Reflective requirements: Learning to Learn: A Case Study in a Portuguese Higher Education Institution
ETEN annual conference 2014
The Concept of “Bildung” in Teacher Education
3rd – 5th April in Leipzig, Germany
Reflective requirements: Learning to Learn: A Case Study in a Portuguese Higher Education Institution
Vera Diogo, Maria José Araújo e Teresa Martins
Abstract
Teaching and learning are interdependent activities which interact with the multidimensionality of students’ lives. The topic of this paper is to understand how teaching and learning interact with the wide variety of experiences of integration undergone in higher education, particularly by first year students.
Higher education students face a number of challenges in contemporaneous post-industrial semi-peripheral societies. In Portugal, the uncertainties of the labour market and the budget cuts that reduced investment in science, research and education caused difficulties to both students and teachers. In addition, the continuous reforms that have been made in public education (mainly driven by the need to prove success, even if only statistically) have made the transition to higher education even more difficult.
This paper is based on an on-going study case taking place in Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico do Porto (Oporto Higher Education School) with undergraduate students. The evidence of students’ scarce preparation motivates educators to comprehend their multiple needs. The main difficulties are how to use academic knowledge and master scientific language, both orally and written, but also the central task of their activity: to study.
In order to learn, one must be able to learn how to learn. Hence, the need for reflective thought and teaching for thinking. The study intends precisely to develop strategies for the enhancing of these capacities.
Promoting reflective thought amongst students implies reflective and strategic teaching grounded on an educative process centred on the student rather than the educator. Powered by reflective thought students are able to regulate their own learning process, by developing learning strategies with educators’ assistance (Lopéz, 2011; Smith et al, 2008).
In this paper, we intend to discuss some intermediate results regarding students’ demographical and socioeconomical characterization; students’ perceptions of higher education, of the Oporto Higher Education School in particular, and their integration processes in this institution; students’ current learning strategies and plans for future improvement.
Key words: Learning; reflective thinking; integration
TIG: Reflective Learning and Teaching for Thinking
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~zls/eten-2014.html
Comunicação/Artigo
ETEN annual conference 2014
The Concept of “Bildung” in Teacher Education
3rd – 5th April in Leipzig, Germany