The question teacher and the case for a therapeutic turn within teacher education

Reflexivity figures increasingly in teacher education, and different reflexive turns have produced a range of directions for thinking about teachers and teaching. This article problematizes some reflexive practices, including self-study and teacher renewal, as a means of contextualizing a call for the inclusion of a therapeutic reflexivity aimed at the "question teacher." Derived from the psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic subject, this "question teacher" is vulnerable and motivated by forces not entirely conscious or rational. It is argued that a psychotherapeutic pedagogy enables teachers to address their existential and relational difficulties and contributes to a teacher education that sees teacher identity and practice as highly relational and situated. Examples of a fully committed therapeutic reflexivity are given, alongside some research results of their transformational potential. It is proposed that the generation of empirical evidence for the efficacy of therapeutic reflexivity will permit its advocates to answer critics and overcome a systemic resistance.