Preservice teachers’ reflective processes during field experiences: a systematic review from the ONION model framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT It is essential to engage in reflection to enhance preservice teachers’ awareness of their profession, which facilitates their professional development by questioning the responsibilities and agents that shape teaching. The ONION model includes six layers of reflection from superficial to deep reflection, and is used to analyze the teacher’s response to professional tensions. To understand how this framework applies preservice teachers’ reflection as they approach their field experiences in schools, we conducted a systematic review of their reflective practices. To this end, we used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol and the ONION model to systematize the research on reflection, categorize the selected studies obtained using the ONION model, and identify the most relevant studies in promoting deep reflective practices. The results show an increase in publications on the topic recently. Some studies show superficial levels of reflection among preservice teachers’ reflection, while others show deeper levels. This provides a professional awareness of their capabilities in the field experiences as pathways to understanding what awaits them in their future careers. The findings suggest that using a reference reflection framework could facilitate deeper, guided, and meaningful reflection in field experiences as a basis for improving the initial teacher education.