connelly F.M. Clandinin D.J. (1995), Teachers Professional Knowledge Landscapes, New York:
Teachers College Press.
Connelly, F.M., & Clandinin, D.J. (1988), Teachers as curriculum planners: Narratives of
experience. New York: Teachers College Press.
Cornell Way E. (1991), Knowledge representation and metaphor, Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
Daniels D., Shumow L. (2003), Child development and classroom teaching: a review of the
literature and implications for educating teachers in Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology, Vol. n 5, January, pp- pp. 495-526 (32).
Denzin, N. (1978), Sociological Methods: A Sourcebook, NY: McGraw Hill, 2nd ed.
Educational Research, pp. 72-101.
Entwistle, N. (1998), Approaches to learning and forms of understanding, in B. Dart & G. Boulton
10

11. Fabbri L. (2007), Comunità di pratiche e apprendimento riflessivo, Milano: Guerini Studio.
Fang, Z. (1996), A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices, in Educational Researcher,
38, pp.47-65.
Flanagan, J. C. (1954), The critical incident technique, in Psychological Bulletin, 51, 4, pp. 327-
359.
Hasweh, M.H. (1996), Effects of science teachers’ epistemological beliefs in teaching, in Journal of
Research in Science Teaching, 33(1), pp. 47–63.
Hatton, N., & Smith, D. (1995), Facilitating reflection: Issues and research, in Forum of
Education, 50, pp.49 -65.
Hofer B. K., Pintrich P. R. (eds) (2001), Personal Epistemology: The Psychology of Beliefs About
Knowledge and Knowing, Mahawah, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Killen, R., and McKee, A. (1983), Critical incidents in teaching: An approach to teacher decision-
making.Newcastle College of Advanced Education, Newcastle: Australia.
King P. M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994), Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and
promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Knowles, M. S. (1980), The Modern Practice of Adult Education. Andragogy versus pedagogy,
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge.
Lave J., Wenger E. (1991), Situated Learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge:
University of Cambridge.
Lewis (Eds.), Teaching and learning in higher education Melbourne: Australian Council for
Lieblich A., Mashiach R.T., Zilber T. (1998), Narrative Research. Reading, Analysis and
Interpretation, London: Sage.
Lincoln Y.S. e Guba E.G. (1985), Naturalistic Inquiry, Beverly Hills: CA, Sage.
Manning P.K., Cullum -Swan B. (1998), Narrative, Content and Semiotic Analyis, in Denzin N.,
Lincoln Y.S., Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, London: Sage, pp. 246-275.
Maykut, P., & Morehouse, R. (1994), Beginning qualitative research. A philosophic and practical
guide. London: The Falmer Press.
Melacarne C. (2006), La formazione nei contesti della cura. Una esperienza di ricerca sulle
epistemologie professionali degli infermieri, Lecce: Pensa Multimedia.
Mezirow & Associated (eds) (2002), Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of
transformation theory, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mezirow J. and associates (1990), Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood. A Guide to
Transformative and Emancipatory Learning, San Francisco, Jossey Bass.
Mezirow J., (1991), Transformative dimensions of adult learning, San Francisco, Jossey Bass,
Mezirow, J. (1998), Postmodern critique of transformation theory: a response to Pietrykowski, and
Transformative learning and social action; a response to Inglis, in Adult education quarterly, 49
(Fall), pp. 65-67 and pp.70-72.
Olson D. R., Bruner J. S. (1996), Folk psychology and folk pedagogy, in Olson D. R., Torrance N.
(1996), The handbook of education and human development. New models of learning, teaching
and schooling., Cambridge, Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishers,
Pajares, M. F. (1992), Teacher' beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct.
s
in Review of Educational Research, 62, pp. 307-332.
Perry, W. G. (1970), Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years. New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Perry, W. G. (1981), Cognitive and ethical growth: The making of meaning. In Chickering A. W.
(Ed.), The Modern American College San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 76-116.
Pietrykowski, B. (1998), Modern and postmodern tensions in adult education theory: a response to
Jack Mezirow, in Adult education quarterly, 49 (Fall), pp. 67-70.
Polanyi, M. (1958/1974), Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post- Critical Philosophy, Chicago,
University of Chicago Press.
11

12. Rokeach, M. (1968), Beliefs, attitudes and values. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
Rossi B. (2008), Pedagogia delle organizzazioni, Milano: Guerini Studio.
Ruddick, S. N. Goldberger, J. Tarule, B. Clinchy, & M. Belenky (eds) (1996), Knowledge,
difference and power New York: Basic Books, pp. 248-273.
Schommer, M. A. (1994), Synthesising epistemological belief research: Tentative understandings
and provocative confusions in Educational Psychology Review, 6, pp. 293-319.
Schön, D. A. (1983), The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action, London:
Temple Smith.
Schön, D. A. (1987), Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schön, D. A. (eds) (1991), The Reflective Turn: Case studies in and on educational practice, New
York: Teachers College Press.
Schraw G., Sinatra G.M (2004), Epistemological Development and Its Impact on Cognition in
Academic Domains in Contemporary Educational Psychology Volume 29, Issue 2, April, pp. 95-
102.
Smith L.M. (1998), Biographical Method, in Denzin N.K., Lincoln Y.S., Strategies of Qualitative
Inquiry, London: Sage, pp. 184-225.
Sternberg R. J., Horvath J. A. (eds) (1999), Tacit knowledge in professional practice, Mahwah;
London : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Striano M. (2001), La razionalità riflessiva nell’agire educativo, Napoli: Liguori.
Sutton, R. E., Cafarelli, A., Lund, R., Schurdell, D., & Bischel, S. (1996), A developmental
constructivist approach to preservice teachers'ways of knowing. In «Teaching and Teacher
Education»12, pp. 413-427.
Tennant M. (1998), Adult education as a technology of the self in International journal of lifelong
education, 17 (Nov.-Dec.), pp. 364-376.
Tennant, M. (1993), Perspective transformation and adult development in Adult education
quarterly 44 (Fall), pp. 34-42.
Tirosh D. (eds) (1994), Implicit and explicit knowledge, Norwood : Ablex Publishing Corp.
Wenger E. (1998), Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Identity, Cambridge Mass:
Cambridge University Press.
White, B.C. (2000), Preservice teachers’ epistemology viewed through perspectives on problematic
classroom situations, in Journal of Education for Teaching, 26 (3), pp. 279–305.
12