Dr Scott J Threlfall

This UK-based case study focuses on strategies for effective mentoring in teacher training via the use of Twitter (now X) and Zoom. A qualitative approach was utilised (n=33). Findings revealed that while mentors understood their role, effective mentoring required better coordination among mentors, mentees, and placement institutions. Participants identified key barriers, including time constraints, workload, and compensation for mentoring. The study suggests how teacher educators can respond to challenges using bespoke strategies and the need for overarching changes to the UK's educational infrastructure in supporting the development and mentoring of trainee teachers.

Teacher noticing is a fundamental aspect of effective teaching, yet its influence on instructional practice is not well understood. This paper presents an extended framework for teacher noticing, alongside two innovative assessment tools: the Initial Teacher Education Noticing Continuum (TEN) and the Noticing Observation Framework (NOF). Utilising a mixed-methods approach within an intrinsic case study involving nine pre-service trainee teachers, the research uncovered significant insights into the participants' professional vision. The TEN demonstrated notable sophistication in trainees' skills for selecting, reasoning, and responding, while the NOF revealed that noticing plays a crucial role in developing teacher competency. As the study progressed, the participants exhibited marked improvements in their teaching practices. These results underscore the importance of structured frameworks in elucidating the relationship between teacher noticing and effective instruction, offering valuable implications for teacher education programmes.

Reflection is now regarded as a key facet to any coach’s repertoire. Much of the sports coaching literature related to reflection consider how coaches’ reflect. However, few studies contemplate the possible ways that reflective practice may be used with athletes or how performers themselves engage in such a process. This paper offers the sports coaching fraternity fresh insights into the world of elite performers’ reflective practice and process. Furthermore, the research method used represents an alternative to invasive interview techniques and highlights a paradox wherein representations of the truth may be seen more clearly from a distance.

Practitioners and students are increasingly asked to reflect upon practice within higher education (HE). Reflection is used in both formative and summative settings. Learning journals are recognised as a significant tool in promoting active learning and regularly used among students and teachers. Current research suggests that the effectiveness of journaling is inconsistent. In representing the use of journals as a process within reflective practice, the purposes of this study were to consider if journals were an effective way in which undergraduates could engage in reflection. This study adopted a constructivist interpretivist position and employed the action research approach. Participants (n = 3) were male, first-year undergraduates on a Foundation Degree in Sports Coaching at a college in the North West of England. Data collection was over a six-month period. At the end of each month, participants were required to submit their e-journals, consisting of five academic themes of their choosing. Summative feedback was offered to the students after each submission which identified their levels of reflection in relation to Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy. In total 43.09% of entries analysed were written in the lowest three levels of the taxonomy; 56.87% were written in the highest three levels, of which evaluation, the highest level, totalled 28.66%. Findings suggested that journals may be used effectively, with all students recording high levels of critical reflection throughout a six-month period. Students made remarkably quick progress in becoming critical in their reflections and Bloom’s Taxonomy provided a vigorous means for assessment. Strengths and limitations of the research process are discussed as are recommendations for future practice.

This research investigated the use of poems for reflection. Participants (n = 16) were enrolled upon a Foundation Degree in Sports Coaching. Part modular assessment saw the students create an action plan that provided key indicators as to their ability within a range of study skills. The entire cohort failed to implement the plan. Whilst there exists a prevailing wind of poetic embrace within the social sciences, limitations are evident within the domain of sport and physical activity. The research questions whether poems may be implemented as a means to initial reflection and reorientation and as a consolidation of prior learning. Findings suggest poetry may aid initial reflection and reorientation and a consolidation of prior learning, that the writings were enjoyable, at times frustrating, developmental and that such creativity might be advocated elsewhere across the HE curriculum. Implications for the learner are discussed and I suggest a framework for practitioners (‘Reflective Facilitation’), which considers how we may assist our learners in a process of guided discovery in which their reflections may become critical and self-governed. The paper then considers the limitations of the research process and offers considerations for future practice.