The end of the academic year offers a good opportunity to reflect on our teaching practice and identify the things that are going well and anything we might like to improve or try differently in future. But reflection can be easier said than done – after all, a lot happens in a year so how do we choose what to focus on? In this article, we will explore Brookfield’s four lenses for reflective practice and how they can provide a useful structure for critical and holistic reflection on our teaching.
In his book ‘Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher’ (1995), Stephen Brookfield proposed four lenses for critical reflection: students’ eyes, colleagues’ perceptions, theory and personal experiences (also referred to as the autobiographical lens). He argued that considering our teaching from these four viewpoints allows us to ‘identify and scrutinise the assumptions that shape our practice’ (Brookfield, 2017 p. viii).
Figure 1. Brookfield proposed four lenses for critical reflection on teaching practice – personal experience, students’ eyes, colleagues’ perceptions and theory.
Let’s look at each of the four lenses in turn, and explore how we might use them to reflect upon and improve our teaching practice.
Considering students’ perspective on our teaching is essential – indeed our students tend to be our ‘go-to’ source for feedback, through module evaluations and NSS/PTES scores at least.
Other ways of capturing students’ perspectives and feedback include:
Our colleagues and fellow teachers can also be an important source of feedback. Many of us will discuss particular challenges with colleagues to source ideas or brainstorm solutions – think of how many discussions there have been over the last 18 months about how to deal with GenAI! We might take inspiration from new initiatives or tools our colleagues have trialled with their students – our Digital Education CoP helps facilitate this peer learning. But how about asking a colleague for feedback on our learning materials, or inviting them into our classroom or module site? While you might feel a bit vulnerable, this peer observation can have real benefits and you’re likely to get some helpful new ideas! Queen Mary Academy have created a guide to peer observation, outlining the benefits, how you can prepare for observation of teaching and some suggested prompts for discussing the feedback with your colleague.
Another way to think of this lens is self-reflection. What assumptions or beliefs underpin your approach to teaching? Where did those beliefs or assumptions come from? How have your experiences as a learner, or your previous teaching experiences, informed how you teach?
Once you have identified those beliefs, assumptions and other influences on your teaching, you can start to think about how accurate or helpful they actually are. Do they still hold true? Are they true to who you are and who you want to be as a teacher? Is there another factor you might have overlooked?
Engaging with the scholarly literature can benefit our teaching in multiple ways. It can help us understand the ‘bigger picture’ context around some common teaching practices or some of the challenges we may be facing. It can give us ideas for new approaches, and insights (and evidence!) on what works, what doesn’t, and why. According to Brookfield, teachers who engage with the scholarly literature, either through exploration or by contributing to it themselves, develop an ‘advanced vocabulary’, and suite of methods, for their teaching practice.
Not sure where to start with the scholarly literature? Why not check out our CARE Digital Education course*, in which we discuss some of the key literature on digital learning and different aspects of teaching online?
*Contact digitaleducationstudio@qmul.ac.uk if you are unable to access the course