How reflective are teachers? – A study of kindergarten teachers' and special teachers' levels in reflection in day care

: A study of kindergarten teachers' and special teachers' levels in reflection in day care

: Pihlaja Päivi, Holst Teija

Publisher: Routledge

: 2013

: Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research

: 2

: 57

: 2

: 182

: 198

: 17

: 0031-3831

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2011.628691

The purpose of this study is to examine teachers' reflections of their early childhood special education work in Finnish day care. Work contents and work roles have faced many challenges in Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE), and therefore general reflection and research need to be developed. Teachers (n = 218) evaluated, via an electronic survey, the work fields of ECSE. Reflectivity is assessed by means of open-ended questions in the different fields of ECSE. All the answers were divided into the following categories: the technical, practical, and critical level of reflection. The researchers compared their evaluations and found the baseline to be very similar. The data revealed that the reflectivity was mainly at the technical level. It was almost impossible to reach the critical reflection level.