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Article/Reading: Stephen Brookfield – Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The main aim and goals of the book is to provide its readers with a sense of knowledge and understanding, on
what it means to become a critically reflective teacher, and how as educators we can adapt to become critically
reflective. Brookfield (Brookfield, 2017) states that as teachers we ‘read poor evaluations of our teaching and
immediately conclude that we’re hopeless failures’. Brookfield continues to explain and sets the scene in the
following chapters of the book, exploring how educators can incorporate critical reflection to aid accurate
evaluations of their teaching and learning, informing future practice. According to Brookfield (Brookfield,
2017) ‘a critically reflective stance toward our teaching helps us avoid these traps of demoralization and self-
laceration’, ultimatley increasing ‘the chance that we will survive in the classroom with enough energy and
sense of purpose to have some real effect on those we teach’ (Brookfield, 2017) Brookfiled aims to provide
assitance and guidance for educators, informing them on how they can encourage and inspire their strudents.

In chapter one, Brookfield (Brookfield, 2017)states that in order ‘to understand critical reflection properly, we
need first to know something about the reflective process in general’. Therefore, chapter one of the Brookfield
book - Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, explores the initial stages of reflection, which is the haunting
of induvial assumptions. Brookfield (Brookfield, 2017) explains that ‘assumptions are the taken for granted
beliefs about the world and our place within it that seems so obvious to us as not to need stating explicitly’.
Throughout chapter one Brookfield explores three different types of assumptions, paradigmatic, prescriptive,
and casual.
Brookfield explores critical reflection as an illumination of power and provides examples of ways reflection can
be used to change and adopt educational processes. Brookfield explores the preferred classroom arrangements of
seating students in circles rather than rows, critically reflecting on the challenges of row arrangements and
improved successes with circle arrangements. Brookfield also reflects and explores the more desirable approach
of being a facilitator of the learning rather than teaching by traditional means, the transferring of knowledge.
Brookfield considers an educator that practices as a nondirective facilitator of learning, to be implementing the
“fly on the wall” approach, meaning that the teacher allows the students to take control of their learning but
remains present to aid and direct the students when necessary. Brookfield refers to the “perfect ten” syndrome
which also allows the students to take control of their learning evaluating the lessons and suggesting
improvements. Any evaluation that is less than perfect is of disproportionate significance and the students’
evaluations and opinions are therefore imbedded in the designing and modification of the lesson structures.
(Brookfield, 2017) explores how the use of critical reflective practice can aid the ‘creation of democratic trust’
and aid ‘an engagement in critical conversation’.

Brookfield’s book allows us to challenge our assumptions and place ourselves in a position that we can ‘stand
outside ourselves and see how some of our most deeply held values and beliefs lead us into distorted and
constrained ways of being’ (Brookfield, 2017)

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

In reading chapter one and two of Stephen Brookfield’s - Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, I feel that
the author produces a good argument for the need of critical reflection and provides useful information on how
educators can imbed reflective practice during the designing of lesson content and delivery. I believe that
Brookfield provides a good argument for the need for critical reflective practice, because he mentions that we
are often subdued and contained by our own assumptions and are unable to witness or understand the need for
change within our individual pedagogy’s. For example, in a leaving certificate construction studies class,
teaching the topic of roof construction we may assume that the students are familiar of the various components
of the roof, simply because we ourselves are knowledgeable of the various roof components, but to over-come
this we need to challenge these assumptions to design out lessons, catering for the needs of the students,
providing effective teachings. Brookfield’s book documents the need for challenging our assumptions and the
need for analysing and reflecting on our teaching styles, methodologies, and pedagogy’s. The strengths of the
book comprise of the acknowledgement of the need for reflecting on the pedagogy’s but more importantly for
the adaption and explanation of practices, procedures and methods that can be implemented to overcome our
own assumptions of our lessons. Brookfield provides several approaches that can be taken to ensure a
productive and fruitful learning environment is produced, including organised seating arrangements such as
circles rather than rows, teacher fulfilling the role as a “fly on the wall” and the “perfect ten” syndrome.

