The Role of Reflection in Changing Student’s Conceptions About the Teaching Profession: Navigate Towards Meaning Physical Education

Abstract

In initial Teacher Education Programs, students face a different reality than expected due to the opportunities to engage in deeper reflection and critical thinking. Therefore, this study explored the reflective dimension's role in changing students' initial conceptions about the teaching profession during the first semester of a teacher education program. One hundred and twenty-two students were involved in this study. At the end of the first semester, they were asked to write a reflection with the following question: "How do I feel that I am learning to be a teacher?" The document analysis was used for data collection, and data analysis was guided by Braun and Clarke's (2006) guidelines. Each coding phase ensured that the evolution of themes was transparent and traceable. The results indicate that future Physical Education teachers are unaware of the demands and complexity of the teaching profession, underlining that they are still learning how to become a teacher. Moreover, this study has shown reflection's positive impact and central role on teachers' ability to improve and question their practice. Reflection is now seen as a fundamental characteristic of becoming a teacher. Since reflection has a significant role in changing students' conceptions, the need for initial training to value continuous critical reflection is highlighted. Therefore, when reflection is considered, teachers can become career-long learners, letting them produce and preserve personal knowledge through the reflective process to promote meaningful Physical Education.



Author Information
Ana Rita Águeda, University of Porto, Portugal
Paula Silva, University of Porto, Portugal
Paula Queirós, University of Porto, Portugal

Paper Information
Conference: PCE2023
Stream: Teaching Experiences

This paper is part of the PCE2023 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Águeda A., Silva P., & Queirós P. (2023) The Role of Reflection in Changing Student’s Conceptions About the Teaching Profession: Navigate Towards Meaning Physical Education ISSN: 2758-0962 The Paris Conference on Education 2023: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 731-744) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2023.62
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2023.62


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon