ABSTRACT

A key task of teacher educators is to help (student) teachers develop appropriate knowledge, competence, and values. Reflective practice is widely accepted as part of the theoretical basis and professional practice that new teachers should acquire. It has potential to promote improvements in both teaching and teaching about teaching.

This chapter considers how teacher educators understand – and operationalise – the concept of reflective practice. It briefly reviews how reflective practice has been conceptualised in the field of education and analyses issues raised by its operationalisation in initial teacher education, and discusses some implications for teacher educators specifically. Evidence drawn from a small-scale research project is reported and analysed. Most teacher educators self-identify as reflective practitioners and promote reflective practice to their students, but differ significantly in how they understand and operationalise it in their professional lives. Their support for reflective practice is not based on systematic evidence from research about its value or impact; most receive no training in it. The full potential of reflective practice in teacher education is not yet realised. There is scope to work towards a shared understanding of what it means to be a reflective teacher educator and how this could translate into both professional practice and teaching reflective practice to students.