A Critical Approach for Building Teacher Knowledge

This paper advocates a Popperian approach for empowering teachers to build knowledge when faced with uncertainty or obstacles. It begins with a discussion of the need for schools to use a critical approach for knowledge development and sharing of knowledge. Next, I discuss Popper’s three core concepts of critical rationalism to illustrate its relevance in teacher knowledge development, followed by a description of how journal keeping can be situated in Popper’s Three Worlds. The paper concludes with a discussion of how Popper’s approach can be effective in promoting and sustaining teacher knowledge growth. 

This paper advocates a Popperian approach for empowering teachers to build knowledge when faced with uncertainty or obstacles. It begins with a discussion of the need for schools to use a critical approach for knowledge development and sharing of knowledge. Next, I discuss Popper’s three core concepts of critical rationalism to illustrate its relevance in teacher knowledge development, followed by a description of how journal keeping can be situated in Popper’s Three Worlds. The paper concludes with a discussion of how Popper’s approach can be effective in promoting and sustaining teacher knowledge growth.