Linking practice and theory
How can teacher educators stimulate reflection during the mentoring of (future) teachers?

Drs. Anke Tigchelaar, IVLOS - Utrecht University
Drs. Ko Melief, IVLOS - Utrecht University

The following themes will be included in this training programme:
- Linking practical experience with theoretical insights
- Promotion of reflective learning through experience
- Further development of personal and professional competences
- Techniques for supervision such as empathy, putting things in concrete terms, confrontation and feedback

The training course offered by IVLOS - Institute of Education, Utrecht University (NL) is targeted on the promotion of reflective learning, through linking practical experiences with theoretical insights. Learning aids for “mentoring” and advising future teachers will be brought in, tested and reflected on.
The work with practical examples, alternating with theoretical subjects and personal learning experience, has the objective of developing a clearer professional identity as a teacher trainer. Teacher trainers develop and deepen their knowledge and proficiency on this training, in order to offer the trainee teacher a professional adult-appropriate teacher education.
The reflection model that we use in our teacher training is based on the fact that reflection is a circular process. People profit from an experience by having prepared themselves well beforehand and afterwards reflect on the experience, creating from it alternative behavioural and actionable possibilities, and making use of these in their future experience. The “reflection circle” takes the two positions, the perspective of the learner and that of the teacher: these positions are linked in dialogue form. The primary objective in the promotion of reflection is to enable future teachers to successfully link their teaching-experiences and their personal growth as teachers with more theoretical subjects.
The trainers are experienced teacher educatores, consultants and trainers of teacher educators. In past years they have several times run further education courses on this theme for teacher educators, at home and in other countries.