Grounded in postmodern perspectives on teaching, this much-needed edited volume offers fascinating insights into observation of teaching. It is divided into five parts. In the first part, the authors provide interesting insights into how they view research on teaching and observation of teaching as a form of professional development and a mandatory reflective practice. In the second part, the authors voice different perspectives on critical self-reflective inquiry. They discuss how reflective practices can lead to self-awareness of their work in the classroom. What follows, each author, in the third part, highlights the idea that observing others’ practices can be a repertoire of exploring alternative pedagogies and ways to (co) and (re)construct what one does as a teacher. In the fourth part, the authors provide readers with a solid understanding of the visible and invisible power issues pervasive in institutional contexts.

By conducting post-observation sessions and reflecting on those sessions, teachers, teacher educators, and teacher researchers can begin to unpack the sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts of teaching. In the last part, the authors document critical reflections on collaborative work between teacher educators from two different content areas, teacher educators and classroom teachers working with science education students, and a teacher educator looking to develop an effective, contextualized teacher education program model as a way to foster cultural competence among teacher learners from diverse backgrounds.

Thus, this edition provides readers with a complete picture of reconceptualizing their teaching via engaging in critical reflections, observing other teachers’ classroom practices, and challenging their views on how teaching is intimately connected to the world they live in. Therefore, this edited collection is a useful guide and resource book for pre- and in-service teachers who wish to be involved in observation of teaching as a research and teacher professional development tool. Section I: Conceptual Framework of Teacher Research Section II: Exploration of the Self via Critical self-Reflective Inquiry Section III: Observation of Teaching: Exploration of the Pedagogies of Others Section IV: Lessons Learned from Post-Observation Discussions: Forms of (Dis)empowerment Section V: Promoting Critical Praxis in Teacher Education Programs