Opening
These chapters crystallize Donald Schön’s case for the reflective practicum—an apprenticeship-like setting where professionals learn through doing, coached reflection, and immediate feedback. Chapter 7 constructs the theory from architectural studios; Chapter 8 tests and extends it through a musical master class, revealing two powerful coaching models that shape professional artistry.
What Happens
Chapter 7: Using a Reflective Practicum to Develop Professional Skills
Schön synthesizes studio observations into a general theory of the The Reflective Practicum. He argues that design-like practices—marked by uncertainty, uniqueness, and conflict—cannot be taught through traditional classroom instruction. They require Learning by Doing and Coaching, because designing is knowing-in-action. Five claims ground this argument: rules never fully specify their application, so practitioners must engage in Reflection-in-Action; designing is holistic, not additive; perception of quality comes through experience; descriptions confuse novices until they act; and the creative process resists full advance description.
Schön then defines the practicum’s engine: a “dialogue of words and actions” between coach and student. The student’s moves display understanding; the coach replies with demonstrations, reframings, and criticisms—creating a “reciprocal reflection-in-action.” The coach’s threefold task is to work the substantive design problem, particularize interventions to the student, and manage the relationship’s emotional tenor. Students face a “learning predicament”: vulnerability and loss of competence can trigger defensiveness; mishandled, this becomes a “learning bind,” exemplified by Judith and Northover. In contrast, robust coaching—like Quist and Dani—keeps the dialogue open and developmental.
Finally, Schön maps learning outcomes along a spectrum from superficial mimicry of “closed-system vocabulary” to substantive understanding that transfers and adapts. The quality of the coach–student dialogue determines where learning lands. For the practicum to thrive institutionally, schools must grant it high status and revalue knowledge itself—from applied science alone to an embrace of Professional Artistry vs. Technical Skill. Doing so also demands a research agenda on competent practice and the art of coaching, informed by theories-in-use developed with Chris Argyris.
Chapter 8: A Master Class in Musical Performance
Schön extends the practicum model to music, treating performance as a design-like activity: the musician works from a score yet shapes an “ephemeral, temporally unfolding artifact.” The master class becomes a practicum for sense-making (interpretation) and sense-realizing (technique). Three examples sketch contrasting coaching styles. Cellist Pablo Casals deploys a “Follow me!” approach, demanding exact imitation of one Bach reading before unveiling a radically different one—teaching “how to improvise in Bach” through disciplined mimicry. “Rosemary” models joint experimentation, having the student name desired qualities and testing routes to achieve them together. A piano composer crafts an exercise that makes students hear gaps between intention and realization—teaching them to recognize what they already know.
The chapter’s core is a piano master class with “Franz” coaching “Amnon” on Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy. Franz reframes Amnon’s “triumphant” yet “too gentle” reading, insisting the music voices “despair.” He teaches through a multimedia stream—demonstrating at the keyboard, singing syllables to shape phrasing, invoking images (“a shudder,” “the rain begins”), and gesturing to sculpt dynamics. This is “analysis-in-action”: structure surfaces through directed performance moves rather than theoretical explication. Rapid cycles of demonstration and imitation create “reciprocal immediacy,” and Amnon’s playing becomes more differentiated, coherent, and emotionally charged.
Schön closes by comparing studios and master classes, naming two cross-disciplinary coaching models: joint experimentation (Dani, Rosemary) and “Follow me!” (Quist, Franz). While “Follow me!” can appear authoritarian, Schön argues it is often essential to induct students into a way of working they cannot yet generate—resolving the paradox of learning design-like skills. The practicum thus generalizes across domains and reframes performance as the capacity to design one’s own execution in real time.
Character Development
These chapters turn coaches into pedagogical archetypes and show a student’s transformation under high-intensity coaching.
- Quist and Franz: Exemplars of “Follow me!” They project a clear vision and teach through demonstration and calibrated imitation, using rich, embodied cues to transmit tacit structure.
- Dani and Rosemary: Partners in joint experimentation. They elicit the student’s aims, co-construct tests, and iterate side by side before a shared problem.
- Pablo Casals: An extreme “Follow me!” case, staging imitation as a gateway to originality.
- Amnon: A capable pianist whose initially flat interpretation evolves into nuanced, coherent performance through Franz’s reframing and rapid feedback.
Themes & Symbols
The reflective practicum anchors both chapters: a live, improvisational dialogue where knowing emerges in the doing. Chapter 7 builds the blueprint—coach and student co-create a feedback loop that converts uncertainty into learning. Chapter 8 proves the model’s reach by showing that music-making, like design, demands situated judgment, interpretive framing, and embodied experimentation.
Learning by doing and coaching is the pedagogy of artistry. Where rule-following ends, artistry begins: practitioners interpret, reframe, and compose action in indeterminate situations. Franz doesn’t teach notes; he orchestrates a way of hearing and acting that produces meaning. This is the heart of professional education when judged by Professional Artistry vs. Technical Skill: technique serves, but artistry designs.
Key Quotes
“A dialogue of words and actions.” This phrase captures the practicum’s core mechanism. Understanding surfaces in performance; coaching replies in speech, demonstration, and reframing, knitting reflection to real-time doing.
“Reciprocal reflection-in-action.” Coach and student reflect in tandem as each move reshapes the problem. Learning accelerates because feedback is immediate, specific, and embodied.
“Learning predicament” and “learning bind.” Students feel exposed and incompetent; if the coach mishandles this vulnerability, defensiveness freezes learning. The practicum must manage affect as carefully as technique.
“Follow me!” Imitation functions as an entry point into a practice the student cannot yet invent. Once inside, the coach can vary models and reveal the generative principles beneath the surface.
“Analysis-in-action.” Instead of explaining structure abstractly, the coach makes it audible and playable. The student grasps form through altered touch, timing, and emphasis—knowledge becomes actionable instantly.
From “triumphant” to “despair.” Franz’s reframing transforms interpretation and technique at once. By shifting the piece’s stance, he reorganizes articulation, dynamics, and pacing—showing how meaning governs execution.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
Together, these chapters form the book’s theoretical center of gravity. Chapter 7 elevates the studio cases from Part Two into a general model of the reflective practicum—complete with roles, risks, and institutional demands. It argues for curricular realignment: the practicum must be a first-class venue for learning, not a supplement to “rigor.”
Chapter 8 demonstrates the model’s portability. By aligning architecture and music, Schön shows that design-like practice pervades professional life and that effective pedagogy hinges on two coachable patterns—joint experimentation and “Follow me!” The result is a practical typology for educators and a broadened notion of performance: the professional’s ability to design their own action in the moment.