Promoting Reflexive Thinking and Adaptive Expertise Through Video Capturing to Challenge Postgraduate Primary Student Teachers to Think, Know, Feel and Act Like a Teacher

Abstract

This article reports on a study of how a one-year, course-taught, master's level Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme challenged primary student teachers (n = 4) in developing their sense of self-as-teacher. This study examined how the programme's incorporation of video capturing technology impacted on these student teachers' development of reflexivity and adaptive expertise. Student teachers self-selected a community of practice to include two experienced teachers acting as facilitators. Using a secure video capturing system, student teachers collected samples of teaching practice. Then through student teacher led discussions, they and their community of practice examined how they were developing as teachers. Results indicate how video capturing provided the experiences necessary for these student teachers to reflect on teaching practice and learn how to think, know, feel and act like a teacher. Implications of this research highlight the benefits of student teachers actually seeing their own teaching practice and then using these examples of teaching as evidence of how they were becoming reflexive and adaptive teachers.

Keywords

• postgraduate education
• student teaching
• primary teacher education
• technology in education