Experience gained through engaging student teachers in a developmental reflective process

Abstract

The article illustrates the hopes and challenges evident in my attempt to use action research as an approach to engage student teachers in reflective processes. The data was systematically generated from the student teachers themselves and from the diaries I noted through out the inquiry. The study suggested that while lack of previous experience on reflection and poor command of English hampered the quality of the student teachers’ reflections, the developmental processes used to engage them in the reflective process and the opportunities made available for them to reflect on their own reflections enabled them to develop gradually the quality of their reflections and awareness about the complex nature of the reflective process. The study hinted that it is difficult for one to use frameworks of reflections designed under different social, educational and cultural contexts to evaluate the reflections made by student teachers in countries like Ethiopia where deficiency in the English language hinders their ability to generate, organize and express their professional as well as personal thoughts adequately. This implies that we need to use such frameworks as general guidelines rather than as ultimate touchstone to fix the attributes of our student teachers’ reflective thoughts.

Keywords:

• Reflection
• Student Teachers
• Level of Reflectivity
• Developmental Reflective Process
• Journal

Notes

1. Plasma‐based education is a new way of teaching in secondary schools in Ethiopia. In this new approach, education is broadcast to the schools through plasma screens, which receive satellite education that is transmitted from one centre in Addis Ababa. The role of the classroom teacher in this system of education is to support the plasma teacher, who takes the central role in the educational delivery.