Engaging with student-teachers on reflective writing: reclaiming writing

Reflective teaching and writing is now a fundamental aspect and practice of being a teacher. It is seen as ‘an effective tool in democratizing teaching and learning processes’ (Galea 2012, 245) that counter balances the ‘positivistic technicist approach to teaching and learning that has overwhelmed the educational sector’ (ibid.). The move towards greater accountability has led to an emphasis on measurement, and this gives rise to a search for that which can be measured. ‘The most insidious danger’, as Jennings and Kennedy (1996) argue, ‘is that only that which can be measured will be considered worthwhile, thereby leading to a revision to the worst excess of behaviourism and a blinkered focus on behavioural objectives’ (p. xi). Managerial discourses and market forces, particularly at a time of world fi nancial crises, are more than ever pressing on educational aims. Political expediency has become the norm. Under such circumstances, there is the need for teachers to stand back and refl ect upon their professional lives and interactions with children and others. It is in this light that the majority of teacher training schools are putting a lot of effort into training, nurturing and guiding studentteachers in becoming refl ective practitioners. There seems the need for the ‘search for meaning’ to be at the heart of the process of becoming-teachers.