Conceptualizing Reflection in Teacher Development

Reflection has become widely recognised as a crucial element in the professional growth of teachers. Terms such as 'reflective teaching', 'enquiry­ orientated teacher education', 'teachers as researchers' and 'reflective practitioner' have become quite prolific in discussions of classroom practice and professional development. It is frequently presumed that reflection is an intrinsically good and desirable aspect of teaching and teacher education and that teachers, in becoming more reflective, will in some sense be better teachers, though such claims have been rarely subject to detailed scrutiny.

Each of the chapters in this book is concerned with exploring the concept of reflection and considering its contributions to teacher education. The papers range across different stages of professional development, some focusing in particular on pre-service education, others on in-service or professional development generally. Some of the papers are concerned with particular strategies for promoting reflection and how they might operate in a teacher education context, others dwell more upon a theoretical appreciation of how reflection facilitates in the processes of professional development, and how it relates to issues of quality in teacher education.

James Calderhead is Professor of Education in the School of Education, University of Bath. He was a teacher in primary and secondary schools 1972-79 and was then appointed Lecturer in Educational Research at the University of Lancaster until 1989. He is the author and editor of a number of books including Teachers' Classroom Decision-Making and Exploring Teachers' Thinking (Cassell) and Teachers' Professional Learning (Palmer). He is European editor of the Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Peter Gates is Lecturer in Education in the School of Education, University of Bath. He taught mathematics in secondary schools from 1975, before taking up the post of Mathematics Advisory Teacher in Mozambique in 1978. From 1988-90 he was Lecturer in Educational Studies at The Open University. He is an Executive Committee member of the British Society for Research into Leaming Mathematics.