Mentoring Reflective Practice In Pre-Service Teachers: A Reconstruction Through The Voices Of Australian Science Teachers

Abstract

This paper explores the formative basis of the professional reflective practice of in-service science teachers through their reconstruction of their pre-service interaction with lecturing staff.  It reports through the voice of graduates of the Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Teaching double degree program of Avondale College, NSW who are currently practising in the classroom setting. Through these narratives the study focuses on mechanisms for the development of professional reflective modalities; and the levels of coherence between lecturers’ actual practice of reflective, critical thinking and in-service teacher’s conceptualisation of professional reflection that informs the development of their present professional reflective aptitudes, understandings and practices.