An interpretive study of begining teachers' pedagogical reflection and teaching qualities in physical education

The purposes of this study were to examine the relationship between pedagogical reflection and ‘teaching quality’ and whether reflection could positively affect teachers’ values and beliefs in their teaching behaviour. Four participants were engaged in an intervention exercise. Data was collected through lesson observation, video-taping, teaching evaluation checklists, interviews and workshops. There is a close connection between the development of reflection and the reflective practitioner’s professional and personal development. Reflection and improvements in ‘teaching quality’ among the participants were mainly on technical matters in physical education teaching. The study suggests that reflection can be productively modeled as a sequence of processes involving: analytical thinking, choice of appropriate action and execution of actions. A hierarchy of reflective thinking development is proposed.