Critical incidents as teacher training strategies

            It is sometimes assumed that mastering a discipline is enough for one to be able to teach it. However, reflecting on teaching practices and decision making on class management have started to be considered a means for teachers to be able to face classroom problems.

According to Fernández González, Elórtegui Escartín and  Medina Pérez (2003) teacher development is a collaborative process, shared by professionals  who aim at an educating purpose. What is more, they claim there is a tendency to consider a change of skills, attitudes and values to establish a co-responsibility between the teacher and the student a crucial advancement in current teacher development

Fernández González et. al.(2003) refers to the importance of tutors ability to reflect and analyze their strategies. In fact, Monereo also emphasizes the importance of reflection and analysis, “en este sentido desde la formación inicial y continuada se tendrá que ofrecer a los profesores instrumentos de interpretación y análisis de la situación en que se desarrolla su actividad” (as cited in Fernández González et. al. 2003, p. 103).

            It is useful for tutors to keep a journal because their own teaching can be reflected critically and analytically on. Subsequently, there is a possibility to see what has been learnt from it and how these concepts could be used to inform future planning. Above all, it is also possible to contribute to teachers continuing professional development.

Fernández González et al. (2003) consider critical incidents an important strategy to be included in teachers development  programmes. In fact, they have suggested the extensive treatment of this kind of incidents become part of  students’ meaningful learning. They also provide a sequence of activities in order to organize group work when dealing with critical incidents at school.  Those activities range from simply making comments on the structure of critical incidents to evaluating the conclusions at which the group arrives after reflecting on critical incidents.

             In teachers development there is a need of critical conversation as a political culture of openness to different ideologies since it must be acknowledged that each human being has something valuable to say regardless of status and rank. So there must be some kind of scenarios for teacher mentors and mentorees to reflect on. Critical incidents provide such scenes. Then as a result, they contribute to education research because they have turned to be useful strategies for incorporating teaching practices into the core of the teaching instruction programmes.

References

Fernandez González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N. and  Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria de ciencias de la naturaleza. Revista universitaria de Formación de Profesorado, 17- 001. Zaragoza, España: Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved September 2010 from http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107