On the (Im-)Possibility of (Self-)Reflective Resarch-Based Learning by Students

A Reconstructive Evaluation of an Inclusion-Oriented University Qualification Program

Abstract

This article self-critically reflects on an extracurricular qualification for teacher students which addresses the topics of diversity and inclusion. It can be taken by master students of all disciplines who are doing a teaching degree for the “Gymnasium”, i.e. secondary schools that prepare for university education. The core of the program consists of an advanced course which by means of casuistic analysis reflects on how teachers exert routines of internal differentiation and a school internship allowing the students to observe teaching and to develop their own small-scale research projects on the basis of collected data. Thus, the qualification program aims at fostering the students’ ability to reflect teaching routines, and, in consequence, supporting a professional self-reflection on how they them-selves practice differentiation.
The concept of the qualification program will be examined regarding the depth of its effect on the attendees, based on an empirical survey (interview with two students of the first round). A reconstructive analysis of the interview data displays a discrepancy between the learning success which the interviewees reclaim for themselves and what the data exposes regarding the self-reflective application of what has been learned in the casuistic seminar from other case studies. The analysis of the students’ statements suggests that attempting a successful transfer of these reflective competences towards inclusion to the students’ own teaching is still too early in the first phase of teacher training, especially because of their lack of practical routine at that point.