Teachers’ perceptions, facilitators, and barriers to the regular use of self-reflection in public health higher education during COVID-19 — a mixed methods approach

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to assess the perceptions as well as to explore the facilitators and barriers to the regular use of self-reflection as a pedagogical tool by teachers in public health education during COVID-19. We used a mixed methods approach, comprising a cross-sectional survey followed by in-depth interviews. Quantitative findings revealed that there was a significantly greater proportion of regular users of self-reflection who knew how to incorporate self-reflection elements in their teaching than the infrequent users. Qualitative findings revealed that a recurring reason for using self-reflection in teaching was to better understand students, given the online classroom environment during COVID-19. Teachers expressed the need for support to sustain the regular use of reflection in teaching. Facilitating factors could be external or internal to the teacher. For external factors, a recurring subtheme was institutional support, indicating that teachers expected support (or at least no objections) from their organisation. For internal factors, perceived positive impacts on students was identified as a recurring subtheme. Several barriers to the regular use of reflection were described. These included external factors such as the lack of peer sharing, as well as internal factors such as the prioritisation of other contents to teach.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflection
• public health
• pedagogy
• curriculum
• higher education
• active learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2023.2210066.

Data availability statement

All data generated or analysed are included in this published article and its supplementary files.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National University of Singapore Teaching Enhancement Grant 2021.

Notes on contributors

Raymond Boon Tar Lim

Raymond Boon Tar Lim is a Senior Lecturer and public health physician at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. His research and teaching interests include public health pedagogy, behavioural science, health promotion, health education and communication.

Claire Gek Ling Tan

Claire Gek Ling Tan attained a Master’s degree in applied research in social sciences and has worked on qualitative and quantitative research studies with various educational institutions. Her research interests are in the areas of pedagogy, educational sociology, and employment.

Kenneth Wee Beng Hoe

Kenneth Wee Beng Hoe graduated from Coventry University with a Bachelor of Science degree in nutrition and health. He has an interest in public health nutrition and pedagogy.

Cecilia Woon Chien Teng

Cecilia Woon Chien Teng, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. She has experience teaching in various higher education settings. Her research interests include public health education, blended learning, and student engagement.

Andre Matthias Müller

Andre Matthias Müller teaches subjects related to health promotion and health behaviour change. He has a particular interest in online learning, learner engagement and affective learning. Thus far, Andre lived, worked, learned, and laughed in Germany, Korea, Malaysia, the UK, and Singapore.

Julian Azfar

Julian Azfar is a health professions educator who is excited about applying his training in the humanities to the fields of public health and medical education. His research interests are in the areas of in interdisciplinary curriculum development and pedagogical innovations related to the management of large classes, and the embedding of academic skills in discipline-specific courses.

Suganthi Narayanasamy

Suganthi Narayanasamy is an adjunct lecturer at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Her research and teaching interests include public health education, global health, and public health practice.

Chee Hsiang Liow

Chee Hsiang Liow is an Associate Professor and Vice Dean (Education) at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. His research and teaching interests include public health pedagogy, global health, programme design, monitoring and evaluation.