The Role of Reflection in Facilitating Pre-service Primary School Teachers Professional Growth

Transcription

1 The Role of Reflection in Facilitating Pre-service Primary School Teachers Professional Growth Hassan H. Tairab College of Education United Arab Emirates University Abstract: This paper was designed to explore ways to enhance preservice primary school teachers professional growth through reflection during the teaching practice period. Four pre-service primary school teachers taking part in the teaching practice as part of their training at the College of Education, United Arab Emirates, have participated voluntarily in the study while they were carrying out their teaching practice. The study employed an in-depth analyses of reflection reports written by participants and an interview-like discussion, which involved pre-lesson and post-lesson discussion. A model based on Schon (1987) framing and reframing was used to analyze the participants' written reflective reports. Three major findings were found: (1) reflection was prompted by concerns that changed over the period of teaching practice; (2) reflection was characterized by the nature of reframing which occurred over the teaching practice period; and (3) the participants reflection was facilitated by time, opportunities and support available to them during the teaching practice period. Participants were able to learn about and learn through reflection. Implications of the study included that reflection should be seriously regarded as a viable methodology for professional growth and development of pre-service primary teachers. By learning from and learning through the practice of reflection, pre-service primary teachers may gain professional growth in pedagogy. 1

2 Introduction Reflection is not a new term in the educational literature and the notion of reflective teaching and reflective practice has been widely used in the context of teaching. There are many studies (Anderson, 1997; Korthagen and Kessels, 1999; Langley, 1997; Loughran, 1996 and 2002; Russell and Munby, 1991; Shulman, 1987) which claim that pre-service teachers should become reflective practitioners in order to develop expertise in their practice. Indeed the practice of reflection has become one of the important aspects of the present teacher education programs at the College of the Education (COE) of the United Arab Emirates. It has represented the first element of the Conceptual Framework of the College, and as such, most courses explicitly or implicitly included at least some aspects of reflective practice. Journal writing, reflective teaching, and reflective writing assignments have increasingly become the focal point of all recently developed teacher education courses at the COE. Reflection can be characterized by the nature of reframing (Schon, 1987; Russell and Munby, 1991; Mackinnon, 1987) which involves the changes in ways of 'seeing' classroom events or pedagogical practice. Reflection may be prompted by pedagogical experiences through issues or concerns, which may prompt the practice of reflection. Educators concerned with reflection and reflective practice studied the concept of professional development of prospective teachers in relation to teachers concern and reflective behavior. Often teachers concern is closely associated with reflection. As such in the education literature, the word concern is defined as 'the composite representation of the feelings, preoccupation, thought, and consideration given to a particular issue or task (Hall and Hord, 1987, Tairab, 1998). It therefore refers to an aroused state of personal feelings and thoughts about a demand. The intensity of such a mentally aroused state is higher when one is more concerned about something. In relation to reflection, a concern may be defined as an impulse that drives one to reflect. Particular feelings or emotions are attended to in the initial framing of problematic situations (McLaughlin and Hanifin, 1994). Concerns may then be viewed as 'surprises' or 'perplexed feelings' which occurred at the 2

3 pre-reflective stage. Concerns have also been described as perspectives, which refer to a coordinated set of ideas and actions a person uses in dealing with a problematic situation. They are the ways in which the problematic situation is defined. Tabachnick and Zeichner (1981) used the same conception when they studied the student-teaching experience. They defined teaching perspectives as the ways in which teachers thought about their work and the ways in which they gave meaning to those beliefs by their behavior in classrooms. Clearly then, this conception illustrates how pedagogical problems were named by posing certain perspectives. On the other hand, Schon s (1987) conception of reflection has been very influential in the educational context. His idea of inquiry and experimentation in practice were the basis for his ideas about the development of professional knowledge. Schon (1987) described reflection as a way of attending to the problems of practice, allowing oneself to become confused and open to new possibilities during the process of attending, then giving shape to those problems in order to discover new ways of both acknowledging one's responses, as well as seeing and implementing solutions. According to Schon, reflection involves framing and reframing of a problematic situation. Framing is an attempt to name the things to which one will attend, then frame the context in which one will attend to them, whilst reframing is an attempt to make use of an existing repertoire of examples, images, understandings and actions in order to create a new way of 'seeing' the problem. MacKinnon s reflective cycle (1987) was basically derived from Schon s conception of reflection: framing and reframing. In addition to this, he particularly emphasized that a reflective cycle must end with the last phase - resolution. Hence, for him, a reflective cycle consisted of three phases: initial problem setting, reframing and resolution. The first phase, initial problem setting, like framing, is a process by which the practitioner identifies the problematic phenomenon to which he or she will attend and frames the context in which he or she will attend to it. According to MacKinnon (1987), as the problem is usually reshaped and somewhat changed by the end of the cycle, the qualifier initial is used. The framing of the initial 3

