Reflecting on the reflective practitioner: Vocational initial teacher education in Scotland

Abstract

The concept of Reflective Practice has become one of the most influential professional development theories within teacher education over the last 30 years. However, the concept has been seen to be contested and problematical within the literature. The debate surrounding the value of such an individualised approach to professional development provides the context and focus for this article. In particular, it is argued that reflective thought cannot in itself provide a coherent conceptual basis for professional development and certainly is unable to do so within the initial years of vocational teacher education. The study is based upon a purposeful sample of 60 student teachers taken from five cohorts of teachers on a full-time pre-service vocational teacher education course for Further Education lecturers in Scotland. The research was qualitative in nature and primarily aimed at identifying critical incidents from the students' learning experience at college. The findings from the research indicate that there is no need to privilege reflective thought as a learning strategy in teacher education and that other more collective and discursive forms of professional practice are equally important in supporting novice teachers.