ABSTRACT
In chapter 7, the process of promoting reflection in individual supervision has been described. Of course, teacher educators do not always have the time to work with student teachers on an individual basis. Moreover, group settings are even essential for promoting reflection: By sharing experiences, teachers are stimulated to structure these experiences and, by comparing their own analyses of practice with those of others, they may discover other possible ways of framing their experiences. They can also ask for and get feedback from peers. In sum, reflective interactions among student teachers deepen the intended process of professional learning (collaborative reflection). Northfield and Gunstone (1997, p. 49) state:
Bell and Gilbert (1996, p. 57) discuss the consequences of constructivism for teacher development and conclude:
However, it is remarkable that, although the promotion of reflection is generally accepted as an important goal in teacher education, there is a lack of descriptions of techniques or activities that can be used in seminars to promote reflection in groups of student teachers. Most program descriptions (e.g., Feiman, 1979; Zeichner & Liston, 1987) are quite general, and provide no detailed information about activities encouraging prospective teachers to subject their teaching practice to a critical analysis (a positive exception is Harvard, 1994). However, just putting students together is not sufficient to promote learning from practice. As we saw in the previous chapters, the presentation of theory to groups of student teachers may not help either. So the question remains: What can be effective ways of promoting reflection in groups and of linking practice to theory?
