This article has two major goals. The first is to establish a distinction between the idea of critical reflection (as required today in many teacher education courses) and the concept of reflective practice (as set out by Schön in the context of active professional practice). The second is to present some of the important lessons a teacher…

In this article, some of the ways in which thinking about chaos theory can help teachers and student-teachers to accept uncertainty and randomness as natural conditions in the classroom are considered. Building on some key features of complex systems commonly attributed to chaos theory (e.g. complexity, nonlinearity, sensitivity to initial…

Examines the range of strategies that can be used to promote reflection, focusing on microteaching as a vehicle for enabling students to become aware of their values, attitudes, and assumptions about learning as these are enacted within microteaching. The subsequent feedback becomes a dialogue between student, peer, teacher fellow, and tutor that…

Examines three models of teacher professional development in Israel. One model emphasizes higher academic studies, one is a school-based organizational model that ties faculty development to school reforms, and one emphasizes a teacher-led personal route to professionalism in teachers' own classrooms. The paper examines means of support available…

The guidance of a reflective teacher educator is necessary for student teachers to become reflective practitioners. This article shows how teacher educators can benefit from the work of scenario writing to become more reflective practitioners themselves. It tells the story of the experiences some teacher educators involved in such an effort over 2…

The first part of this paper describes the rationale for and process of engaging student teachers in action research during the fourth and final year of their teacher education, which is also their first year as teachers (induction year). During this year the novice teachers are engaged in an action research project as a compulsory assignment in…

One Swedish university designed a program based on problem solving to make student teachers more reflective about mathematics teaching and learning. Student teachers work cooperatively in small groups, with teacher educators facilitating. Preliminary evaluation suggests the program helps student teachers develop insight into the complexity of…

The focus of this paper is the analysis of data from case studies of mentor meetings derived from an action research project on "The professional development of subject induction tutors". Developing practice as a reflective teacher involves both reflection and action and a reflective teacher compares a teaching and learning situation…

Discusses new challenges for preservice and inservice teacher education connected with changing conceptions of the teaching profession in the Czech Republic, noting innovative approaches and strategies (e.g., constructivist approaches, reflective practice, and university-school cooperation) and examining training strategies to help students…

Describes a framework for integrating reflection and teacher competency development into teacher education programs, introducing a spiral model for reflection, standard reflection questions, and a method of structuring logbooks, all designed to develop a competency for self-directed professional growth in interpersonal classroom behavior. An…

Describes a mentoring process that helped a Norwegian preservice teacher learn to teach elementary multiplication. The mentoring interaction provided the novice with an intensive discussion based on a small sequence of events. Through discussions with her mentor, the student teacher learned to use the language of practice to examine her own…

This paper examines the place of formative evaluation in the design of a teaching practice curriculum in Greece. It describes the practicum and discusses the process and content of reflection based on two years of formative evaluations. Students' thoughts focused mainly on themselves, on general pedagogy, and on their pupils' differentiated…