Dawn Francis

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

Abstract Following the work of Schon (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.

The Labour of Learning to Reflect.

This article presents a polyphonic narrative of reflection in action across two institutional contexts; a university and a primary (elementary) school. It traces an honours student’s research on reflection and her supervisor’s reactions as reader. Both engage in construction and reconstruction of their basic beliefs about reflective practice as they engage with each other and these contexts. This research resulted in both people accepting that reflection is a public text with a specific genre to be mastered. Issues of power surround what can be shared with whom within the institutions as political sites. Students engage in strategic compliance whether to attract teachers’ attention or to avoid it. Notions of trust and openness often mask power. This article poses that learning to reflect is hard labour.

Learning from participants in field based research

This paper takes a critically reflective look at field research done in the early career of an academic and in so doing uncovers the dilemmas of a novice researcher that are rarely acknowledged in texts that address qualitative methods. It addresses issues of power in research associations surrounding different paradigms and the ways in which the study changed as boundaries were increasingly blurred. It also examines lessons learned about interviewing and challenges the notion of an un‐analytical informant as being necessary to quality and depth of data.This paper takes a critically reflective look at field research done in the early career of an academic and in so doing uncovers the dilemmas of a novice researcher that are rarely acknowledged in texts that address qualitative methods. It addresses issues of power in research associations surrounding different paradigms and the ways in which the study changed as boundaries were increasingly blurred. It also examines lessons learned about interviewing and challenges the notion of an un‐analytical informant as being necessary to quality and depth of data.

Reconceptualising Microteaching as Critical Inquiry

Abstract A number of papers in this journal have suggested that there is still a place for microteaching, albeit located within models of teaching. This paper argues that, while we have learned much from the use of video with a microfocus, we must move beyond the normalising that results from process‐product approaches which lead teachers to ignore the transactional nature of knowing as a personal, political and social act. One teacher educators journey from traditional microteaching towards microteaching as critical praxis is examined as work in progress.

Moving from Noninterventionist Research to Participatory Action: Challenges for Academe.

Drawing on research experience as a doctoral candidate, this paper analyses the judgment calls, changing research philosophy, and methodology of a researcher trained within a noninterventionist paradigm as she moves into participatory action research. The nature of research for credentials shapes the research experience and raises issues concerning alignment and power in academe, the way in which research questions are generated, the degree to which research foci can be flexible, the format of text, and ownership of that text.

Collaborative Professional Development in a Primary School: a case study

ABSTRACT This paper reports a programme of professional development in a primary school in a provincial city in Queensland. The assistant principal at the school led a group of teachers, working collaboratively in pairs but also as a group, in a self‐ and group‐directed program of professional development. The process used was primarily peer clinical supervision. The authors of the paper acted as resource persons in this process and used ethnographic techniques to document the programme as it progressed throughout the year.

What you ask is what you get: learning from interviewing in qualitative research.

Abstract This paper outlines some important issues discovered about undertaking qualitative interviews. A description of a study that involved interviewing the authors’ students is followed by discussion of aspects of the interviewing process that became apparent during analysis of those interviews. Problems that were encountered with retrospective interviews, power differentials, question sequencing, some interview techniques, and a prior knowledge of the students are illuminated to assist other qualitative interviewers to be aware of these potential areas of difficulty.

Together yet Apart: Perceptions of Communication in the Cross-Cultural Context of a Papua New Guinean Tertiary Institution.

A genuine debate on the Melanesian Way ... is a debate that requires a systematic, reflective and intellectual rigour. It is a task which Melanesian scholars must live with .... The vital contribution that is yet to be made toward rational discussion of Melanesian world‐view in all its aspects, is being delayed by the almost non‐existence of the rigour of an academic forum which would conceptualise Melanesian values. (Olea in Narokobi, 1988, p. 185)