Beginning teaching: the theory/practice divide

It is well reported that during the early career development of teachers there is a tendency to favour practical experience over an engagement with professional knowledge. This article considers the seductive nature of experience and how educational settings may offer a unique professional environment. This environment is characterised by a heightened transference response that brings the personal and professional into conflict. It is acknowledged that affect proceeds cognition, which goes some way towards explaining this phenomenon. The tension produced by the encounter with new knowledge creates an array of defences that resist what is perceived as an attack on the self. It is argued that the desire ‘not to know’ is problematic for new professionals and that knowledge cannot simply be transferred but, rather, providing conditions to encourage a disposition to learn is paramount.