Brookfield provides his readers with some real thought-provoking scenarios and teaching techniques that can be
implemented in the classroom. Considering the “fly on the wall” teaching technique, Brookfield (Brookfield,
2017) states that educators ‘will put students into groups, give only minimal instructions about what should
happen, and then retreat from the scene to let students work as they wish. However, this retreat is only partial’.
According to (McGilly, 1996)‘The best-known tenet of Dewey’s pedagogical crees (1897) is the concept of
“discovery learning”. It is argued that children learn best when discovering for themselves the “verities of life”’.
The following quotation supports Brookfield’s suggestion of placing students in working groups whilst the
teacher acts as a facilitator. Such teaching techniques provide a student-centred learning experience, ultimately
leading to an improved learning environment as the students collaborate and share ideas with one another. I
personally have experienced the benefits of collaborating and discussing ideas and options with peers and
family. Working part time in the family business has really helped me appreciate the value of communication
and discussion. In a business you try to conduct tasks as quickly and as productively as possible. Often whilst
reviewing and reflecting upon options for completing tasks, another person will suggest a method that you
perhaps may not have considered yourself. (Brookfield, 2017) states that ‘the fact that people recognise aspects
of their own individual experiences in the stories others tell is one reason for the success of peer support groups
for those in crisis or transition’. Considering Brookfield’s statement, I feel that this approach needs to be taken
in the reflection of the delivering of teaching and learning within the classroom. This can be done by
transferring ideas and discussing with colleagues their inputs into the delivery and facilitating of teaching and
learning in their subject areas. (Settles, 2012) states that ‘an active learning system is that it eagerly develops
and tests new hypotheses as part of a continuing, interactive learning process’.

In my opinion, a weakness of the book, is the quantity of text per page and its lack of the incorporation for the
Universal Design for Learning. Given that the article is a book, it can be forgiven for the large quantity of text,
but I feel the incorporation of images and info-graphs would support the text and aid an improved understanding
of the documented information. According to ‘Ahead’ (Ahead, 2017) the UDL guidelines were developed by
CAST, a US organisation, and they are provided to explore ‘that all students learn differently and that to
successfully teach for all students, we have to introduce greater flexibility in to teaching and learning practice’.
According to ‘CAST’ (CAST, 2022)‘Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and
optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn’. UDL consists
of three elements, Engagement – exploring affective networks (why of learning), Representation – exploring
recognition networks (what of learning), and Action & Expression – strategic networks (how of learning)
(CAST, 2022) To make Brookfield’s content UDL compliant, I feel that attention needs to be given to the
element of representation, focusing on how the content is delivered and displayed to the viewers. I believe the
use of a picture, or something would explain a thousand words.

(Brookfield, 2017) states that ‘we may think we're teaching according to widely accepted curricular or

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 pedagogic model, only to find on reflection, that the foundations of our practice had been laid in our
autobiographies as learners’. Brookfield clarifies the need for reflection and suggests in the above statement that
we base our actions and decisions on our previous experiences. According to (Krapivnyk, 2021)‘reflection has
been viewed as a powerful tool to understand the process of learning and teaching and to reframe one’s
practices. The teacher reflection has been considered a dominant activity for developing practical knowledge
and linking it with educational theories in teacher training programs. The following quotation supports
Brookfield’s statement reinforcing the need for reflection, leading to an improved future version of a past
teaching experience or technique. In Chapter two Brookfield provides the readers with four critical reflective
lenses forming a process for effective critical reflection. Content such as the four lenses forming the structured
process for productive critical reflection is highly relevant to teachers and especially relevant to student
teachers. As a student teacher I personally have found the four lenses to be beneficial as we desire to critically
reflect and evaluate our classroom environments aiming to provide a productive teaching and learning
environment.

In conclusion I believe Stephen Brookfield’s book, ‘Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher’ is insightful and
helpful, providing its readers with suggestions and processes seeking to become improved reflective
practitioners.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

References
Ahead. (2017, November). The UDL Framework Explained. Retrieved from Ahead: Creating Inclusive
Envoirmrnt in Education and Employment for people with Disabilities:
https://www.ahead.ie/udl-framework

Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a Critical Reflective Teacher. San Frincisco: Jossey-Bass.

CAST. (2022, March). About Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from CAST:
https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl

Krapivnyk, G. T. (2021). Modelling the process of reflection in pre-service teacher education. 116-
133.

McGilly, K. (1996). Intergrating Cognitive Theory and Classroom Practice. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Settles, B. (2012). Active Learning. California: Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024