4 problem allows the practitioner to formulate an initial conclusion about the problematic phenomenon, as well as an initial implication for future practice. In most cases, problems cannot be resolved unless they are reframed. MacKinnon (1987) defined reframing as seeing in the situation new particulars that gave rise to new understandings of the problematic phenomenon, as well as new possibilities for action in the situation. It implies that reframing does not necessarily only occur once, but happens several times when the puzzling situations are redefined. Finally, the problem may not necessarily be solved, instead, better understandings of the problem may be reconstructed or some actions may be taken based on the new understandings of the problematic situations. A crucial factor in enhancing reflective practice during student teaching is the availability of time (McNamara, 1990; Richert, 1990; Pultorak, 1993; McLaughlin and Hanifin, 1994). Lack of time seems to be the central reason that teachers were not reflective about their teaching. Traditionally, student teachers rely heavily on their pedagogical knowledge gained during method courses to deal with classroom realities as they encounter situational problems. They seem to be more concerned with acquiring routines for management or classroom activities, but they have little time to consider other compelling issues. However, over a prolonged period of time that involves reflective practice, student teachers can devote more time to identifying problematic issues, exploring these issues in a more thorough way, and resolving them (Bullough and Gitlin, 1989). As Russell and Munby (1991) have demonstrated, reflection is prompted by experience, as practitioners need experience to reflect on. In terms of perspectives, student teachers' old perspectives interact with their new understandings and may consequently lead them to modify, or change, their views (Maynard and Furlong, 1993). It is not surprising then to find that there is a transformation of perspectives due to the construction of new experience. With an extensive direct practice, the framing and reframing process can be more thorough as perspectives or insights are better developed. 4

5 In the context of UAE, and as far as research studies dealing with teachers' reflection concern, no such research studies have been reported. In fact student teacher reflection seems to be a new concept in the training of UAE primary school teachers. The teaching practice program at College of Education, UAEU is, therefore, the context for this study. The teaching practice provides pre-service teachers with a real context to gain pedagogical experiences that may allow the pre-service teachers to address various pedagogical concerns or issues in their practice. The most crucial element of the teaching practice period is that it allows pre- service teachers an opportunity to construct different frames for their practice. Purpose In the present study, an exploration and enhancement of pre-service primary school teachers reflection was sought. The purpose of this paper was therefore, to explore pre-service teachers reflection, and to study how reflection can be facilitated during the teaching practice period to promote student teacher professional growth. Specifically, the study explores ways to enhance pre-service primary school teachers professional growth through reflection during the teaching practice period through an interpretative paradigm using Schon's (1987) model. Methodology Subjects of the Study The subjects of this study were four female student teachers, two of them were specializing in science, one in mathematics, and the fourth was specializing in social studies. The selection of the sample was regarded as convenient sampling, for they were the only student teachers available for participation in the study. As part of their training participants were encouraged to practice reflection and use theories to analyze their classroom practice. All the participants had no teaching experience before their involvement in the teaching practice. 5

6 Procedures The present study was designed in the context of an interpretative research paradigm in the sense that it looks at and analyses written evidence of professional growth from the participants viewpoints. Hence it was designed to reveal the degree of knowledge gained from the practice of reflection in a natural context, the classroom context. Participants were required to write weekly reports reflecting on problems and issues they encountered during the week and try to suggest alternative ways to solve these problematic situation based on theory and pedagogy they already know. The data source for this study, therefore, included all the reflective reports written by participants, which were initially written purposely as part of the training during the teaching practice period. Student teachers were required to continuously reflect on their practice by documenting problems, feelings, concerns in a form of reports and to openly discus these reports with their supervisor. The purpose here was to create opportunities in which to gain access to student teachers reflection on practice. They were provided with examples on how to documents their practice. Student teachers began writing reflection report in week four after completing the first three weeks orienting themselves to their new environment. The major findings therefore, come from the in-depth content analysis of these reports. The second source of data was the face-to-face discussion with the participants. To elicit the participants reflection before and after teaching, prelesson and post-lesson conferences (Loughran, 1996) were employed. A prelesson conference mainly aimed to probe student teachers' anticipation of a future pedagogical experience and identify key issues, and was held before a lesson. A post-lesson conference mainly aimed to elicit student teachers' reflection about a pedagogical experience encountered during the lesson, and was conducted after the lesson. Towards the end of the teaching practice period, the pre- and post-conferences were purposely intensified to discus pedagogical issues related to primary school teaching and teachers professional development in general as participants become more confident in their teaching and themselves. To gain better understanding of participants reflection, pre- 6

