GUIDED REFLECTION PRACTICES IN A CONTEXT OF INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING

The curricula of many initial teacher training programmes include a range of reflection-oriented activities as a central element of training processes. However, little information is available regarding the structure and organisation of such activities, and especially concerning the ways in which teacher educators should guide reflection. The aim of the present research is to improve understanding of reflection processes through the experiences of 44 future teachers. We adopted a socio-cultural perspective based on the analysis of personal accounts, through which we seek to identify the main subjective experiences associated with activities of this type. The study is guided by three questions: (i) What is the underlying structure of the practice of guided reflection? (ii) What sort of help do teacher educators provide as part of the practical experiences of future teachers? and (iii) What meanings do future teachers construct in regard to their practical experiences? Regarding the first question, results suggest that the structure of experience-oriented workshops is determined by a generalised notion of the importance of reflection within formative processes, but that such activities have yet to be definitively incorporated into teaching methods. In response to the second question, results highlight the importance of dialogue as a means of encouraging reflection. The majority of future teachers indicated that experience workshops tended to involve a broad range of activities based on dialogue with teacher educators, but that these discussions had little to do with their lived experiences in practical contexts. In regard to the third question, results show that meanings associated with teaching practice are determined by three aspects: (a) the type of teaching activity in which future teachers engage; (b) the socio-cultural diversity of these practices; and (c) the need for future teachers to construct professional and personal meanings with which to tackle situations arising during the course of their practice. In summary, the use of subjective experiences as part of reflection-oriented activities should be a subject of particular attention among those researchers interested in initial teacher training. We believe that there is a need for closer examination of how learning experiences can be incorporated into different reflection-oriented activities in the university context. The underlying idea is that reflection on experiences should become the foundation for the construction and development of professional teacher identity, considered the essence that defines the nature and behaviour of a teacher. As such, the results of the present study suggest that we should continue to examine practices in which these experiences are used in order to support the construction of personal and professional meanings.