Gadsby, Helen;
(2020)
Fostering reflective practice in Post Graduate Certificate in Education students through the use of reflective journals, mentors and tutors.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This research argues a need for a shared understanding of reflective practice across all the stakeholders involved in initial teacher education. The research has added to the educational debate around the increasingly reductionist approach to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and the position of reflection within the current teacher education climate. The thesis builds on the work of Hatton and Smith (1995) and Larrivee (2000) by developing a framework for supporting reflection in student teachers. It also develops the work of Hudson (2013) and Harrison et al (2005) on training mentors to support student teachers to become reflective practitioners. During the course of the research, the experiences of 18 PGCE secondary students were explored. This was achieved through the use of questionnaires, semi- structured interviews, the analysis of reflective journals and analysing the feedback they received from their mentors on their lessons. This data collection was supported by post-course interviews of 4 students and semi- structured interviews of 4 mentors and 3 university tutors. The written feedback and post lesson discussions of all 24 mentors working with the students was also analysed. A grounded theory informed approach was adopted. The data was analysed in a variety of ways including coding and the transformation of some of the data so that simple statistics could be used to identify trends in the data. The literature suggests that reflective practice is seen as a key component in ITE courses. However, the extent to which it is embedded in courses is debatable. Like Nagle (2008), Otiench (2011) and Atkinson (2012) this research found very little shared understanding or practice. The research findings have identified a tension that exists between a developmental teacher education programme and evidence based training. A tendency towards a reductionist approach to teacher education and a lack of a shared understanding of reflection across all stakeholders; students, mentors and tutors. The research also identifies a great variation in the type and quality of mentoring of student teachers across the research sample and a need for a more comprehensive mentor development programme within the institution studied.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Fostering reflective practice in Post Graduate Certificate in Education students through the use of reflective journals, mentors and tutors |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10107784 |
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