Creating Opportunities for Reflection in the Education of Early Childhood Teachers

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a move to reconceptualize teacher education from a set of technical skills prospective teachers must master and subsequently demonstrate during field experiences to a more reflective and critical examination of one's own teaching practices. Reflection can be seen as a way to integrate one's technical, scientific knowledge of teaching with the values, beliefs, and experiences that form one's personal knowledge of teaching. Bowman (1989) argues that this subjective knowledge base needs to be legitimized in order to fully understand the teaching process.