7 and post-conferences focused mainly on lessons observed by the researcher. The major purpose of this approach was to allow the researcher to better understand the lessons and to better facilitate the probing of student teachers' reflection about their pedagogical practice. In so doing, student teachers' practice was more easily questioned and challenged and the frames for construction of their pedagogical knowledge were easily detected. The length of the pre- and post-conferences varied according to availability of time and to student teachers' eagerness in talking about their pedagogical experiences. All pre- and post lesson discussion were recorded as notes by the researcher and in some cases written expression (sentences) were collected from the participants. After the data were collected, all the reflection reports together with the pre- and post-conference discussions were read and analyzed in order to begin understand and organize the issues/concerns student teachers considered impacted their pedagogical practice. In order to make sense of the pedagogical issues raised by participants, a coding procedure derived from Shulman's (1987) work on categories of professional knowledge: content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of learners, knowledge of educational contexts and knowledge of educational purposes were developed to classify data. Shulman s categories were used to develop a coding system for their relevance and their wide use as a frame for examining student teachers professional knowledge of teaching. In addition, it is generally a point of agreement among educators that professional knowledge of teachers is closely associated with the categories chosen for this study, for the impact that they might have on the professional development of novice teachers. As such, a final coding scheme was then established consisting of: 1. content; 2. pedagogy; 3. context; 4. students (learners); 5. assessment; 7

8 6. classroom management; and 7. Relationship with teaching practice supervisor These categories were developed to reflect the extent to which participants regard them as having concerns or influence on their practice. For example, to what extent participants worry about the level of their subject matter (content) knowledge? Using the coding categories, the reports written by the pre-service teachers were coded and the frequency of each category was calculated, providing a quantitative data that can be followed qualitatively further. Limitation of findings The study reported in this article concerned with the concept of reflection and its role in facilitating student teachers professional growth using an interpretive approach. As such, the findings were derived from limited representative who may not reflect the entire population of student teachers. Generalization, therefore, as the case with all interpretive studies, should take into account the approach adopted by the study and its worth in revealing the degree of changes in perspectives of participants rather than focusing in the findings. Results and Discussion The frequency of each of the categories in each week was noted and the trend for each category was tracked throughout the teaching practice period. It was found that there was a shift in pre-service teachers' concerns over time, which implied that pre-service teachers had changed perspectives in 'seeing' their practice. The shift in various concerns is illustrated in Figure 1. From Figure 1, participants concerns as reported in their reflection reports can be grouped into two groups: those that show high concerns and those that reflected low concerns. It is obvious that pedagogy, content knowledge of the subject, assessment, and classroom management gave the 8

9 participants a high concern. New teachers often report their lack of confidence to handle classroom situations such as classroom management and student behavior but not lack of confident in the content they teach. The results of this study showed that the participants were unsure about the content they teach and more importantly the pedagogical issues that together with the content knowledge of the subject matter influence their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Shulamn, 1987). Figure 1 also reports an important trend as regard to the professional development of the participants, namely reflection reports that prompted by concerns have considerably changed over the period of teaching practice. As the period progresses, participants gained confidence and began to handle classroom situations more comfortably, and report less concerns in their reflection reports. On the other hand, issues such as school context, students, and university supervisor did not represent much concern to the participants. Generally participants exhibited very little worries about school contexts, their school students and their supervisor. It is often a common practice that student teachers are allocated to schools that are regarded of their first choice and that they are more likely to be familiar with. This might well explain the low level of concern reported by these student teachers. Familiarity and the professional relationship with university supervisors can also be used to explain such low concern shown by the participants. 9

10 Figure one Participants concerns reported in their reflection reports over the teaching practice period 70 Frequency students content context pedagogy C. manage Assessment Supervisor week Nature of reflection To gain deeper insights into the nature of reflection, the participants reports were analyzed further to explore the characteristics of these reflections. The analysis revealed that participants reflection was characterized by the nature of reframing which occurred over the teaching practice period. Reports often identify situations where participants regarded as problematic and tried to build up steps or phases for resolution next time when they encounter these problems. Framing here is regarded as the initial step towards building a broader reflective cycle. All participants showed that they recognized at least one problematic situation or found themselves 'stuck' in problematic situations. An example of such framing can be seen in the writing of student A: 10

