"Jarvis does a real service by introducing a new vision of researchinto the current debates over the nature and mission of theacademy." --Continuing Higher Education Review "Jarvis has managed to bridge the worlds of theory andprofessional practice in a way that will help each betterunderstand the other." --Jon Wergin, professor of educational studies, School ofEducation, Virginia Commonwealth University Genuine understanding of any field can only be developed throughpractice in that field. Peter Jarvis, an internationally knownauthority in the field of professional adult and continuingeducation, shows how theories of practice evolve from the practiceitself and are unique to each practitioner. Doing professional workgives practitioners many opportunities to question, test, andrevise theories taught in graduate programs. Such practice-basedresearch gives rise to personalized theories of practice and alsoraises new questions for personal exploration. Using examples and vignettes drawn from professional fields andsettings around the world, Jarvis provides valuable insights intothe nature of professional practice, the ways professionals learn,and how education for practice can be enhanced at both theundergraduate and graduate levels. Jarvis examines why so manypractitioners find their professional education inadequatepreparation for actual practice, and he calls for a partnershipbetween higher education and the professional workplace that willmeet the challenges of the relationship between the two. The Practitioner-Researcher is designed to help allpractitioners for whom research is a tool in improvingpractice--from graduate students and their professors to employeesin diverse industries or professional groups--and to facilitate anunderstanding of the relationship between practice and theorywithin the worlds of work and learning.