Reflective thinking profiles and academic performance among newly selected ITE students

This study focuses on the reflective skills of students who entered a Finnish initial teacher education (ITE) programme in 2022. The authors first identify profiles related to reflective thinking skills using latent profile analysis. Then, they examine whether these profiles explain performance at the written entrance exam and first-year studies. The study draws on written entrance exam scores, responses to the Reflective Thinking Questionnaire, and the weighed course grade mean for first-year courses. The results suggest there are two clearly distinct profiles among students: Deeply Reflective and Limited Reflective. More than half of the students belonged to the Deeply Reflective profile, performing better in their first-year studies. No significant differences were found regarding the written entrance exam. The study underscores the importance of reflective thinking skills for teaching and teacher education. The results provide empirical information for developing the written entrance exam to identify applicants with higher-order thinking skills.