11 I didn t realize it in the beginning, but after few days with these students, I feel a sense of responsibility, that I need to spend more time explaining the lesson. I sometimes ask myself did I really do this? Did I stimulate their interest in the topic learnt that day? The image constructed in this stage allows an individual to attend to certain features of the practice situation and not to the others, i.e. being responsible for student learning. It directs the practitioner in what to look for and provides him or her with a new, hopefully advanced, perspective of a situation. The next move of the same participant can be seen demonstrated by the following writing: I felt such heavy responsibility and I am constantly worried whether my students understand what I am teaching. I felt that I have to do something different to help them understand what I have said. Generally all participants exhibited a sort of reconstruction in response to problematic situations. Reframing is the phase in which the participant constructs a new understanding of the situation. Due to the reconstruction process, it is becoming clearly evident for the participants to develop new insights or discoveries and form new ways of viewing their practice. The following is one of the post conference situations where there were some efforts on the part of the student teacher to reconstruct a new understanding of a situation: Interviewer: Why do you think you felt that you have to do something different? Student A: Because I assumed my actions have led to this situationthe negative image that student did not learn very much from me. Interviewer: What would be your next move then? Student A: I have to be friendly first with them and then try to repeat and give more on-class activities using real examples (context) so that they can relate this difficult concept. 11

12 The reframing undertaken by the student teacher (and subsequent actions) have helped the student to learn more about the practice setting in a way that has been helpful for both students and the student teacher. It could be regarded as effective reflective practice because it has led the student teacher to make meaning from the situation in ways that enhance her understanding so that she comes to understand the practice setting from her own perspectives through framing and reframing. Examples Demonstrating Reflection In order to demonstrate how reflection occurs in student teachers during the teaching practice period, two examples are documented and each of these examples is described using the Schon s (1987) model. The examples can also help to demonstrate the changes in pre-service teachers' practice as a result of reflection. Example One: Student A's reflective cycle on classroom management (Figure 1) Phase 1: framing problem due to time of class Phase 2: reframing problem arising from the type of activities Phase 3: initial resolution cancel the planned activity Phase 4: reframing problem due to the physical environment of the classroom Phase 5: reframing seating arrangement gave rise to the problem Phase 6: resolution image as a student- teacher is the crucial factor Figure 2: Student A s reflective cycle on classroom management 12

13 Phase 1: The time of the class contributes to the concerns student A has about disciplining her students as exemplified by the following pre-lesson interview in week six. Interviewer: What do you anticipate occurring in this lesson? Student A: I'm not actually too sure because I have been with them once before and that was Monday. I think they will be a bit noisy. Phase 2: She attends to her concerns regarding classroom management by considering the type of class activity. She has found that it is easier for students to create discipline problems during group work than in other classes. Student A: I think I will have a lot of classroom management problems because they will be doing group work. I hope it goes all right. I think I will do a lot of shouting. Phase 3: She reframes the problem and comes to an initial resolution stage. She hypothesizes that discipline problems do not occur once she cancels group work. She tests the hypothesis by acting on the problem. She views taking away students group work activities as a penalty for their disruptive behavior as evident in the following post-lesson interview: Interviewer: What was happening in the last lesson? Student A: We stopped the group work activity after three minutes of doing it and they did some copying from the board. Interviewer: Why? Student A: They just became so noisy, and running around. Interviewer: What do you foresee for the coming period? Student A: Well, I will change what I am going to do. I prefer having more time to do group work, but after the behavior of some of the students, I have decided to change what I have planned. Basically, it is only a chalk and talk lesson. Interviewer: What caused you to change it like this? 13

