Reflection in Physical Education Teacher Education: A Methodological Reconsideration

Reflection has become an established pedagogical practice in physical education teacher education (PETE), supporting preservice teachers’ professional learning across diverse practice-based experiences. As reflective artifacts are increasingly used as evidence of learning, this conceptual paper develops a PETE-specific methodological perspective on how reflection becomes constituted as research evidence. Specifically, it considers the assumptions shaping the use of reflective artifacts as evidence of professional learning, the pedagogical, institutional, and social conditions shaping the production of reflective accounts, and the methodological considerations guiding their interpretation and reporting. These considerations are particularly relevant to the embodied and situated nature of professional learning in PETE. This perspective guides researchers to report reflective prompts, production conditions, and interpretive decisions when constructing claims about preservice teachers’ professional learning.