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Article/Reading: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher by Stephen Brookfield.

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The main aim of this book by Stephen Brookfield is to become more self-aware and
reflective as an educator. Brookfield introduces the concept of being a critical reflective teacher and
how important it is for teachers and their professional development. Brookfield explores the idea that
an effective educator must constantly analyse and question your work, beliefs, and teaching
methodology.

To begin with, Brookfield discusses reflection as hunting assumptions and how the most distinctive
feature of the reflective process is its focus on hunting assumptions. Assumptions are the taken-for-
granted beliefs about the world. The first of which is Paradigmatic assumptions. We use these basic
structuring axioms to order the world in fundamental categories. Prescriptive Assumptions surface
when we examine how we think teachers should behave, what good educational processes should look
like, and what obligations students and teachers owe to each other. Casual Assumptions help us to
understand how parts of the world work and the conditions under which processes can be changed.
Brookfield states that most of the reflective exercises within his book will if they work well, clarify
teachers' casual assumptions, but discovering and investigating these is only the start of the reflective
practice. We as teachers must then try to find a way to work back to the more deeply embedded
prescriptive and paradigmatic assumptions we may have held.

Brookfield then goes on to talk about how ‘We fall into the habits of justifying what we do by
reference to unchecked common sense and of think that the unconfirmed evidence of our own eyes is
always accurate and valid’. As teachers, we need to stop assuming different situations and think
critically about what is happening. An example given is that students like group discussion work
because they all get to talk whereas when we critically think about it not everyone will get their voice
heard and the shyer student will suffer because of this. Critical Reflection on experience leads to the
uncovering of paradigmatic, structuring assumptions. Reflection becomes critical when we use it to
understand how considerations of power undergird, frame, and distort educational processes.
Brookfield writes about scenarios in which we as teachers assume are alright but when you take a
critical look at it there is more to the idea than what’s on the surface. The discussion circle with
students and for the confident students is liberating but for those shy students, it is intimidating and
sometimes can be humiliating. A teacher-at-one with the students may seem like a good one-to-one
relationship but there is always going to be a hierarchy between a student and teacher which is looked
at. The book then goes on to look at how the purpose of critical reflection is to uncover hegemonic
assumptions. They are assumptions that we think are in our own best interests but that have been

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 designed by more powerful others to work against us in the long term.
Brookfield discusses how critically reflective teachers can stand outside their practice and see it from
a wider standpoint and that they should not be afraid to go against the status quo to get the best results
in the class. As critical teachers, we know we need to meet the needs of the students but we
Brookfield writes that we must not get demoralised with this ‘demoralising task’. He states that is
impossible to try and get every student top mark, but we need to try.

Brookfield then goes on to write about the six reasons as to why critical reflection is important to us.
These reasons are 1) It helps us Take Informed Action, 2) It helps us Develop a Rationale for Practice,
3) It helps us avoid self-laceration, 4) It Grounds us emotionally, 5) It enlivens our classroom 6) It
increases Democratic Trust. By aiming to follow these 6 reasons it can help us to become a more
critically reflective teacher.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

After reading through chapter one of Brookfield's book numerous times and reflecting on what
was said, I do believe that he makes a good argument as to how to be a critically reflective teacher
and how some ideologies may hinder you in the process. He also looks at what a critical reflective
teacher is ‘The term critical reflection attempts to look at reflection within moral, political, and
ethical contexts of teaching’ (Hernandez. F., et al pg 27. 2017). One section which I took a
lot of information from was when Brookfield talked about assumptions but from a teacher and
student point of view, and how we as teachers can sometimes assume that our teaching is going
well and don’t need to work on anything. If most of the students are working well, we may push.
on with work thinking all is going smoothly but this is where we must become critical of our
teaching and reflect on each student. This is what separates the good teachers from the great
teachers.
To truly get the best out of students and us, we must reflect on what we are doing in the classroom
and our methods of teaching. While we may assume that our classes are going well unless we
reflect on them, we will truly not know.

Reflection is all about looking at ourselves and trying to pick out flaws in our methods. Without
being critical we fall into the assumption that we have nothing to worry about. (Michalak. J. Et al.
pg 243. 2022) writes ‘It must be acknowledged that without critical ideological reflection, the
purpose of surface-level reflection is questionable. Without question, however, there is a need for
teachers to experiment and contribute to the educational debate as reflective practitioners.’

I found Brookfield’s writing on power in the classroom interesting. He lists out educational
processes in the classroom and then discusses where the power resides. One of these examples
was a teacher being one of the students. Now while the teacher may try and have a friendly
environment in the classroom and seem like they are all equal the reality is that there is still that
power divide and hierarchy between student and teacher and a critical teacher will reject the naive
idea of being a student ‘friends. For us to be a critical reflective teacher we need to look at our
actions and how they might be perceived by students. We will only get the respect of students
when they can see us acting democratically and being seen as somebody that they can trust. This
is something which I think must be at the top of every teacher's list, that they act democratically in
the room treat each student fairly and be someone that they see as trustworthy. It all goes back to
what it means to be a reflective teacher and that is thinking about one's practice and how we can
improve our classroom environment for both us and the students.

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 From reading Brookfield's book, it told me that for me to be a successful teacher I must be a critically
reflective teacher and to do that I need to have a continuous analysis of my pedagogical experience.
At the start of my teaching practice, it was something which I would have lacked in and while I did
reflect on my classes I wasn’t getting the full benefit as I didn’t know what to be looking for. ‘Despite
all the efforts to guide reflective activities, only some progress in the quality of reflection seems to
occur. Student teachers often still lack critical reflection skills at the end of their teacher education.
(Fenton. N.E., et al. pg.35., 2022) Reflection is a skill which can flourish if used and practised
correctly. During my most recent placement, I started off doing a topic and the students weren’t
getting the idea completely, so after one of the lessons I had to look at my teaching critically and
break down why the students were not making sense of it and what I had to change for it to work for
them. At the end of the day, I could assume that they were understanding of my teaching because
nobody said anything but when I critiqued myself, I knew that there was a problem, and this is part of
the growing process as a teacher and why Brookfield's comments are so important.

The final section of Brookfield’s first chapter was a part which I found very interesting and is
something which after reading gave me more emphasis on becoming a more critical thinker and was
the six reasons why critical reflection is so important to teachers. And I liked the section on critical
reflection increasing democratic trust. From reading the section I was able to understand that my
actions in the classroom can silence or activate a student's voice and their ideas. So, as a teacher, I
have to take Brookfield's ideology and put it into practice by critically reflecting on my work and how
I work in the classroom. Not only do I have to question myself, but I should question the students on
my teaching and get their view as they are the people who are being affected by my work.

I thought it would have been good to try and incorporate a bit more text on actual classroom research
that was carried out I was still able to get a very in-depth view of what it means to be a critically
reflective teacher and Brookfield writes in high quality on the topic. It is something which I feel
teachers are not as aware of as they should and I am glad that I have gotten the opportunity to go
through his writing on the topic, and it is a topic which I now feel is something which I will look to
work on and use throughout my teaching career to have my standards as high as they can get in my
given profession.

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Brookfield. Stephen. (2013) Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher

Madalinska-Michalak. Joanna., Flores. M., Ling Low. E, Van Nuland. Shirley. (2022) Recruiting and Educating
the Best Teachers: Policy, Professionalism and Pedagogy
Hernandez. Frank., Endo. Rachel., (2017) Developing and Supporting Critically Reflective Teachers: Diverse
Perspectives in the Twenty-First Century
Fenton. Nancy E., Whitney. Ross (2022) Critical Reflection on Research on Teaching and Learning

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024