Previous studies on teacher reflection

Previous studies on teacher reflection have focused on the content and level of reflection, the ways of promoting reflection and the role of supervisors, peer students and knowledgeable others in enhancing reflection. According to these studies, student teachers face difficulties in terms of learning critical reflection skills and, therefore, need specific guidance and support to be able to reflect at deeper levels.

Student teachers’ reflection is affected by many factors, and low levels of reflection are more probable when reflection occurs in isolation, without support structures, such as theoretical frameworks or other people. I shall now present some previous studies on the matter.

Chitpin (2006) examined the effectiveness of journal keeping as a means of developing the reflective practice of 28 student teachers who used the Popperian knowledge-building framework during a course which included classroom teaching and observation. The student teachers wrote journal entries throughout the course and were given an introduction to the Popperian theory of reflection as well as instructions concerning reflective journal writing. The results showed that the student teachers identified multiple aspects of teaching in their journals, e.g. curricula, classroom management and assessment. They found the Popperian model practical because it focused on the essentials of the problem to be solved, the theorised solution and the outcome deriving from applying the tentative theory. The Popper cycles drew attention to further problems to be solved. The author concluded that the Popperian knowledge-building framework can help student teachers gain a better understanding of their teaching, as it enables them to reflect on, document and improve their teaching.

Mansvelder-Longayroux et al. (2007) investigated the nature of student teachers’

reflection in their portfolios. The participants were 25 student teachers of language or science in a one-year teacher education course. The student teachers attended classes at the university while carrying out their practicum period in a school or working as paid teachers. During the academic year, they produced two portfolios in which they reflected on their learning experiences. They conducted portfolio exercises, followed a portfolio manual and received guidance from their university supervisor during the process of producing the first portfolio. The authors identified six types of learning activities from the portfolios: recollection, evaluation, analysis, critical processing, diagnosis and reflection. The learning activities differed in the type of learning at which they were aimed: either improvement of action in teaching practice or understanding the underlying processes. Moreover, the authors identified patterns in the learning activities in the portfolios. An analysis of their portfolios revealed that the student teachers tended to focus on their own practice, how to improve it and what they had learnt. They did not use their portfolios to gain a better understanding of the situations and developments that had occurred;

according to the authors, this is where the student teachers would require more supervision and guidance. For example, their ‘why’ questions were related to issues about which they felt personally involved, which, according to the authors, suggests that meaning-oriented reflection depends on the subject matter to which it relates.

Arrastia, Rawls, Brinkerhoff and Roehrig (2014) investigated the levels of reflection, the use of future-oriented reflection and changes in the reflective writing of 90 elementary student teachers enrolled in two sections of an early field experience university course. One of the groups received guided observation during the course, and the data consisted of essays and journals. The essays were writings about great teachers and great teaching written at the beginning and end of the practicum period. The journal entries were written during the practical experiences

and focused on three topics: instructional variety, classroom management and motivation. According to their results, while the level of reflection in the writings of 35% of the student teachers increased in complexity over the span of a semester, only 10% of them demonstrated the deepest level of reflection in their writing.

Future-oriented reflection was present in six percent of the assignments, with most of the instances describing what the student teachers planned to do in their future classrooms. The student teachers in the guided observation group demonstrated significantly more dialogic reflections than those in the unguided group. However, the reflection of those in the guided group was not significantly more future-oriented or transformative. The authors concluded that in order to promote the development of deeper reflection, more attention should be paid to ways of challenging student teachers to question their practice and that they should have more possibilities for self-reflection. The authors highlighted the need for scaffolding certain skills that are important for reflection, such as writing skills and identifying problems in theory and practice.

Toom et al. (2015) reported encouraging results regarding student teachers’

reflection skills through guided reflection. They examined the structure and patterns of six student teachers’ reflection during the final practicum period. The data were collected using the procedure of guided reflection, which included videotaping a lesson, a stimulated recall interview, reflective discussion with a supervisor and writing a reflective portfolio. The data consisted of portfolio texts. The authors found that the student teachers showed diverse reflection skills in terms of being able to reflect beyond practical issues of teaching, articulating multiple concerns and elaborating on them. They were able to describe and evaluate the practical side of teaching, including their prior knowledge of it, as well as learn from both practice and their prior knowledge. They were also able to reach the stage of broader and more critical reflection, and they encouraged the teacher educators to develop their own tools for understanding and structuring reflection in portfolios.

However, the presence of knowledgeable others does not always lead to productive discussions. For instance, Gelfuso and Dennis (2014) conducted a formative experiment study and used Dewey’s ideas about judgment, analysis/synthesis and balance to explore reflection as a communal process which results in ‘warranted assertabilities’ about teaching and learning. Thirteen student teachers participated in the Elementary Teacher Residency Program and spent extensive periods in the field, supported by integrated course work and opportunities for supported reflection. The data consisted of the student teachers’ reflective conversations, which were video recorded and transcribed. The findings showed that the presence of knowledgeable others helped the student teachers focus the conversations on teaching and learning. However, reflection was merely descriptive and, thus, did not align with Dewey’s (1933) conception. The authors, therefore, called for additional inquiry into facilitating the process of reflection.