Abstract
For some adult educators, reflective teaching could prove to be a method that is difficult to perform in the classroom. However, what Gregson et al. offer in the book Reflective Teaching in Further Adult and Vocational Education could serve as a guide for adult educators who want to improve or add to their practice. This book was written for professionals who work in the Further Adult and Vocational Education (FAVE) area in the United Kingdom. The authors note that FAVE is very diverse and has a wide variety of professions within it.
David Russell, who was the Chief Executive Officer of the Education and Training Foundation in 2014, wrote the foreword. He explains that the authors have contributed such “rich material” that it will extend further throughout the workforce within United Kingdom’s educational system reaching other audiences. In the foreword, David Russell explains how the Education and Training foundation in England “promotes high quality teaching and learning in the further education and training sector” (p. ix), with an emphasis on professional reflective teaching.
Reflective teaching is a skilled activity that is complex in nature and allows teachers to exercise their own judgment to support learning more effectively within the classroom. The authors are able to accomplish this by addressing in the chapters the importance of helping adult educators understand why reflecting within our practice is a valuable tool to use in today’s classroom. Reflective teaching is valuable because it can increase the quality of education for its learners, while improving outcomes for adult educators.
This text provides the reader with a collection of 17 thoughtful chapters with five units. Beginning with a chapter on identity which encourages the reader to self-reflect on the adult educator profession, the authors relay two main messages. The first message seeks to improve education’s commitment to social justice and the empowerment of all students and administrators. The authors are successful in communicating this message by dedicating a specific chapter (15) to Inclusion, which answers the question of “How to manage equality and diversity” (p. 347). The authors acknowledge that differences among people extend further than just race, class, and gender, but it is also in “how and where we live” (p. 349). They do so by sharing their personal journeys as educators from different backgrounds, providing the reader with a different view on the importance of inclusion of people.
The second message that the authors wanted the reader to grasp was that teaching in FAVE comes with specific responsibilities and knowledge about its culture. Part One in the text reminds readers what it means to be a reflective professional and how to develop a plan for quality teaching. The book is divided into five parts. Each part caters to a specific subject area with two to five chapters within it.
As an adjunct professor in adult education, I found this book to be refreshing and thought provoking. I am appreciative of the chapters that focused on diversity as it relates to how people live rather than how people are seen. This allows the reader to look at diversity as a difference in the journey rather than a difference in background. Although I admired how the authors ended the book by addressing how and why we make positive contributions to our society, I would add a section or perhaps a chapter in the book to show how reflection could lead to transformation. Once a person begins to think about his or her practice through multiple lenses, they begin to observe how much they have changed and how much more learning they need to do.
Overall, this book provides concrete information and a multitude of resources (website listed within the book) that will equip any adult educators with the tools they need to create a curriculum centered on reflective teaching. Universities, workforce development agencies, organizations, and community colleges will benefit immensely from using this book as a resource to construct innovative curricula.