Use of student feedback in practical term - a research concept to promote reflexivity

Abstract

: During practical terms in teacher education different opportunities for reflection of teaching are usually provided. In order to encourage teaching-related reflections, pre-service teachers can also make use of student feedback during their practical term. Recent studies have confirmed the reliability and validity of students’ perceptions of teaching. However, the potential of students’ feedback for pre-service teachers’ reflections and professional development in practical terms has hardly been investigated so far. The following article presents results of a quasi-experimental study which aims at analyzing pre-service teachers’ reflections on student feedback to their instruction during practical term. The descriptive findings indicate a generally positive attitude of 87 pre-service teachers towards the use of student feedback during their practical term. The findings further demonstrate the relevance of time resources and organizational effort for the use of feedback-based reflection settings. Moreover, pre-service teachers evaluate collegial reflection settings as being more helpful for the reflection of student feedback than individual settings. Furthermore, the content of student feedback plays an important role in the yield of lesson reflection. All in all, the findings hint at the necessity of further development of prompts and settings for a feedback-based reflection during practical term in teacher education.