Routinised Reflection: The Individualisation of Pedagogical Reflection

This article deals with the fact that teachers nowadays are required to make a considerable and increasing effort to reflect on their actions as professionals. It is widely accepted within the system of education that this development produces mainly positive results for the profession. Complementary to these views, this article focuses on the potential risks for the teaching profession. We refer to hypotheses of the theory of,reflexive modernity' and of system theory about the distinction between social structure and semantics. In light of this, we suggest that the increasing demand for reflection within the teaching profession is an institutionalised form of the general cultural norm of individual self-reflexivity, which transfers functional risks of educational actions to the individual biographies of teachers.