scholarly journals Has Reflective Practice Done More Harm than Good in Teacher Education?

Phronesis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Russell

Why do we emphasize reflective practice so extensively in pre-service teacher education? What evidence do we have that frequent references to reflection are improving the quality of the teachers we prepare for certification and careers in teaching? Whatever reflection and reflective practice are, they are not ends in themselves; hopefully, they are means to the end of better teaching practices and better learning by students in schools. In this article I explore reflection and reflective practice from several perspectives, including my personal experiences as a teacher educator working with individuals preparing to become teachers of physics. The question asked in the title captures my fear that the ways teacher educators have responded to and made use of the concepts of reflection and reflective practice may be doing more harm than good in pre-service teacher education. To begin, I consider teacher education practices before and after the arrival of the term reflective practice. I then consider elements of Schön’s (1983) work and review five articles about reflective practice in teacher education; this is not a formal literature review, but rather an effort to show how virtually every article about reflective practice seems to be driven by its author’s personal perspective. The article continues with personal interpretations and illustrations and concludes with five generalizations about teacher education practices that indicate that much more work needs to be done if references to reflection are to do more good than harm in preservice teacher education programs.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wajiha Kanwal ◽  
Iffat Basit ◽  
Qurat ul Ain

This study was premeditated to develop quality oriented model for restructuring of existing pre-service teacher education programs. Population of the study was comprised of all teacher educators and prospective teachers of teacher education institutions of Punjab and Islamabad, Pakistan. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select sample of 300 teacher educators and 890 prospective teachers from 30 institutions. Two research questionnaires were used for data collection. Results revealed that prospective teachers enrolled in Bachelor of Education (Honors) were dissatisfied with the institutional environment, practical work, assessment techniques and features of teacher education. Whereas prospective teachers enrolled in Bachelor of Education one year program showed dissatisfaction with program duration. that teacher Educators teaching at Bachelor of Education (Honors) expressed dissatisfaction about physical resources, teachers’ competencies, teaching strategies, assessment techniques, professional skills, appreciative features of programs and institutional efforts to raise quality of the programs. Prospective teachers and teacher educators associated with both programs somewhat expressed similar opinions regarding quality of the programs.  It is, therefore, recommended that teacher education institutions may improve the quality of both programs keeping in view quality related concerns of the teacher educators and prospective teachers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Susan E. Elliott-Johns

The terms "reflection" and "reflective practice" occur frequently in educational research and practice, particularly in numerous course descriptions for pre-service teacher education. However, the author remains unconvinced we, as teacher educators, are always accomplishing what we think and/or say we are in the name of "reflection." This article seeks to promote further dialogue around the role of reflection in teacher education via explorations of what more can be learned, while underscoring the need to clarify understandings in this complex area. The author draws on her own experiences as a reflective practitioner and advocate for the promotion of meaningful reflection as professional learning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Heather Smith-Sherwood

This qualitative multi-case study investigated thre exemplary pre-service teacher education programs in Jamaica and Michigan in order to provide an account of how they are structured in different contexts of tertiary institutions and, to identify how they ensure that their graduates are prepared to function effectively in today’s schools. Five categories of stakeholders across the three institutions were interviewed regarding their perception and expectations of pre-service teacher education in general as well as in the context of their program. The responses from these persons were described in narrative form, then analyzed and compared based on the similarities and differences that existed among them. The analysis led to the emergence of various themes across the three institutions, and these were used to draw conclusions relative to the structure of pre-service teacher education. The findings revealed eight distinguishing features of exemplary/effective pre-service teacher education programs whether university or college-based. (a) coherent program vision (b) cultural competence (c) collaborative partnership (d) contextualization (e) quality standards (f) well-planned and implemented field experiences (g) continuous assessment (h) experienced committed faculty and (i) a harmonious blend of theory and practice. To be effective, pre-service teacher education programs must prepare prospective teachers to adequately meet the challenges of teaching in today’s classrooms. To effect change, quality teachers are needed, and to produce quality teachers, quality preparation is a necessity. 


