Professional Development Schools: A Reflective Analysis.

This paper attempts to examine, in broad outline and from a reflective standpoint, the major attributes of professional development schools (PDS). The concept of reflection employed consists of five integrated components: biography, context, and end(s)-in-view, all bound together by the power of human transcendence and by the human capacity to construct contextual transactions. The paper explains briefly this concept of reflection, applies it to an analysis of PDS, and considers three likely implications for foundations of education of the efforts to establish such institutional structures. Three of the five components (biography, context, and end(s)-in-view) provide a framework for discussing the emergence of professional development schools as part of efforts to improve teacher education and teaching. "The Biography of Teacher Education" examines the evolution of teacher education in response to the political and social environment since the 1950s. "Context" discusses the proposals of the Holmes Group, as articluated in its report "Tomorrow's Teachers.""End-in-View" discusses the guiding principles of PDS as outlined in the second Holmes Group report, "Tommorrow's Schools." (IAH)