The reflective journal: A window to preservice teachers' practical knowledge

Following the work of Schön (1983) “reflection” as a way in which teachers construct the meanings and knowledge that guide their actions in the classroom has become something of a buzz word in education. I believe that reflection is more intellectually challenging than is generally recognised and that too little assistance is provided to teachers to help them observe, think through, reconstruct, and deeply understand the process of personal theory building. In addition, preservice students have developed a pattern of focusing on what they feel they are supposed to say in order to please supervisors and lecturers. This paper outlines one approach to developing preservice teachers as reflective practitioners.