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Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper focuses on the promotion of reflectivity during practice teaching amongst student teachers at a university in Australia. By way of background, current criticisms of what is termed the "technocratic" approach to teacher education are outlined and the emphasis which is placed on the development of the "reflective teacher" as a counterforce to this approach is considered. It is then argued that the "technocratic" position and the "reflective teacher" position need not necessarily be viewed as being in conflict. Rather, the contention is that they are both satisfactorily accommodated within Van Manen's (1977) "theory of reflectivity". For the study reported in the remainder of the paper, Van Manen's levels of reflectivity provided a helpful framework for the concepts, language and practices of reflection. The study details an investigation of the reality and rhetoric of promoting reflectivity amongst student teachers engaged in one practice teaching period of their Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) pre-service programme at an Australian university. Firstly, the paper reports on the extent to which the process of reflection was mentioned and clarified in the university's official practice teaching literature, and on the stated priority for its development as a practicum aim. The paper then goes on to outline the findings of the second phase of the research which explored the extent to which reflectivity was promoted in the practice of university lecturers supervising students on practice teaching.

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.14221/ajte.1993v18n1.1