Indicators of Impactful Reflection in Pre-Service Teachers: A Case for Creativity, Honesty and Unfamiliar Experiences

• Main Author: Sarah Marie Catalana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Georgia Southern University 2020-05-01
• Series: International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Subjects: reflection; creativity; pre-service teacher education; field experiences
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/vol14/iss1/14

This study investigated three commonalities among pre-service teachers who demonstrated advanced reflective practice regarding fieldwork experiences: (a) creative potential; (b) honesty in confronting misconceptions of the teaching profession, and (c) fieldwork in unfamiliar settings. Forty-two pre-service teachers submitted reflective papers which were qualitatively analyzed and scored for reflective ability using Harland and Wondras’s (2011) Framework of Four Levels of Reflection for Teacher Education. Low and High Reflectors were compared in terms of creative potential, as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural. Results revealed Low Reflectors generally demonstrated lower creative potential than High Reflectors, with a significant difference (p.05) in mean scores on the Abstractness of Titles subscale. High Reflectors also bluntly confronted previous misconceptions concerning education and described their field placements as unfamiliar when compared to their personal educational experiences. Implications for support of meaningful reflective practice in future educators are discussed in detail.