It has been reported that Pope Benedict XVI will spend his summer holiday studying and writing. I wonder how many educators will dedicate some of their annual holiday to their ongoing formation. While many serving teachers rightly question the value of standard Continuous Professional Development (CPD) initiatives, it is necessary to separate this often meagre and unsatisfactory fare from the study of the great writers and thinkers on education and the history of ideas. It remains true that few teachers have been introduced to much educational thought beyond the standard promotion of writers of questionable value (Piaget and Freire anyone?) yet there is so much awaiting those who are prepared to look beyond the hit-parade of the educational establishment.
How can this be done? One suggestion is for like -minded teachers to form small informal study groups which will share, discuss and, crucially, critique ideas from the history and philosophy of education. This approach is quite dissimilar to the 'performative' nature of much CPD and is but one small step on the journey to reclaim education from the narrow 'social science' influenced study of outcomes and locate it in its true home: the search for wisdom.
