| Scope and method of study. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand what reflection means to teacher education faculty as well as students and to answer the following research questions: What is reflection in the context of teacher education like for faculty and students? How do faculty members' and students' perceptions of reflection converge and diverge and what are the implications for teacher education? Participants were seven female elementary education majors and three female teacher educators. Data were collected through interview, observation, and documents.;Findings and conclusions. I unearth the discursive practices in reflective teacher education. First, I describe the essence of reflection as recounted by the participants. Reflection is a personal, private process, but when brought into teacher education, the personal becomes public. The contradictory realities of classroom discussion and reflective written assignments are central to the discussion on making the personal public. Next, I concentrate on reflective assignments and the power relationship between the instructor and student. A theory practice debate follows, where all participants described that teacher educators do not practice what they preach. The role of prior experience in constructivist learning and its relation to preservice teachers' reflection provides the foundation for this discussion. Finally, I end with a discussion of how uncertainty in teaching contributes to the preceding contradictory realities. The structures of teacher education described in this study modify natural reflection. Moreover, this public venue legitimizes attempts to exert external forces on the individual engaged in reflection. These forces appear as institutionalized standards and competencies along with individually devised expectations which teacher educators enforce through the authority of their positions. Reflective teacher education is thought to be a place where preservice teachers make sense of their experiences through reflection. However, students must make sense of their experiences in the right and proper way; they must prove that they have met standards and competencies. It seems that reflection is intended to provide evidence of the correct learning, rather than to show the ability to be thoughtful and critical. |
