Critical Reflections on Teaching

Critical Reflections on Teaching

What is reflective teaching?

Reflection defined

| |[pic]|recognising |[pi| |
| | |+ |c] | |
|Reflection means | |examining | |the way we teach. |
| | |+ | | |
| | |ruminating over | | |

This involves more than just describing what we do or what we have done.

As individuals, each with our own background and experience, we bring certain beliefs, assumptions, knowledge, attitudes and values to teaching.

Our teaching takes place in a social setting that has its own unique characteristics, opportunities and constraints.

Reflective teaching means exploring the implications of all these complex factors with the intention of understanding and improving our practice.

A good place to start is by considering our own pasts, as learners and teachers and reflecting on the beliefs, knowledge and values that we have developed from our experiences.

Levels of reflection

In a sense, we reflect constantly as we teach, responding to ongoing situations in the classroom as they arise. This is sometimes called reflection-in-action.

Reflection-in-action usually happens very fast, perhaps even intuitively. It can be transient and quickly forgotten. It is only after a teaching event that there is time for in-depth reflection. This is sometimes called reflection-on-action.

When the process of reflection-on-action is rigorous, systematic and ongoing, teachers are acting as reflective practitioners.

The chart below differentiates levels at which reflection can take place, from the fleeting and transient to the in-depth, ongoing critical examination of teaching.

|Rapid reflection