A Social Justice Orientation to Reflective Practice in Teacher Education: Asking a Different Set of Questions

• In Event: Innovation in Portfolio and Reflection Research: New Dimensions in Context, Methods, and Participants

Abstract

It is generally accepted that reflective practice plays a critical role in transcending a technical approach to teaching and development of teacher professionalism (Zeichner & Liu, 2010). Reflective practice allows for teachers to move beyond methods and techniques and to make informed decisions about their students, classroom and curriculum. While we acknowledge that this practice is worthwhile, we contend that due to our current social and political contexts there is a need to progress the field of reflective practice to incorporate questions of equity, social justice and democracy in relationship to our schools, students and curriculum. In this theoretical position paper, we argue for the deliberate implementation of a social justice orientation to reflective practice for preservice teachers.

Authors

• Libbi Miller, Humboldt State University

• Frederick Peinado Nelson, California State University - Fresno

• Selena E Van Horn, California State University - Fresno