Facilitating Reflective Practice in Teacher Education: An Analysis of Student Teachers’ Level of Reflection during Teacher Clinical Experience

Reflection and the promotion of reflective practice have been extensively emphasised in the teacher training and preparation programmes. In teacher education, many researchers have argued the importance of student teachers (STs) being able to develop their skills of reflection. This study was conducted to investigate the STs’ level of reflection during teacher clinical experience (TCE) (or variously known as the teaching practicum). It sought to analyse the level of reflection among STs from the Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) in the current practice of reflective writing and after given exposure to the critical reflection manual (CRM) during TCE. The present study employed Van Manen’s (1977) three-stage model (technical, practical and critical) to determine the level of reflection based on STs’ self-reflection notes in their daily lesson plan books (for the current practice of reflective writing) and weekly reflective journal writings (for STs who were given exposure to the CRM). The research participants consisted of seven STs who were undergoing TCE from February to June 2014 (for the current practice of reflective writing) and eleven STs who were undergoing TCE from July to October 2015 (for STs who were given exposure to the CRM). Results of the analyses showed that STs were barely reflective, demonstrating very low level of reflection for the current practice of reflective writing while STs exhibited practical and critical levels of reflection after given exposure to the CRM. Interpretations of the results are presented and recommendations are discussed within the context of the study.