What is a True Scholar-Practitioner?

Being able to understand what a scholar-practitioner is, one must first understand the components that go into it. Charles McClintock defines the scholar-practitioner as "an ideal of professional excellence grounded in theory and research, informed by experimental knowledge, and motivated by personal values, political commitments, and ethical conduct (McClintock, 2003)". This description encompasses all parts of our educational and professional loves. It relates the topic to the individual and the areas he or she will encounter. Dividing the terms into strictly scholar and practitioner will help to understand the complexity of this well-spoken debate.

To become a scholar one must be able to embed themselves into the academic world. There must be a commitment to the advancement of knowledge of one's self in a theory based environment. Continual education, whether in an institution, practice, or for pure enjoyment, the continual cognitive development is necessary.

A practitioner, by definition, lends themselves to the practice of these theory based models. Understanding how to implement, observe, critique, and develop these models is crucial to a successful practitioner. The development of these theory based models are influential in the growth of the discipline.

Combining the two terms is what makes a well rounded individual. These same individuals rarely have equal parts of the equation. This all depends on the stages of life that one is at, either professionally or academically. Their professional outlook can also determine where an individual is on their personal growth as a professional or as a student of the discipline.

Development and maturity are the key ingredients to a true scholar-practitioner. Professionals that are truly complete scholar-practitioners are continuously pushing forward and raising the bar in their specialized fields. Through research, developing theory, collaborating with colleagues within and around their discipline, and teaching the field to others, scholar-practitioners have their hands on all aspects of the field. Constant observation, education, and ratification of these theories are essential to the increasingly competitive development of a field of study.

I personally am more to the scholarly side of the education. Although I am able to implement some theory in my professional setting as a teacher, my pursuit of higher education keeps me on the scholar side of the fence. I am learning about the basic concepts and theory based models. When it is possible to use these ideas in my professional setting I do so and continually try to see how I can develop them to fit my specific situation. I do have some limitations, at least until I finish my course study that I am currently in.

Certain professionals live this model of a scholar-practitioner in different ways. This is why the debate of this model is particular to each individual. It has been described as "... moments to learn about the problems..., to examine these problems carefully and to look at the productive ways to solving them (Benham, 1996)". Making the scholar-practitioner model your own is what it is truly about.

References
McClintock, Charles. (2003). Scholar practitioner model.

Encyclopedia of Distributed Learning. Retrieved April 29, 2010 from http://www.sage-ereference.com/distributedlearning

/article_n134.html

Benham, MKP. (1996). The practitioner-scholars' view of school changes: A case-based approach to teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 12 (2), pp. 119-135