An exploration of the use of bio-pedagogical narratives and video stimulated reflection in the pedagogy of Initial Teacher Education

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThis study explored the use of bio-pedagogical narratives (Camacho and Fernandez-Balbo, 2006) and video stimulated reflection (Powell, 2005) in the pedagogy of Initial Teacher Education (ITE). It sought to understand how these pedagogical approaches might support pre-service Physical Education teachers to think critically about their practice and to gain new insights as a result for teacher educators. The study drew on the field of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Kincheloe, 2005; Giroux, 2007; McLaren and Kincheloe, 2005) and an adapted interpretation of the theoretical concepts of conscientization and critical consciousness (Freire, 1970). The research approach used was situated within the field of illuminative evaluation and the bio-pedagogical narratives and video stimulated reflective dialogues served a dual purpose as both pedagogical approaches and research methods. The research revealed that these intentionally more formative and democratic pedagogical approaches in ITE supported pre-service teachers to problematise the roots and origins of their practice and raised their awareness of how various ‘dimensions of the self’ had shaped their pedagogy. They were able to problematise where observed practice was inequitable or discriminatory and to begin to identify structural inequalities in curriculum provision and subject culture through a process of conscientization. With some of the pre-service teachers this led to critical consciousness in praxis, which resulted in more equitable and inclusive pedagogical approaches. This was contingent, however, on the quality of the dialogic interactions that took place during the video stimulated reflection sessions and the research has highlighted that, for such pedagogical approaches to support critical thinking and potential praxis, participating professionals should engage in a carefully configured preparatory programme. The research has also highlighted the need to recognise and embrace teaching as an emotional act and the use of such pedagogical approaches must be sensitive to the temporal, relational and spatial features of learning to teach