An exploration of the use of videotaped teaching and dialogue to support preservice teachers to critically reflect on their emerging teaching practice

How teacher educators can support preservice teachers to critically reflect on their teaching practice forms the primary focus of this thesis. Internationally, teacher education programmes have shown enormous interest in supporting preservice teachers to think critically about their teaching practice. However, problematically for teacher educators, the terms reflective and critically reflective practice remain ill defined and are frequently used interchangeably. Academic literature often describes the focus of reflective practice at a personal level, for example, one’s beliefs, assumptions and practices. This thesis, however, asserts a critically reflective practitioner is prepared to focus their critique at both a personal and societal level. Furthermore, this thesis argues a critically reflective teacher can make teaching decisions informed by their critical reflection on their personal beliefs, formal theoretical frameworks, and on the multiple institutional, cultural, social and political assumptions underpinning their practice, in order to rationalise a foundation for teaching practice. The reflective practice literature suggests critically reflecting on one’s teaching cannot be assumed as an innate skill. This thesis investigated a key challenge for teacher educators, can critically reflective practice be taught to prospective teachers, and if so, how? Underpinned by critical theory, this qualitative study examined whether asking preservice teachers to discuss their personal beliefs, formal theories and wider societal factors around their videotaped teaching practice did, or did not support their critical reflection. In the full study, across one academic year, six preservice teachers participated in an initial interview, three interviews using their videotaped teaching as a prompt for reflection and an exit interview. The main form of data, audiotaped interviews were analysed using a qualitative data management tool HyperRESEARCH. Themes from that analysis informed a generic structure used to report participant’s individual findings as vignettes. A second major focus of inquiry for this research project was on the role of dialogue, and how dialogue does, or does not support critical reflection. A number of studies have examined audiotaped transcripts of preservice teachers’ speech or monologue around their videotaped teaching. This study, using Fairclough’s (1995) model of critical discourse analysis, analysed how dialogue between the preservice teacher and the researcher did, or did not support them to critically reflect on their videotaped teaching practice. Findings from the project raised important implications for teacher educators. These were: while all six preservice teachers drew upon personal beliefs, formal theory and wider factors to critically reflect on their teaching, they did so in surprisingly unique ways, and it is a mistake to assume that preservice teachers will independently make theory to practice connections. When using videotaped teaching, all participants recommended having multiple opportunities to view themselves teach, in order that they can target areas of their practice to refine, and across time evidence and own resultant changes in their practice. Reported findings suggest that unless preservice teachers were asked to discuss wider societal factors impacting their practice, this was an area at risk of remaining invisible and silent. When mentoring preservice teachers’ critical reflection, it appears dialogue is a crucial but complex factor. This thesis highlights dialogue strategies that did, and did not support preservice teachers’ critically reflective dialogue. In conclusion, the thesis poses a range of questions to support teacher educators to critically consider how they mentor preservice teachers’ critically reflective thinking around their teaching practice