Promoting student teachers' reflective thinking through a philosophical community of enquiry approach

This article outlines how student teachers’ experiences of a philosophical community of enquiry (PCoE) facilitated their pedagogical reflections. Although reflection occupies an important place in teacher education curricula and pedagogy, it is a contested and problematic concept. In this study, a group of second year student teachers took part in a module based on Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme, designed to improve children’s thinking through a PCoE. Using data from a series of reflective activities and an in-depth interview, I examined if and how student teachers’ experiences of PCoE facilitated their readiness to reflect on pedagogical concepts such as the role of dialogue and inquiry in learning. The findings show that most had reconsidered/questioned their views, suggesting that giving student teachers experience of PCoE type of learning contexts could open up alternative ways of promoting reflection. The findings from this practitioner enquiry provide teacher educators with useful insights into the potential of a PCoE approach/orientation for promoting student teachers’ reflective thinking.