''I feel I have received a new vision:'' An analysis of teachers' professional development as they work with students on interpersonal issues

The purpose of this article is to describe a developmental framework we have constructed to portray the different ways teachers express their own vision of the importance of fostering their elementary-school students' interpersonal competence and skills in classrooms. During their participation in an intervention program focused on this topic, teachers' reflections on three themes-Motivation/Aims, Classroom Management, and Pedagogical Vision-were analyzed using four developmentally derived awareness dimensions. The awareness dimensions range from a focus primarily on observable outcomes (e.g., students' class-behavior) to an emphasis on developmental processes in context (e.g., the improvement of students' perspective taking ability and conflict resolution skills in preparation for an active participation in society). Examples of differences in expressed awareness among teachers are described, and a single case study over the course of a year suggestive of developmental change in awareness of these themes, is presented. We discuss the implications of the use of this developmental analysis as a method for the study of the relation of teachers' pedagogical philosophy to their actual classroom practices. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.