Professionalising teachers in guiding reflection

The contemporary knowledge society of the 21st century requires students, among other things, to have the ability to think analytically and reflectively. Research into the disappearance of technical employees from the technical labor market also shows it is important to guide students in their professional identity development, in which reflection of students is crucial. Various studies show however that educational programs and teachers experience difficulty with the effective use of reflection in education. In the project ‘Strengthening reflection in technical higher education programs’, six technical higher professional education programs of two Dutch higher education institutes are working on the improvement of reflection in their programs. Teachers from these teams are also trained in guiding and assessing reflection activities of students. In this current research, the following research questions will be answered: 1. How do teachers guide students during reflection activities or conversations? 2. How do teachers assess students’ reflection activities? 3. Does the offered training contribute to an increase in skills of teachers with regard to guiding reflection activities of students? A selection of teachers of the participating teams will be interviewed before and after the training. To assess teachers pedagogical and didactical knowledge and skills, video vignette interviews are used. Vignettes were designed to provide teachers with multiple authentic situations that are prototypical in their teaching context and which are depicted in video captions. Interview protocols were used to elicit teaching interventions and teachers’ rationales and thoughts behind these interventions in the depicted situations