Reflecting on Critical Incidents

At present, there is a deep necessity to reflect upon the teacher education and teachers´ practices through professional judgement. Critical Incidents (CI) are tools developed for teacher self development which imply to overcome different classroom events. "La reflexion es el eje que relaciona, confronta, diferencia e interioriza ideas nuevas con las anteriores" ( Marcelo, 1996; Day, 1994).

González, Escartín and Pérez (2003) point out:

 “Critical incidents are described as a pre-service and in- service teacher education strategy. The idea is to integrate theory and practice. The diversity of teachers and the possibility for the reflexive analysis of classrooms events, often solved in a spontaneous way, are the basis of this powerful strategy” (p. 101).

Nowadays, the relationship between teacher and students has changed due to the social changes of the society and the education. Professional teachers are those who promote social interaction and analyse classroom difficulties through the use of the critical incidents. As Fernández and Fernández (1994) state, “Incidente critico es una estrategia  estructurada y en la cual se presenta a profesores situaciones escritas de la enseñanza (una o varias frases, un párrafo, una página,…) y se les pide que tomen una decisión en función de la información que se les proporciona (…)” (p.93).

In fact, the actual challenge is the improvement of the teacher education through the design of a curriculum in which contents and critical incidents are parts of the teachers´ knowledge. Critical incidents imply a context, a problem, causes and solutions. According to González, Escartín and Pérez (2003), “El tratamiento de incidentes críticos es apropiado para ejercitar una dinámica de grupo donde el profesor novel explicita su posicionamiento acerca de muchos tópicos recurrentes en la docencia” (p. 105).                                                                                                

To conclude, not only pre- service teachers but also in- service teachers take advantage of critical incidents as a powerful tool. It is very important to create a good atmosphere in the classroom among teacher and students and among students through constant feedback in order to face any difficulty which may arises within the classroom. That is the reason why critical incidents are relevant in the teaching-learning process because they contribute to personal and professional development.

References

Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N & Medina Pérez, M. (2003). “Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria de Ciencias de la Naturaleza”. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formaciòn del Profesorado, año/vol.1, número 001. Universidad de Zaragoza. Zaragoza,  España 101-112. Retrieved October 2011, from http://redalyc.uaemex.ms

Fernández, T & Fernández, J. (1994). “Técnica de trabajo con profesores sobre su practica docente:< Terapia de Knoll>”. Retrieved October 2011, from Investigación en la  escuela, 22,91-103.