14 Student A: Talking at the back, not being quiet,...not appropriate behavior. Phase 4: She begins to construct another frame of reference by considering the physical environment of the classroom. She wonders if students behave better in a different classroom environment. She thought about the seating arranging. Student A: I find the set up of the room makes it easier to teach them. I can be a bit closer to them. In other settings, you cannot see them much, so they get away without doing anything. Phase 5 and 6: She continues this reframing about the set up of the room by arguing that she finds it easier to have good class control if the seating arrangement allows her to approach the students. The problem comes to an end with a tentative resolution that being a student teacher might well be a cause of the problem. Student A:...For them [students], they will say that you are just a student teacher; you cannot do this or whatever. It is hard to make them accept you as their teacher. Example two: Student B's reflection on students' thinking (Figure 2) Phase 1: Student B regards developing students' thinking skills as one of the goals of education. She is puzzled and surprised when she realizes that her teaching does not make students think for themselves. This realization contributes to her framing of a problematic issue: students' thinking. Student B Pre-lesson interview in week six:...i made a mistake last time, not making students think for themselves. For example, in finding the kinds of health services offered by the government, I actually gave them the reference pages in the textbook rather than making them come up with the names themselves. What I'm going to do today is to get them to think a bit more. 14

15 Phase 2: She recognizes that from a learner s perspective, students do not question themselves and they fail to think at a deep level. She argues that if students question ideas, their thinking may be enhanced so that they begin to apply what they have learnt. Student B post-lesson interview in week six That is what I'm going to start doing, to get them to think. I think if I start doing that, they may start thinking and questioning and they may then apply that to what they are doing. Phase 1: pre-reflective stage not being able to make students think Phase 2: framing students unable to think deeply Phase 3: reframing teachers have a role to play Phase 4: reframing students are not used to practicing thinking Phase 5: tentative resolution It takes time develop students' thinking Phase 6: resolution students do think Figure 3 Student B's reflective cycle on students' thinking Phase 3: The ideal of deep thinking triggers her own reframing of the problem, she considers her role and begins to experiment with various teaching techniques in order to make students think more as indicated in the following pre- and post-lesson interview in week six: 15

16 Student B : Hopefully I give them the right clues and push them to try to think for themselves. Hopefully I can stimulate their thinking. Interviewer: Do you consider such a structured approach as an effective means of learning? Student B: Oh, yes, I think this has been done because they have to have a knowledge of facts for them to think more deeply, but I think the problem is that they are just staying at a superficial level...i think I need them to think more. Phase 4: Her experience in the classroom generates a rethinking of the problem. She continues to construct a new frame by arguing that no matter how hard she tries to stimulate students thinking, she still could not achieve that as they are not used to it in their normal practice. Phase 5: She tentatively resolves the problem by rationalizing the situation that students do not get used to her teaching style and concluding that it is not her fault at not being able to make students think. She believes that it takes time for teachers to develop this thinking skill among students and that this might take longer than the time she has in a teaching practice period. I think the problem is they are not used to trying to apply their knowledge. If you have a year with the class and it starts as a regular thing, they may get the sense of it. Phase 6: The problem comes to the resolution stage when she discovers in later weeks that some of the students show positive signs in developing this skill. Students start to raise questions and think at a deeper level. It is a great encouragement to her as she feels that she can successfully get students to think for themselves. In fact, there were more questions raised in this lesson than the other lessons. In that way, I suppose the aim of the lesson, which was to get them to ask questions, and to let them see the application of knowledge, did work. 16

17 And later: They are beginning to ask questions in class...i am really glad that they are beginning to think broader and there are more questions than before. Facilitating reflection through the teaching practice period The nature of reflection demonstrated in this study is characterized by framing and reframing (Schon, 1987). When practitioners are confronted by a problematic situation, they attend to some salient features of the situation and frame the context. This making sense of the situation by imposing a structure, or interpretive frame of reference is important. By reframing the problem or redefining the situation, better ways of seeing the problem may be developed. As a consequence of reframing, a resolution stage may be reached in which a new interpretation of the situation may lead to alternative responses. From the reflective cycles demonstrated in this study, it has been documented that student teachers reframing occurred (often more than once) as their professional knowledge and pedagogical experiences developed. It was also clear that reframing could be prompted in various ways. It could be argued that the teaching practice period provides classroom experience, which involves a wider range of activities and interactions. Such experience can facilitate student teachers' thinking about concerns related to their underlying principles of practice and to reflect on various concerns and issues. Secondly, the extended and richer teaching practice period can be an impetus for student teachers reflection. From the findings of this study, the more experience student teachers gained, the more likely they saw their experiences differently and form new perspectives (reframing). Particularly, according to the examples shown in this study, framing and reframing occurred over time and this normally extended over a number of teaching weeks. The lengthened teaching practice allowed the practitioners to complete reflective processes concerning a range of pedagogical issues. 17

