New cultures of critical reflection in Qatar

Abstract

We speak about the need for critical reflection on practice, but what do we do when we do it; and how do we explain how and why we should do it? This paper explores these issues, and itself acts as the site for an exploration and explanation of what it means to be critically reflective. Drawing on recent research in Qatar, I give an account of how practitioners’ capacity for critical reflection is contributing to a new knowledge base for the country (and possibly beyond), grounded in inter-relational epistemologies, that has potentially far-reaching consequences for improving the quality of learning and teaching in schools and colleges; and how my involvement in the research has improved the quality of my own practice. A main theme throughout is the need to engage with questions – ‘How do I understand my practice? How do I make judgements about its justifiability? How do I demonstrate moral accountability through interrogating the values that inspire what I do?’ – and with the need to make public the emergent understandings that engagement with these questions demands.

Keywords:

• critical self-reflection
• action research
• moral accountability
• indigenous knowledge base

Notes

1. See http://www.jeanmcniff.com/qatar.asp.

2. See http://wn.com/Qatar_University; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P47Ln1kxikM; and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAbU3cmQ8g.