TUTORIAL PAPER

ID of Student: Dearbhla Mc Devitt G00391296

Article/Reading: Brookfield Reflective practice

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The aim of this book is to improve yourself and your teaching by looking back and critically
reflecting on your lessons. Critical reflection is one part of the reflective process. Before we
can critically reflect, we need to know about reflection and hunting assumptions.
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. Assumptions give meaning, purpose,
and frame how we think. Not all assumptions are the same in this book they are divided into
three categories- paradigmatic, prescriptive, and casual. Paradigmatic are the hardest to
uncover, we insist they are reality even after being pointed out. It takes a considerable
amount of evidence to change the assumption, but once changed can be explosive.
Prescriptive assumptions are what we think should be happening in a situation. It might be
how we think teachers behave. Casual assumptions help us understand how different parts of
the world work. An example is if we make a mistake in front of students this builds trustful
environment and allows them to make mistakes without feeling judged. It states people fall
into habits of stating ‘common sense’ to justify their actions. Brookfield identify an example
of this to be its common sense to check up on a group after you’ve given them a task to
support them, whereas it might seem to the students that you are checking up on them and
don’t trust them to complete the work. In the section what makes reflection critical?
Discusses how critical reflection has widened and the term could become meaningless if
people us it to refer to any teaching. Reflecting becomes critical when firstly understand how
considerations of power undergird, frame, and distort educational processes and interactions.
And secondly question assumptions that seem to make teaching easier but could differ in the
long term. The author discusses a process called the circle; he states how students facing one
another respectfully. For students who are confident the circle will work, shyer students who
may be different might find this process intimidating and end up being a humiliating
experience. In this section, respect for voice ‘I want to hear your opinion not mine’ it states
that, teachers in a democratic classroom often believe that speaking a lot and expressing their
own opinions, isn't given the students their own space to create their own ideas and their own
opinions. Withholding your opinion from the students gives them the opportunity to make up
their own mind and encouraging students own independent thoughts. Next the author speaks
about hegemonic assumptions, these are what we think are in our best interests but have been
designed by more powerful others to work against us long term. Brookfield gives us an

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 example of this in the section teaching as a vocation, Teaching thought of in this way is
calling distinguished by selfless service to students and educational institutions. This is
distorted to mean that teachers should deal with large numbers of students and be overworked
without complaining. Why is critically reflecting important? It helps us take informed
actions, it helps us develop a rational for practice, it helps us avoid self-laceration, it grows us
emotionally, it enlivens our classroom, and it increases democratic trust. To conclude on this
chapter, it shows that critical reflection is inherently ideological and morally grounded.
Critical reflections urge us to respect everyone and make sure they are heard. This means
democratic classrooms and critical conversations.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

In reading this first chapter I think the author gives a good insight into critical reflection, why
its important and how to become more reflective. Critical reflection comes from the affective
domain. John Dewey defined critical thinking as "Active, persistent and careful consideration
of a belief or supposed form of knowledge (fact or opinion - my comment) in light of the
grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends."(John Dewey, 1909).
This chapter is structured well and is a good introduction on how to become a more critical
reflector. I believe that this chapter is very beneficial to read as it gives practical examples. A
strong point in this chapter is defining assumptions and showing in detail the different types
and where they can be seen. It informs the reader that information they may take for granted
and presume is fact, when stood back and taken a clearer look can turn out to just be an
assumption. When critically reflecting a lesson take a step back, and look at it, something you
might have done for a while, have been told by other professionals is the best method, might
not be the case and in fact holding back the potential of the lesson. The author talks about
The Circle and how it can be a great tool for more confident students but can make shy
students awkward and struggle with anxiety. I do not agree with this as I believe that is an
assumption, he is making this technique will not make the shy students feel humiliated. I
think this method could draw the shy students out of their shell more and integrate with the
whole group, by creating a safe and supportive environment. This can encourage students’
confidence. In this book the author talks about being at one with the students, that’s they are
equals, I don’t agree with this statement, teachers need to set boundaries and rules they are
not friends with their students this is not professional conduct. Critical reflection is said to be
a bridge between theory and practice, it can potentially transform a practitioner’s view on
themselves and their practice (Rowley, et.al, 2023). Critical thinking s a very important tool
at higher level education and I believe should be taught to students in second level education
to build their skills. It was found that critical thinking and reflecting is not being taught
enough through secondary school (Karanja, 2021). Stated by Karanja (2021) it was found that
professionals who are expected to teach critical reflection and thinking to students, have been
found to know little about the topic and even unable to define it. From discussion with
lectures, it was found that students are struggling with critical reflections they have not done
it before and don’t understand the reasons or benefits to this skill. This is why I believe it is
so important to cover this in post primary. In the new transition year programme, there is a
transition unit being introduced, one of these units is based on critical thinking and this topic
will be taught in every school. The content in this chapter is relevant from my own
experience on school placement, reflecting was a major part of the process. On every lesson I
reflected, and at the end of every week I used Gibbs cycle (building from Kolb Cycle) to

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 critically reflect on a different topic each week. There are different reflection models that
reflection can be based on for example, Kolb, Schon, the ripple model and Brookfield own
four Lense model. My critical reflections have been chosen as a sample model by ATU
(Atlantic Technological University) to show other years, to help and develop their critical
reflection standards. I believe these critical reflections improved my teaching and learning
quality, by doing this I also found research that backed up my findings and gave some further
insight. Through my practice I encouraged my students to promote being more reflective by
implementing strategies such as exit cards, written reflections, and audio reflections.
Figure 1
Gibbs reflective cycle diagram

Note: Authors own original work

Reading this section prior to placement would have been beneficial to not assume things, and
to be more critical. During placement I had discussions with co operating teachers on my
lessons and strategies I implemented and together reflected on the lesson, what went well and
what could be improved. Talking with more experienced teachers they could share reflections
from their own experiences and add to my over all critical reflections. I believe this text is a
great tool to develop teachers’ professionalism in the classroom and the school community.
The Teaching Council state in section five professional development, teachers are responsible
in improving their teaching and learning standards by critically evaluating and reflecting their
own teaching and learning practice (Teaching Council 2016). “We do not learn from
experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey (1933). Overall, I
enjoyed this chapter it gives clear details and gives good reasoning to why critical reflection
is important. When it states it is experimental as well as theoretical, I liked this as not every
lesson or class group is the exact same and as much as theory tells us it works, it might not
work for a specific group, this is where the experimental side comes into play.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Code of professional conduct (updated 2nd edition 2016). The Teaching Council. (n.d.).
https://www.teachingcouncil.ie/fitness-to-teach/updated-code-of-professional-conduct/
#:~:text=Teachers%20uphold%20human%20dignity%20and,freedom%2C%20democracy
%20and%20the%20environment.&text=Honesty%2C%20reliability%20and%20moral
%20action%20are%20embodied%20in%20integrity.

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 John Dewey (1909;1933)

Rowley, J., Giles, P., Hammond, A., Hussein, A., Oakey, M., O’hara, S., Williams, J., & Wood, K.
(2023). Applying a Framework for Critical Reflection in Educational Psychology Practice:
Views of Trainee Educational Psychologists. Educational Psychology in Practice, 39(1), 19–37.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02667363.2022.2150603

Karanja, L. (2021). Teaching Critical Thinking in a College-Level Writing Course: A Critical

Reflection. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching, 8(1), 229–249

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024