Lee S. Shulman

Lee S. Shulman (born 1938, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American educational psychologist, educator, and reformer whose work focused on teaching and teacher education.

Shulman attended the University of Chicago as an undergraduate student (B.A., 1959) and then studied educational psychology there from 1959 to 1963, receiving an M.A. and a Ph.D. He joined the faculty of Michigan State University in 1963, where he was the founder and codirector (1976–81) of the Institute for Research on Teaching. In 1982 he moved to Stanford University, and he served as the school’s Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education from 1989 to 1998, when he retired with emeritus status. He also was president (1997–2008) of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, an independent policy and research centre.

Shulman was credited with coining the phrase “pedagogical content knowledge,” which he used to emphasize the need for teachers to integrate their knowledge of subject matter with content-specific pedagogical strategies so as to produce successful teaching outcomes. From his research a model of pedagogical reasoning was developed that details activities that engage the teacher in developing good teaching practice. This model purports that good teaching involves comprehension (understanding the purposes of the discipline and teaching), transformation (aligning content and pedagogy that meets the needs of the students), instruction (the act of teaching), evaluation (using tests and evaluation as an extension of teaching), reflection (critically analyzing one’s teaching and making the necessary changes to become a better teacher), and new comprehension (understandings based on the above acts where the teacher gains new insights about the teaching process).

Building upon his research, Shulman began investigating signature pedagogies—the way, in other words, that professionals are trained for their profession. He viewed education as a synthesis of three apprenticeships—cognitive, practical, and moral. In the cognitive apprenticeship the student teacher is learning to think like a professional, in the practical apprenticeship the student teacher is learning to perform like a professional, and in the moral apprenticeship the student teacher is learning to think and act in a responsible, ethical manner. Still further, Shulman divided signature pedagogies into three types—pedagogies of uncertainty, of engagement, and of formation. Pedagogies of uncertainty and engagement both depend on students’ responses and active involvement, while pedagogies of formation build upon dispositions and values. Shulman believed that the study of signature pedagogies is a way of systematically following teachers in the learning process and using the feedback to redesign teacher-education programs and professional development.

Shulman was the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association’s E.L. Thorndike Award for Career Achievement in Educational Psychology (1995) and the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education (2006) from the University of Louisville.