Professional development of teachers has been addressed from several perspectives: (A) a normative perspective that originated from philosophy of education, (B) an institutional perspective that reflects upon conditions of centralisation and de-centralisation of school systems, and (C) a competency perspective that refers to demands of competitiveness and effectiveness (Day 2002). The competency perspective currently predominant in educational research established a regime of testing and centralised curricula (Biesta 2012), which has been problematized since it fragments teacher knowledge into competency domains (Mena Marcos, Sánchez Miguel & Tillema 2009), and underemphasises that professionalism resides within a person (Geerinck, Masschelein & Simons 2010). Ethnographic research addresses both issues because it is grounded in long-term participation which rejects fragmentation, and emphatically attends to the culture of a classroom and the persons by which this culture is maintained (Walford 2009). Ethnography that focuses on personal knowledge emphasises that a teacher uses several modes of knowledge to establish a personal culture of teaching: He draws on personal knowledge which he has acquired, and on practical knowledge that enables him to perform in class (Wieser 2016). A teacher relies on this knowledge because it provides personal orientations through which he comprehends classroom contexts and performs professionally (Borgnakke 2015). This presentation illustrates how a secondary school teacher comprehended the specific contexts in two of his classes, and how he continually refined his contextual comprehension through reflection. To give an account on how this teacher refined his comprehension of classroom contexts, I collaborated with him for three months, and used a multi-sighted ethnographic approach that incorporated videography, stimulated recalls, narrative interviews, and video diaries (Wieser 2015). This presentation incorporates a discussion of initial findings from ethnographic fieldwork and analysis to illustrate how this teacher develops personal orientations in reflection, and how he draws on these orientations to react to challenges in classroom interaction.

Day 2002, Biesta 2012, Mena Marcos, Sánchez Miguel & Tillema 2009, Geerinck, Masschelein & Simons 2010, Walford 2009, Wieser 2015, 2016 Borgnakke 2015.