Name of Student: Shane Mc Ginty

Article/Reading: Brookfield: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher

(Chapter 1 & 2)
Author: Steven D. Brookfield

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

This is a condensed summary of chapters one and two of Steven
Brookfields book which highlights the importance of critical reflection
within the teaching profession. Brookfield provides detailed discussions
around his understanding of critical reflection in teaching, its practical
usefulness, and the processes to begin the process. Firstly, Brookfield
introduces critical reflection stating, teachers teach to change the world
and model for their students human justice, fairness, compassion, and
understanding (Brookfield, 1995).
Brookfield believes reflection is found by looking for assumptions to guide
teachers thinking and behaviour providing direction, meaning, and
purpose to the careers of educators and lives of students. He states
assumptions are the taken for granted beliefs about the world and our
place within it that seem so obvious to us not to need stating explicitly
(Brookfield, 1995). On page two Brookfield suggests three categories of
assumptions: paradigmatic, prescriptive, and causal. Paradigmatic
assumptions are the hardest of all assumptions to comprehend and we
often dont recognise them until pointed out. They contain the conceptual
structure that someone uses to arrange the world into basic categories.
Brookfield describes them as the structuring assumptions we use to order
the world into fundamental categories (Brookfield, 1995). Prescriptive
assumptions include our reflective thinking processes relating to what
should happen in a specific situation. Causal assumptions are assumptions
describing how different parts of the world work and about the
circumstances under which these can be changed.
Brookfield advances expressing what he believes is a second purpose of
critical reflection, which is to uncover hegemonic assumptions. He
describes hegemonic assumptions as a belief of what we consider are in
the best interests of ourselves, however are designed by the more
powerful to work against us in the long term (Brookfield, 1995).
Hegemonic assumptions are easily embraced by teachers, however
critically reflective teachers can see them for what they are. Brookfield
specifically points out that critically reflective teachers are alert to
hegemonic assumptions, outlining on page 15 that Ideas around good
teaching that may seem obvious or even desirable, are revealed as
harmful and constraining. These teachers can visualise the insanity of,
aspiring towards ways of teaching that, in the end, seriously threaten their
own wellbeing (Brookfield, 1995).
In chapter two Brookfield asserts that the path to unearthing the worth of
your teaching is through the practice of critical reflection. The benefit of
being a critically reflective teacher through Brookfields perception, is that
the teacher acquires an advanced awareness of their teaching
performances from numerous perspectives, which Brookfield calls The
Four Lenses. The four critically reflective lenses are:
1. The autobiographical
2. The students eyes
3. Colleagues experiences
4. Theoretical literature
The autobiographical lens is a teachers exclusive autobiography viewing
their practice as a teacher and from the students perspective highlighting
imperfections in their pedagogy, using self-reflection and collecting
insights for teaching. Brookfield writes on page 29 "through self-reflection
we become aware of the paradigmatic assumptions and instinctive
reasonings that frame how we work (Brookfield, 1995) . Brookfield
describes the ability to view our teaching from our students eyes as
helping us determine whether students comprehend from our teaching
what we intended, allowing adjustments to be made in future lessons. The
value of the third lens is that peer review from colleagues can highlight
and provide feedback on observations of aspects of our teaching that we
may not be aware of. The fourth lens relates to your ability to research
and critically reflect on higher education. Brookfield believes that teachers
who research and reflect on theoretical literature are more advanced
teachers than those that just practice self-reflection because teacher
education is continually evolving.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

