Who writes about the benefit of reflection both “in action” and “on action”?

Donald Schön's writings on reflective practice have exerted a far-reaching influence on the field of practitioner learning, including teacher education, despite the fact that Schön made little reference to classroom teaching in his work (Schön, 1983, Schön, 1987, Schön, 1992, Schön, 1995). Perhaps the most influential constructs that Schön developed are those of reflection-in-action (RiA) and reflection on action (RoA), often understood in teaching to describe reflection during (RiA) and after (RoA) the teaching act (e.g., Moallem, 1998; van Manen, 1995). While reflection on past practice is widely promoted in contemporary teacher education (e.g., Brookfield, 2017; Farrell, 2015), the questions of whether, and how we reflect while teaching, as well as the related question of what impact such reflection has on teacher learning have been the subject of significant debate, including criticism directed towards Schön's concept of RiA (e.g., Eraut, 1995; van Manen, 1995), and his epistemology of practice (e.g., Fenstermacher, 1988; Gilroy, 1993).

Despite this theoretical debate, and frequent references to RiA in the literature on teacher education, few empirical studies of teacher RiA in real classroom contexts exist, and many that have attempted to document it fail to separate the interactive reflection of RiA from the post-hoc reflection of RoA (Borg, 2006; Yinger, 1986). With this challenge in mind, this study investigates interactive reflection in general, and Schön's concept of RiA more specifically, using triangulated video stimulated recall (VSR) to examine the interactive thought processes of four experienced teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in their classrooms. The findings include a novel typology of teacher interactive thought, extensive evidence of interactive reflection, and a number of terms and constructs for analysing interactive reflection which may be of use to researchers interested in studying teacher cognition, and to both teacher educators and teachers interested in developing their understanding of interactive thought and its relationship to teacher learning, self-awareness and reflection literacy. While language teaching provides the context for this study, the findings are presented as potentially useful to teachers working in a range of classroom types.

Cited by (16)

• Building the expert teacher prototype: A metasummary of teacher expertise studies in primary and secondary education

  2023, Educational Research Review

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  While expert teachers remain a frequent focus of research in education, to date there have been very few attempts to conduct systematic reviews of this literature. This paper presents the findings of the first systematic metasummary of research on teacher expertise in K12 education (primary/elementary and secondary levels), based on analysis of 106 empirical studies from 16 countries involving 1124 teachers identified as experts. The inductively-developed coding framework was applied independently by both authors to the dataset to generate agreement counts for specific coding themes, firstly for specific domains of teacher expertise, and then stratified to compare primary and secondary studies. We present 73 specific features organised into six domains in our expert teacher prototype. Salient findings indicate that, with regard to professional practice, expert teachers reflect extensively and often critically on their practice, help their colleagues frequently, and are continuous learners throughout their careers. Concerning knowledge, we find that expert teachers have well-developed pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge about their learners. In the domain of pedagogic practice, we observe that expert teachers display flexibility in the classroom, build strong interpersonal relationships with their learners, whom they engage through their choice of activities and content, and frequently make use of strategies typically emphasised in both constructivist and learner-centred education literatures. We offer our prototype as a useful initial sketch of family resemblance among expert teachers rather than a checklist of necessary or expected features of expertise, also cautioning that the prototype remains far from complete.

• Associations of different types of informal teacher learning with teachers’ technology integration intention

  2022, Computers and Education

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  This study investigated the associations between different types of informal teacher learning (ITL) activities and teachers' technology integration. Five types of ITL were examined: learning through media, through colleague, stakeholder, and student interactions, and through reflection. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping were used to analyse 1,881 questionnaire responses from Chinese K-12 teachers. The results revealed that ITL activities were significantly associated with teachers' technology integration. Among the five types of ITL activities, the inner source of ITL, learning through reflection, and the non-interactive social source of ITL, learning through media, exhibited stronger associations with teacher technology integration than did the interactive social sources of ITL. Among the three interactive ITL activities, the effects of learning through student interaction and learning through colleague interaction were significantly associated with teachers’ adoption of technology. The effect of learning through student interaction on technology integration was mediated in equal parts by perceived usefulness and self-efficacy beliefs, while the effect of learning through colleague interaction was mediated only by perceived usefulness. Learning through stakeholder interaction was not a significant determinant of teacher technology adoption. The findings call for greater attention to ITL activities in supporting teacher technology integration. The findings also support taking a differentiated approach to understanding the relationship between ITL activities and teacher technology integration, as well as developing ITL-centred professional development initiatives.

