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Pre-service teachers undertaking classroom research: developing reflection and enquiry skills

Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

Pre-service teachers undertaking classroom research: developing reflection and enquiry skills Thumbnail


Authors

David Wray



Abstract

This paper reports on the development of reflectiveness and research skills in eight preservice teachers, through their participation in a funded research project to develop the handwriting of children with literacy problems. The project aimed to analyse the reflections of the trainee teachers participating in an authentic research study and to consider what this reflection on practice might offer to the education of teachers in the current UK training context.
The context for the paper was a project which engaged pre-service trainee teachers in researching the proposition that automaticity in handwriting plays a role in facilitating composing processes and that the automaticity of early writers can be trained. Some outcomes of the project for pupils are reported. Of the 39 children targeted in the project, 32 made significant progress in their performance on the handwriting automaticity test. The focus in the present paper is, however, on the participating trainee teachers and the paper suggests that conducting research was a significant learning event for these pre-service teachers and that, through working together, they were able to analyse their development as researchers and their learning during the research process.
At a time when the English government views teacher training as a method of school improvement and the effectiveness of training is measured through its immediate impact on pupil outcomes, this study offers an example of how shared research can offer positive learning outcomes for pupils, develop the reflective thinking of pre-service teachers through researching a real problem, and develop links across a range of school and university settings

Citation

Medwell, J., & Wray, D. (2014). Pre-service teachers undertaking classroom research: developing reflection and enquiry skills. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2013.864018

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 1, 2013
Publication Date Jan 6, 2014
Deposit Date Aug 31, 2017
Publicly Available Date Aug 31, 2017
Journal Journal of Education for Teaching
Print ISSN 0260-7476
Electronic ISSN 1360-0540
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 40
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2013.864018
Keywords pre-service teachers, teacher education curriculum, reflective practice, student teachers, handwriting
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/722195
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02607476.2013.864018
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Education for Teaching on 6 January 2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02607476.2013.864018
Contract Date Aug 31, 2017

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