In my opinion Brookfield provides well-reasoned arguments making

excellent points concerning the importance of critical reflection, helping
me to fully appreciate the importance of critical reflection and highlight
the benefits of becoming a reflective teacher. Brookfields
book, Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher I feel models his personal
growth and devolvement using the reflective process discussed. Chapters
1 and 2 discuss in depth his perception and meaning of critical reflection
within teaching, its practical values, and the processes required to
commence its practice. The author also makes convincing examples from
the research literature, real life scenarios and case studies supporting his
assertions to highlight the significance of critical reflection.
Upon reading this literature, I apprehend that critical reflection enables
teachers to examine the following areas, firstly, to deeply realise ways in
which their teaching styles enhance their ability to challenge the
traditional methods of practice and secondly, characterise how they will
develop towards improved effectiveness as a teacher. A routinely common
attitude towards reflective practice is that it enables teachers to make
more informed decisions an opinion expressed by Brookfield. In the
literature, Brookfield discuses, many reasons why critical reflection is
important, increasing the probability that teachers will take informed
actions, allowing teachers to provide a rationale behind their practice
which I feel is important to establishing credibility with students, avoiding
self-laceration. For example, believing that the teacher is at fault if
students are not learning and to inspire the classroom providing a
challenging and interesting environment for students (Brookfield, 1995).
Similarly, Rogers regards critical reflection being crucial for promoting
learning and self-assessment, enabling teachers to identify and evaluate
skills to development these essentials. Carl Rogers backs this up stating
self-awareness is crucial for personal growth (Rodgers, 1961). Donald
Schon adds Reflective practice is a dialogue of thinking and doing
through which I become more skilful (Villet, 2012). Resulting from
practicing critical reflection and leading to continuing professional
development teachers become more proactive in both personal and
professional development.
Interestingly Brookfield argues that we need a concrete focus critical
incident so we can realise what is involved and what the benefits are of
becoming a critically reflective teacher. The author suggests hunting out
the many assumptions in our practices during this incident is an important
starting point. Advancing to suggest that this should be achieved by
probing as many unfamiliar angles as possible. Brookfield does however
add that this is a difficult process to successfully accomplish we are
prisoners trapped within perceptual frameworks that determine how we
view our own experiences (Brookfield, 1995). Malcolm Knowles supports
Brookfields opinions surrounding assumptions. Knowles discovered
working with adults that teachers must care about actual interests of
learners oppose to focusing on what teachers assume are learners
interests (Carlson, 1989). In Knowles opinion, the most complete
educational experiences were cooperative guided interactions between
teachers and learners and during these experiences, the teacher helps
guide the learner to develop his or her own potential (Carlson, 1989).
As a student teacher, this made me analyse past experiences thinking
how I could employ them as stepping stones to becoming a better teacher
oppose to simply forgetting these experiences ever occurred and
assuming it was just the student and that it wont crop up again. Critical
reflection not only assists us in developing deeper assumptions but also
detects hegemonic assumptions which Brookfield describes as
assumptions that we think are in our own best interests but that work
against us in the long term (Brookfield, 1995). This in turn assists
reflective teachers in discovering and researching "hidden assumptions"
such as power relationships and social contexts. Brookfield suggests
researching these assumptions provides teachers with four lenses to view
their practice as outlined in the summary above.
Brookfield states in chapter two that reviewing practice through the four
lenses helps bring out the assumptions we hold around pedagogic
methods, techniques and approaches and the assumptions we make
concerning the conditions that best enhance student learning (Brookfield,
1995). Ben Miller adds that while good teachers may engage with the
first two lenses, excellent teachers will deeply engage in those
processes and look to peers for mentoring, advice and feedback (Miller,
2010). As a student teacher, I realise the importance of getting involved in
reflective practice as it can only assist with my professional development.
As Miller states, excellent teachers engage in all four lenses, as a student
teacher I see my cooperating teacher and my teaching practice
supervisors as people who pick up on things that I may be blind and
unaware towards. We can often be blind to our own mistakes,
engagement in peer mentoring helps discover these mistakes early prior
to developing them into habits.
Becoming a critically reflective teacher is an area we have focused on
during our teacher training and I found this literature very educational and
helpful as it has developed my understanding regarding the benefits of
following the four lenses, a point that Ben Miller emphasised. Knowledge
wise you could be the best in your subject area however if you fail to
develop as a teacher who sees and alters your teaching, you wont
facilitate positive learning experiences for your students. The British
Educational Research Association back this opinion up by stating, being a
specialist in a subject area is not enough, if you as a teacher dont
critically reflect and practice on your teaching abilities, students will not
develop and reach their full potential (BERA, 1999). John Dewey states
We do not learn from experience alone, we learn from reflecting on
experience. In conclusion, I feel it is important to deeply reflect on both
teaching and learning within your classroom to determine the quality of
learning and to advance personal and professional development as a
professional. Upon analysing education one could describe education as
learning what you didnt even know you didnt know. As a teacher, a key
part of the profession is to provide students with an education that
develops and advances their knowledge, so why shouldnt I as a teacher
do the equivalent.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES
References
Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey
Bass Inc. Publishers.
Carlson, R. (1989). Malcom Knowles: Apostle of Andragogy. New York: Vitae Scholasticae.
Fox, R. (1984). The Committed Teacher. New York: Educational Leadership.
Miller, B. (2010). Brookfields Four Lenses: Becoming a critically Reflective Teacher. Sydney:
The University of Sydney.
Rodgers, C. (1961). On Becoming a Person. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Villet, V. V. (2012). Donald Schon. Retrieved from ToolsHero:
http://www.toolshero.com/toolsheroes/donald-schon/