Critical reflection as a framework for transformative learning in teacher education

This paper presents a framework for critical reflection that teacher educators can employ to analyze prospective teachers’ reflection and support their transformative learning. The author argues that teacher educators should not only pay attention to the cognitive processes of prospective teachers (how they reflect), but also the content of their thinking (what they reflect on), the goals of their thinking (why they reflect), and how their thinking influences their teaching practice in the classroom (what transformative learning they experience). The paper provides implications for both teacher education and teacher research.