Transferable Models of Reflective Practice in Clinical Settings at Home and Abroad

• In Event: Clinical Approaches to Teacher Education: Connecting Research in Ireland, the United States, Scotland, and Australia

Abstract

The study described in this paper was initially designed to determine the impact of international student teaching placements on American pre-service students’ intercultural development. Guiding students’ reflective practices during these placements emerged as central for their success internationally and preparing them for subsequent teaching experiences. The findings had immediate domestic relevance.

Our theoretical framework is grounded in the belief that preparing future teachers to become culturally competent, reflective teachers is critical in today’s world (eg Cushner & Brennan, 2007; Mahon, 2003; Marx, 2008). The underlying theme of the program is that of teacher as reflective decision-maker; students have varied opportunities throughout the program to reflect on their teaching (Schon, 1983). Once abroad, however, the centrality of reflection for these students expanded to embrace all aspects of their clinical practice and personal and professional identities as teachers. The shift from an objective standpoint of reflection to a more person-centred standpoint of reflection as part of the pre-service students’ growth led to a re-thinking of the ways in which reflection is incorporated in the domestic teacher preparation program. The focus on guiding reflective practice for international placements has now transferred to domestic clinical placements, using similar prompts and now relying on video observations for students’ analysis concurrently with weekly seminars.

Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from three cohorts of pre-service students, who participated in an international student teaching placement. Several instruments were used for assessing teaching efficacy and understanding of diversity at the beginning and end of the placement: a Multicultural Efficacy Scale (Guyton & Wesche, 2005) and analysis and coding of video records using the CLASS, a standardized measure of teacher effectiveness (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). Artefacts and documents related to the students’ experiences throughout the semester and in the following semester were examined in addition to semi-structured interviews held before, during, and after the international placements.

The constant reference to the importance of reflection and the ways in which it became central to the pre-service students’ teaching lives became the most important aspect of the international experience. The nature of the placement and the fact that students were “strangers in a foreign land” certainly encouraged on-going reflection, but the recurrent statement “the reflective nature of the program was one of the most valuable aspects” has broader implications for the utilisation of clinical experience in schools. Interviews held with the students three months after their return to the States continued to address the centrality of reflection for their professional growth, leading to requests for more preparation in effective reflective strategies during their teacher education program.

As clinical practice in teacher education continue to expand and embrace global settings, the quality of observation and feedback available to future teachers remains central to their professional growth. Clinical practice emphasizing the art and application of reflection as highlighted in this study will provide an active and solid foundation for the ways in which pre-service students use reflection in clinical settings to become aware of their own growth as future teachers.

Authors

• Eleanor V. Wilson, University of Virginia

• Michelle D. Young, University Council for Educational Administration