Vårt doble dilemma – luper og speil i arbeid med refleksjon i lærerutdanningen

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the following question: How do we think and act as teacher educators in our interaction with students and their preconceptions of teacher education? We will both be exploring epistemic reflexivity and professional development, in addition to highlighting the double dilemmas we encounter. As teachers we seek to contribute in the development of our students’ professional understanding and capacity for critical thinking, while utilizing and further developing our professional understanding and our own capacity for critical thinking. This text is based upon specific teaching sessions in the teacher education for primary schools. During one session, the students wrote a reflective log, focusing on the teaching methods outlined in that session and their own experience of these activities. These logs show that the students’ approach to teaching does not comply with our preconceptions of their level of reflection. In this text, we will be studying the session, our reflections and those of our students in three stages of reflection and reflective teaching: unease, critical analysis and new insight. Our research contributes to the field by linking epistemological reflexivity and Cowans’ reflection for action. Our study may be viewed as valuable in a vital attempt to juxtapose students’ and subject teachers’ expectations of education.