Exploring the impact of student teachers' online collaborative peer reflection

This paper reports on a technology-facilitated micro-teach project, developed as a contingency response to unpredictable situations in schools as a result of Covid-19 restrictions to face-to-face teaching. The project aimed to support student teachers in developing their feedback, reflection and collaborative skills by providing opportunities to view short teaching episodes before offering peer-formative assessment. Micro-teaching, an activity in which student teachers plan, teach and reflect on small lessons, or parts of lessons, is often used in teacher education as a mechanism to support planning and reflection, yet it typically occurs face-to-face. Reflection is widely recognised as a key skill that student teachers need to develop as part of their teacher education. Participating student teachers were surveyed before and after the project. The survey responses and identified benefits and challenges on supporting the development of pedagogic skills, including peer reflection, in an online distance learning environment are explored. The findings suggest that student teachers improved their reflection and confidence in peer assessment. The most important learning to emerge from the micro-teach activity was the collaborative cross-phase nature of the project, particularly the reflecting with, and learning from, others