Developing a big picture understanding of reflection in pedagogical practice

Abstract

This paper discusses a comparison between the basic psychological views on reflection of the most eminent authors of the twentieth century: John Dewey, Donald Schön, Lev Vygotsky, Vladimir Lefebvre and Georgii Shchedrovitsky. The paper is specifically designed to bring together understandings of reflection from two different perspectives. The first perspective is that commonly seen as encompassing the Western English speaking cultures (e.g. United Kingdom, North America, Australia, New Zealand), the second is that of the Russian speaking cultures of Eastern Europe. Through a comparison of these two world views it becomes possible to reconsider not only how the conceptual development of reflection can be better understood, but also the value placed upon it as an integral component of quality practice.

Keywords:

• reflection
• education
• pedagogical practice