• A coding scheme to clarify teachers' interactive cognitions in noticed classroom management situations from an actor's perspective

  2022, Teaching and Teacher Education

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  This article presents a coding scheme to clarify teachers' verbalizations of interactive cognitions in classroom management situations noticed from an actor's perspective. Twelve secondary teachers taught a class wearing a front view camera. Classroom management situations they noticed as salient were identified in-action by hand signaling and combined with stimulated recall based on front view videos to explicate accompanying interactive cognitions. Content analysis of verbalized cognitions resulted in a comprehensive coding scheme with four code dimensions: Level of Activated Cognitions, Involved Actor(s), Classroom Management Aspect, Classroom Management Action. The coding scheme contributes to investigating teachers' cognitions accompanying own classroom management behavior in an integrative way.

• Fostering motor skills in physical education: A mobile technology-supported ICRA flipped learning model

  2022, Computers and Education

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  In order to stimulate students' active participation and thirst for knowledge, researchers have attempted to integrate flipped learning into courses, which aims to solve the problems in the traditional stereotypical physical skills learning mode (e.g., imitation and repeated practice) as well as to increase peer and teacher-student interaction. However, most of the flipped learning approaches use text for knowledge transfer, and lack guidance for practicing skills. Hence, the present study referred to the educational theory of reflective practice, and proposed the Identification, Communication, Reflection, and Analysis (ICRA) learning strategy. This strategy was applied to badminton skill learning so as to develop a flipped learning approach more suitable for physical skill learning. A total of 35 students were recruited as the experimental group, which adopted the ICRA-based mobile flipped learning (ICRA-MFL) approach, while 39 students in the control group adopted the conventional mobile flipped learning (C-MFL) approach. The findings indicated that the ICRA-MFL approach could significantly enhance students' serve accuracy, serve quality, and self-reflection. Based on students' feedback, it was verified that instructing students to identify the crucial concepts, carry out peer interaction, observe their practice videos, as well as providing the criteria for objective analysis could effectively support students’ self-reflection and enhance their learning performance.

• Applying Q methodology to understand priorities in profiles of teacher reflections

  2022, Teaching and Teacher Education

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  This study demonstrates the use of Q methodology as a suitable approach to distinguish salient groups of reflections, giving insights to what the teacher participants prioritize. Revealing priorities may help identify teachers’ core concerns, and what practical and professional knowledge could help them in their daily practice. Core concerns of the teacher participants uncovered in this study were: the needs of learners, the nature of mathematics, and activities that are pedagogically appropriate. A discriminating factor among the three profiles had to do with whether the teachers were teaching in primary or secondary schools.

• The Long Road to Shared PCK: a Science Teacher’s Personal Journey

  2022, Research in Science Education

Recommended articles (6)

• Research article

  Fostering relational trust to engage white teachers and researchers on reflections of race, power, and oppression

  Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 86, 2019, Article 102896

• Research article

  “Once they fall pregnant, they don't come back”: Teacher perspectives on Zambia's school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers

  Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 86, 2019, Article 102880

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  This mixed-methods study investigates teacher understandings of Zambia's school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers. Nearly one in three Zambian girls has been pregnant by 19 (Population Council, UNFPA, & Republic of Zambia, 2017). Despite having the legal right to attend school, few young mothers complete their schooling. As the ground-level implementers of the policy, teachers are the interface between the Ministry of Education and the students who could benefit. To examine this issue, we interviewed teachers from four Lusaka province schools to explore their implementation of the policy and teacher beliefs regarding the re-enrollment of adolescent mothers.

