Microteaching

Microteaching (henceforth MT) is seen as one of a range of techniques for developing "experiential knowledge" of professional action in a controlled and progressive way. MT denotes a training context in which a teaching situation has been reduced in scope and/or simplified in some systematic way. MT may include teaching a small group of students part of a lesson focusing on specific elements in a limited time. The current aims of MT were different from the aims of the original Stanford University Model (1969).

Currently, MT is seen as a technique for reflection rather than simply a technique for shaping behavior. In the literature on reflective teaching, the term reflection is defined in different ways implying different approaches to the reflective practice. Brookfield (1995), for example, indicates that in reflective practice, practitioners engage in a continuous cycle of self-observation and self-evaluation in order to understand their own actions and the reactions they prompt in themselves and in learners. In MT, all student teachers are given the chance to work, engage actively and assess the work of their peers. Indeed, MT is considered an important, practical component of the teacher education program at the Faculty of Education.