1993 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Tremmel

In this article, Robert Tremmel explores the possibility of enriching reflective teaching and teacher education programs by transcending the limitations imposed by technical and analytic views of reflective practice through the incorporation of non-Western notions of reflection, particularly the Zen Buddhist tradition of "mindfulness." Tremmel discusses Donald Schön's notion of reflection-in-action as an alternative and broader approach to reflection, and connects this approach to central dimensions of Zen teachings. In contrast, the author points out how some teacher education programs committed to reflective practice are not successful because they rely on narrow conceptions of reflection that ignore the need of "preparing our minds" as an initial step towards reflection. Finally, Tremmel draws from his own practice as a teacher educator to discuss his work in teaching students the art of "paying attention" as a way of nurturing reflective practice.


Author(s):  
Prerna Mandhyan

Diversity in cultures has become the prominent feature of 21st century. The effect of this feature can be observed in classroom environment where the teacher has students having multicultural backgrounds. Therefore, there is need to train prospective teachers for teaching in diverse/ multicultural classroom. They are not prepared for coming in contact with different cultures than the sheltered one many of them have lived in. They are not prepared for the different needs possessed by today’s multicultural student population. In this paper, we discuss not just the problems that arise due to this issue. We also discuss ways to remedy these problems, starting with pre-service teacher education programs and ending with these prospective teachers themselves.


Author(s):  
Remigijus Bubnys ◽  
Loreta Zavadskienė

Being one of the most popular theories of professional knowledge in the last 30 years, reflective practice has been widely adopted not only by practicing teachers in their working environment, but in pre-service teacher education as well. Meeting the need to respond to the challenges posed by the society nowadays, higher education is undergoing radical changes calling for the proper implementation of student-centered studies. In the context of such a paradigm shift there is a strong urge for the concept of reflective practice to be examined more carefully so that it could be put into effect in the studies of higher education. The paper seeks to respond to this problem by offering an in-depth analysis of the attributes characteristic of the concept of reflective practice in the paradigm shift. Based on the thorough review of scientific works dealing with the concept of reflective practice in teacher education, the current study reports on the insights regarding the development of this concept for reflective practice to be successfully applied in the process of teacher education.  


Author(s):  
Shabir Ahmed ◽  
Ahakesh Sharma

Today India is having one of the largest networks of schools in the world. School education is most important stage in the whole educational ladder and underwent transformation since independence. For say after independence government of our country stressed on quantitative expansion of school education so as to provide access of education to the students in their door steps but in 21st century focus is shifted from quantity to quality of school education. This shift of paradigm and ICT revolution made the job of teacher more demanding. Quality of school education is depending on quality and professional commitment of teachers and quality of teachers depend upon nature and type of pre-service teacher training to prospectus teachers. Keeping pace with the needs of present time, in 2012 Verma committee recommended number of changes in the pre-service teacher education programme and enhancing duration was one of them. Hence, National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) came up with new regulation in 2014 under which duration of B.Ed. and M.Ed. was increased from initial one year to two years. The new NCTE regulations are implemented all over the nation from academic session 2015-2016. However, the implementation of new NCTE norms has given a way to the debate on the credibility of increased duration of both the courses. The present paper will appraise the probable benefits and issues related with the increased duration of the pre-service teacher training programmes as per the NCTE Regulations 2014.


RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 003368822093044
Author(s):  
Darío Luis Banegas ◽  
Marta del Pozo Beamud

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a dual-focussed approach that promotes the learning of curricular content in tandem with an additional language, usually English. Since its inception in the 1990s in Europe, CLIL provision has increased considerably not only in Europe but also in other contexts, such as Latin America, given its purported benefits in terms of motivation, cognitive skills development, and language awareness. However, little is known about how future teachers, i.e. pre-service teachers, are trained to teach through CLIL. This article aims to address this gap by describing how we – two CLIL teacher educators based in Argentina and Spain – offer CLIL courses. Through duoethnography, we show how we plan and implement CLIL input and what lessons we have learnt drawing on reflective practice in interaction. Analysis of our interaction illustrates how CLIL is conceived and operationalized and what CLIL competences are prioritized in our practices. Pedagogical implications are included.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document