The development of reflective skills in physical education teacher education: a systematic review

Abstract

Research has shown an increased attention towards Reflective Practice as a successful aspect in the professional development of Physical Education Teacher Education. Notwithstanding, there is a lack of empirical research about how teachers’ reflective skills should be developed in this context. The aim of this systematic review was to understand what and how has been studied about physical education teachers’ reflective skills, and how such strategies can be further developed and refined in Physical Education Teacher Education. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) (Page et al., 2021) six databases were included to ensure that all relevant data was considered, and criteria scales were adapted in order to access studies’ quality. The results show the importance of incorporating meticulously planned and organized practicum in teachers’ training of reflective skills. Despite the importance of collaborative work in reflective skills development, there is a need to perform a deeper examination of those which contribute to improve reflective skills and how teachers develop reflection in collaborative settings, such as through the examination of communities of practice. Besides, writing reflections and video-taped classroom situations can enhance teachers’ reflective skills, although supervision is required. This review highlights the important yet challenging role of teachers’ reflective skills investigation, in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the contexts and strategies through which this issue is developed.

Diving into Real-World Practicum in Physical Education: Deconstructing and Re-Signifying Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflections

“…Nevertheless, the reflective practice process presents challenges and complexities that hinder inexperienced teachers from fully engaging in this transformative process. Consequently, when asked to reflect on their teaching-learning experiences, PSTs tend to provide summaries with descriptive rather than analytical insights [10,11]. This challenge primarily arises from their tendency to prioritize content knowledge in teaching-learning practice [12], resulting in a surface-level understanding of reflection as a routine task in their profession, lacking in-depth interpretation [13].…”

Nurturing the Temporal Dynamic of Reflection Among Pre-Service Teachers: the Contribution of Peer Observation and Written Reflection

“…Indeed, written reflection combined with peer observation not only increases self-awareness (Korucu Kis & Kartal, 2019), but also the focus and complexity of PSTs' reflections (McCormack, 2001). Research in PE has been highlighted reflective writing and peer observation as predominant strategies to promote PSTs' reflection (Azevedo et al, 2022). However to our knowledge, there have been no studies that have examined, in a complementary fashion, the combination of peer observation and written reflection pedagogical strategies to develop the temporal dynamics of reflection in PST.…”

How can tailored questions foster reflection in preservice teachers? A year-long action research study

“…Prior research in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs has shown that PSTs often focus on describing classroom practices (Standal and Moe, 2013;Zhu, 2011) and tend to replicate established ideas (Greve et al, 2021). Therefore, despite its recognized importance in fostering deep thinking through self-questioning, contextual analysis, and consideration of others in the teaching-learning practice, critical reflection has been challenging to develop among PSTs (Azevedo et al, 2022).…”

“…One crucial step in developing critical reflection among PSTs is learning to question their teaching decisions (Turan and Koç, 2019). However, the development of critical reflection among PSTs has often been overlooked in PETE contexts because of the traditional use of the dualistic approach 2 (Azevedo et al, 2022).…”