Nine teacher candidates from each of two PETE programs, University A and University B, developed teaching portfolios over three consecutive semesters of comparable courses. University A teacher candidates underwent a deliberate, developmental portfolio intervention based on the Teaching/Learning Framework (Sprinthall & Thies-Sprinthall 1983),…

Reflection has long been an aspiration in education, from Aristotles Nicamachean Ethics, through Bacons (1605) Advancement of Learning and later articulated by John Dewey. Schon's reflective practitioner underpins the ethos in the professional training of teachers in the UK. This paper reviews approaches to reflection in learning and argues that…

Beginning teachers in Northern Ireland and the United States conducted structured inquiry projects in which they investigated elementary children's understanding of history and social studies. Interviews with the teachers and analysis of their written assignments indicate that these investigations challenged their beliefs about children's prior…

This article offers a description of critical literacy practice and/as professional development as it evolved in a teacher inquiry group investigating critical literacy. The authors describe this professional development experience as an instance of critical literacy in practice. The entirety of this article is a collaborative product in which the…

This is the final paper in a four-part series by two pre-service teacher educators. The authors define self-study of teacher education practices and outline their research methodology. They then draw on excerpts from their written reflections to examine how self-study of teacher education practices can enhance the reflective dimension of action…

Purpose: This paper seeks to provide an empirical insight into the facilitation dilemmas for conversational learning in a project team environment. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is an outcome of a participative action research process into the dynamics of situated learning activity in a case study project team. As part of their…

Writing across the curriculum (WAC) is a way of integrating the teaching of writing into specific academic disciplines. A problem faced in the WAC literature is how to develop a process that integrates the skills of multi-disciplinary teams. In this project, action research was used to develop a team comprising faculty from the applied sciences…

This article discusses the Leading for Equity, Achievement, and Democracy program, which is a partnership administrative credential program of the California State University, East Bay (formerly Hayward), and the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools, based in Oakland, California. This developmental journey involves a process of introspection,…

This paper sets out to show how some theoretical concepts derived from Lacanian psychoanalysis might be put to work in the business of reflective practitioner research in education. It seeks to offer a more sophisticated, reflexively produced account of researcher identity built out of the narrative generated within a research enquiry. It…

The focus of this article is on the learning and teaching processes of six teacher candidates, made possible by the study of a work of art in their internship placement. The interns observed and worked closely with two Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) music Teaching Artists (TAs) and six classroom teachers to provide students in kindergarten through…

The main aim of this article is to explore the ways in which teacher educators can improve levels of reflection in postgraduate student teachers. The author argues that postgraduate student teachers are able to reflect on their practice in schools, and that the insights gained are useful in clarifying their own beliefs about teaching and learning.…

Reflection and change are pivotal themes in this paper, which outlines the rationale, methodology and principal findings of a research undertaking on teacher development in Ireland. The study was based on the premise that teachers' practices are guided in large measure by a "tacit knowledge" of education, formed in response to personal…

We share our self-study research of faculty-building a successful collaborative culture and team teaching experience in a unique Master's program for experienced teachers. As part of self-study and reflective practice, this faculty team shared its collaborative experiences with teachers. This transparency had positive effects on the teachers'…

Many early childhood practitioners use pedagogical documentation as an important process that enables children's thinking to be represented in a form that can be readily shared with others (Dahlberg et al., 1999). Documentation in the form of a professional portfolio provides a vehicle for reflection and an appreciation of the complexities and…

Developing reflective practice in pre-service student teachers is a goal of many teacher education programs. This article describes three activities used in a graduate teacher education program that were designed to use an arts focus to provoke deeper reflection about teaching and learning. Clay tiles were used for illustrating personal metaphors…