18 Thirdly, during the teaching practice period, the teaching is less pressurized than normal teaching rounds. With more time available and through a reduced teaching workload, pre-service teachers have more time to reconsider their practice, explore various frames and experiment with them in order to better understand their practice. The extent and intensity of interactions with other professionals in the real teaching context can also be a catalyst for reframing. Being based in schools, these student teachers had numerous reflective opportunities through their contact with supervisors, school inspectors or teachers in the schools. Through these opportunities they compared and contrasted various perspectives of approaching professional practice and were prompted to consider new perspectives of practice. In addition, student teachers are normally school based at each school in groups of six to ten and under such an arrangement, student teachers can have someone to talk with about their practice and share their teaching experiences with (no matter whether they are in the same discipline or not). Hence, support, in these collaborative circumstances is particularly helpful in the process of reframing. In light of these findings, reframing can be enhanced if more time, support and opportunities are given to student teachers. Most important of all, as the teaching practice period progresses, the pre-service teachers becomes more confident in constructing better frames of reference of various pedagogical issues and make the reflective processes over various pedagogical issues more complete. Conclusion This study examines the role of reflection in facilitating student teachers professional growth using an interpretative approach. Analyses of student teachers reflection reports together with pre- and post lesson interviews and discussions revealed that generally reflection was derived and prompted by concerns that changed over the period of teaching practice. Reflection was found to be characterized by the nature of reframing which occurred over the teaching practice period. Reflection of student teachers participated in the study 18

19 was also found to be facilitated by time, opportunities and support available to them during the teaching practice period. Participants were able to learn about and learn through reflection. If student teachers were able to learn through and from the process of reflection, then the practice of reflection should be seriously regarded as a viable methodology for professional growth and development of pre-service primary teachers and should carefully be considered as an essential element in the training of teachers. By learning from and learning through the practice of reflection, pre-service primary teachers may gain professional growth in pedagogy. The findings of this study also warrant further investigations into the concept of reflection. With the current paucity of research studies dealing with how teachers go about analyzing their own practice, further research is needed. Indeed research studies dealing with how teachers relate their reflective practice to classroom reality would provide platforms for teachers to realistically develop pedagogical and professional content knowledge needed for today's and tomorrow's world. 19

20 References Anderson, L. (1997). The stories teachers tell and what they tell us. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13, Bullough, Jr. R.V. and Gitlin, A.D. (1989). Toward educative communities: teacher education and the quest for the reflective practitioner. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2(4), Hall, G.E. and Hord, S.M. (1987). Change in Schools: Facilitating the Process, Suny Series in Educational Leadership. New York: State University of New York Press. Korthagen, F. A. and Kessels, J. P. (1999). Linking theory and practice: Changing the pedagogy of teacher education. Educational Researcher, 28 (4), Langley, D. (1997). Telling the stories of teaching: Reflective writing for pre-service teachers. The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 68 (8), Loughran, J.J. (2002). Effective reflective practice: In search of meaning in learning about teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 53 (1), pp Loughran, J.J. (1996). Developing Reflective Practice: Learning about Teaching and Learning through Modelling. London: Palmer Press. Mackinnon, A.M. (1987). Detecting reflection-in-action among pr-eservice elementary science teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 3(2), Maynard, T. and Furlong, J. (1993). Learning to teach and models of mentoring. In McIntyre, D, Hagger, H. and Wilkin, M. (Eds.), Mentoring: Perspectives on School-based Teacher Education. London: Kogan Page. McLaughlin, D. and Hanfin, P. (1994). Empowering the novice: promoting reflection in pre-service teacher education. A paper presented at the 24th Annual Conference 'Empowering the Professional: Politics Policy and Practice', Brisbane, Australia. McNamara, D. (1990). Research on teachers' thinking: Its contribution to educating student teachers to think critically. Journal of Education for Teaching, 16(2), Pultorak, E.G. (1993). Facilitating reflective thought in novice teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 44(4),

21 Richert, A. (1990). Teaching teachers to reflect: A consideration of programme structure. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 22(6), Russell, T. and Munby, H. (1991). Reframing: The role of experience in developing teachers' professional knowledge. In D.A. Schon (Ed.), The Reflective Turn: Case Studies in and on Educational Practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Schon, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. San Francisco: Jessey- Bass. Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1),1-22. Tabachnick, B.R. and Zeichner, K. (1981). The impact of the student teaching experience on the development of teacher perspectives. Journal of Teacher Education, 35(6), Tairab, H. (1998). Bridging the gap: An exploration of beginning science teachers pedagogical concerns. Paper presented at the International Teacher Education conference (ITEC98), Shanghai, China. 21