Critical incidents analysis in teacher education: Assessing student-teachers’ critical thinking

Abstract

Student-teachers’ practicum plays an important role for their preparation as professionals in primary education; especially regarding the issue of managing and dealing with critical incidents. Critical incidents may be correlated with negative experiences in classroom settings and student-teachers feel insecure or even unprepared for handling them. Critical Thinking is considered a means which can support this process by facilitating reflection and thorough analysis of critical incidents. The study presented in this paper aims at evaluating student-teachers’ Critical Thinking as this is exhibited through (a) their written practicum logs and (b) a focus group discussion. According to data, student-teachers were not positively assessed during the analysis of the incidents in written form but performed significantly better exhibiting several Critical Thinking skills and dispositions when they discussed with their fellow students in the focus group. This finding may offer recommendations regarding the organization of student-teachers’ reflection during their practicum and the extent at which interaction can scaffold this process; thus, it highlights the challenging task of bridging theory and practice in teachers’ education during practicum with emphasis on Critical Thinking.