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Viewing Michael’s learning in the context of the previously cited literature in which others have explored metaphors in professional learning extends our interest in the spontaneous and non-deliberate features of metaphors and in the value of documenting and analysing their significance. Tom did not teach Michael to use metaphors, nor did Michael attempt to create them. Realising that metaphors were appearing in his writing and then attending carefully to that insight encouraged and enriched Michael’s awareness of his professional learning. Michael’s willingness to pursue the conversation about metaphors after his practicum extended considerably his awareness of the changes occurring in his professional knowledge and in his understanding of how such knowledge develops. This account of Michael’s professional learning illustrates the potential value of assisting new teachers in identifying and interpreting changes in their perceptions of themselves and of those they teach. It also illustrates the power of bringing careful and deliberate attention to bear on spontaneous and non-deliberate features of learning from experience.

“Midway between the unintelligible and the commonplace, it is a metaphor which most produces knowledge.” (Aristotle, cited in Gardner, 1983. p. 34). Analogy in research should not be so hackneyed that it reveals nothing new, so poorly known that there can be little confidence in the insights generated, or so obscure that it can only communicate ideas to a few. The merit of analogy in research lies not in any measure of the absoluteness of similarity between the target and analog. Rather, the worth of analogical analysis lies in the mental inquiry it promotes; the knowledge produced by this inquiry, the cognitive engagement of researcher and others, and the communication afforded. To be productive, the analogy should be contentious enough to provoke and challenge thinking but agreeable enough to resonate with others’ experience of the phenomenon under study. It is a fine line but a fine line worth treading.