The hall of mirrors: reflecting on pre-service teachers’ reflections

Undoubtedly, a focal point of teacher education courses is the practicum, and during this phase, reflection on practice is often a key component. Pre-service teachers are invariably asked to maintain a journal in which they reflect on their daily practice in schools. Many have pointed to the complexity of engaging effectively in this process and to the support pre-service teachers need to carry this out with profit. There is a danger of reflection becoming a perfunctory activity carried out mainly as a course requisite and not truly as a process of self-understanding and learning. This exploratory study focused on the daily journals kept by three pre-service teachers and analysed the content in a bid to explore how they carried out this task, and to look for signs that the process of reflection has achieved its purpose. Using NVIVO together with a close reading of the journals, the findings show that evaluation and analysis feature prominently, followed by action plans, however, the pre-service teachers do not express feelings often. A closer analysis of the journal entries suggests also that the pre-service teachers need induction into using reflective models together with support and discussions to achieve a more structured process of reflection.