Developing Inquiry and Reflection Skills in Student-Teachers: The Use of Action Research

Abstract

In this paper, I present a study I conducted in the University of Athens on the reflective orientation of teacher education and the ways student teachers interpreted it. The paper consists of three parts. The first part presents the theoretical framework of the course: action research and the reflective model of teacher education. The second part attempts to roughly describe the course, focusing on the parameters governing its reflective perspective: it is an investigation of the student teachers’ beliefs, tacit knowledge on teaching and awareness of their influence on their decisions in practice. The third part presents the results of the analysis of student teachers’ journals, that confirmed the dynamics developed through the interaction of student teachers both in research groups and in the plenary meetings, where views could be exchanged and questions supported the development of a reflective practice. However, it also revealed the limitations and dysfunctions of this effort, mainly due to the dominant culture of technical rationality, which was only slightly changed by the way the course was organised.