Watching Me, Watching You, Aha! Developing reflection and practice through the use of video

Abstract

Watching Me, Watching You, Aha!

Developing reflection and practice through the use of video

Author:  Adrian Copping

Abstract

In Initial Teacher Education, the design of learning outcomes, modules and programmes have the potential to shape the philosophies and approaches of prospective teachers. Research into effective teaching has largely been subject-centred with strong subject knowledge emerging as central to effectiveness. However, subject knowledge has often been defined as predominantly curriculum content.  In this paper I explore how student teachers develop their skills of reflection, criticality and enquiry: skills commensurate with being a teacher, with the aim of improving their practice in the primary classroom. Participants use video recordings of their lessons and engage in subsequent focus group discussion. Through this I contend that incidental learning can lead to a better quality of reflection and change of practice more so than using the video recording as a means of reinforcing their own thoughts or a school-based mentor’s comments. I also contend that the process of reflecting on one’s own teaching by seeing it through the eyes of the recipients helps realise the classroom reality with a greater depth of clarity.  Finally I contend that throughout this process the resultant learning is fundamental to a student teacher’s development.

Key words

Reflection, subject knowledge, incidental, reinforcement, teacher development