• Research article

  ‘Kareen's Class of Torture’—A case study of a student's personal writing

  Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 86, 2019, Article 102885

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  The article demonstrates the utilities of personal writing by analysing a fantasy written by adolescent in the context of an extracurricular writing workshop. Literary analysis of this story, based on Foucault's principles, reveals various ‘technologies of domination’ and ‘technologies of the self’. We claim that personal writing encourages students to challenge social order and enables teachers to reevaluate power relations through students' writing. Furthermore, personal writing in teachers' education establishes mentoring relationships and empowers students to develop their own problem-solving skills. The article invites teacher-educators to re-examine their perceptions of students' personal writing and helps researchers to articulate participants' knowledge.

• Research article

  Evaluation of kinetics and thermodynamics of interaction between immobilized SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein and specific antibodies by total internal reflection ellipsometry

  Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 594, 2021, pp. 195-203

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  During the pandemic, different methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection and COVID-19 diagnostics were developed, including antibody and antigen tests. For a better understanding of the interaction mechanism between SARS-CoV-2 virus proteins and specific antibodies, total internal reflection ellipsometry based evaluation of the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein (SCoV2-rN) and anti-SCoV2-rN antibodies was performed. Results show that the appropriate mathematical model, which takes into account the formation of an intermediate complex, can be applied for the evaluation of SCoV2-rN/anti-SCoV2-rN complex formation kinetics. The calculated steric factor indicated that SCoV2-rN/anti-SCoV2-rN complex formation has very strict steric requirements. Estimated Gibbs free energy (ΔGAssoc) for SCoV-rN and anti-SCoV-rN binding was determined as −34 kJ/mol. The reported findings are useful for the design of new analytical systems for the determination of anti-SCoV2-rN antibodies and for the development of new anti-SARS-CoV-2 medications.

• Research article

  Prospective mathematics teachers' engagement with inclusive equity: An exploratory case study in anti-ableist sociopolitical grounding

  Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 86, 2019, Article 102853

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  Students with disabilities lack opportunities to engage in cognitively challenging mathematics and instead are afforded remedial forms of learning in segregated settings. This exploratory case study reports on prospective teachers' peer-led responses as they engaged with inclusive equity (i.e., inclusive education-oriented concepts) during a reflexive conversational assignment. Participants were enrolled in a teacher preparation program that embedded elements of Disability Studies in Education. Through an interpretive approach, we analyze their responses, illustrating how they reflect tensions associated with unlearning assumptions derived from medical models of disability.

• Research article

  How systematic video reflection in teacher professional development regarding classroom discourse contributes to teacher and student self-efficacy

  International Journal of Educational Research, Volume 90, 2018, pp. 223-233

  Show abstractNavigate Down

  Recent professional development programs have enhanced teachers’ ability to change their classroom discourse behaviour to a more dialogic style. Only a few programs investigate the role of video-based reflections in supporting teachers to change their practice. This study focuses on effects of the ‘Dialogic Video Cycle’ (DVC) on teacher self-efficacy as a prominent factor in teaching behavior. Additionally, changes in teachers’ practice and the impact of the DVC on student self-efficacy were examined. Compared with a non-video reflection group, the video reflection group showed a positive trend in teacher self-efficacy and significant effects on practice changes. In the video reflection group, student self-efficacy also showed a positive trend. Video transcripts from the DVC workshops underline the role of teachers’ self-beliefs.

  What is reflection

  Reflection-in-action takes place during an action, and reflection-on-action takes place after an event has occurred. A related concept, which was developed from Schön's work, is reflection-for-action (Killion and Todnem 1991; Grushka et al. 2005).

  What is Pollard's theory of reflection?

  ' Here Pollard highlights the work of Schön in pointing to the use of judgement in reflection-in-action and its use in reflection- on-action, the latter of which may be seen as being more strongly linked to knowledge of research, systematic enquiry and an understanding of the political framework of action.

  What are the benefits of reflection

  Reflection-in-action allows you to deal with surprising incidents that may happen in a learning environment. It allows you to be responsible and resourceful, drawing on your own knowledge and allowing you to apply it to new experiences.

  Who is the author of learning by doing?

  The American philosopher, John Dewey, first popularized learning by doing. For Dewey, this meant a heavy emphasis on student engagement. This approach upended the traditional notion that learning happens through lectures and rote memorization.