How does a student teacher become a reflective practitioner?

Teachers are reflective practitioners who develop their own practice and construct justifiable professional knowledge through inquiry, observation, documentation, analysis and reflection. Research-based teacher education has a long tradition in Finland. It aims to promote student teachers’ reflective skills: When they graduate, they should have reached a critical level of reflection and be able to question and challenge the interpretations of their own experiences.

In the teacher education programme at University of Lapland, Finland, student teachers develop their research skills as part of their teaching practice. During each teaching practice session, they concentrate on different methodological approaches. This aims to promote the students’ readiness to employ research methods in their teaching practice. Furthermore, to scaffold student teachers’ reflective skills, the teacher education programme has introduced a video recording application, Video Enhanced Observation (VEO), that fosters a cycle of observation, communication and improvement.

This poster illustrates the student teacher’s process of developing critical reflection and building up an identity as a reflective practitioner. It highlights how this occurs through the integration of theory, practice and research methodologies at the University of Lapland.