Assumptions in Reflective Practice

A teacher walks into class with hundreds of small assumptions: about students’ ability, about what good behaviour looks like, about what counts as a successful lesson. Most of these never get examined. Reflective practice rests on the idea that examining them is possible, useful, and worth the time.

Three working assumptions sit underneath the field. Understanding them helps a teacher use reflection well rather than mechanically.

Assumption 1: reflection lives in the classroom

The first assumption is that reflective practice is contextualised and private. The reflection happens where the practice happens: in the classroom. The teacher is both researcher and subject.

This is different from how research is normally framed. A university researcher studies classrooms from outside. A reflective teacher researches their own classroom from inside. The two produce different kinds of knowledge. The teacher’s research is messier, more context-bound, and more useful for that particular classroom.

This framing matters for any Pakistani teacher who has felt that “real” research is something other people do in fancier institutions. The reflective practice tradition treats the classroom teacher’s careful inquiry as a legitimate form of research, not as a cheap substitute.

Assumption 2: research plus action

The second assumption: teachers reflect and then act on what they observe. Reflection without action is incomplete.

This is the difference between thinking about teaching and reflective practice. A teacher who notices that group work failed but does not change anything has not completed the reflective cycle. The whole point of reflection is to feed change.

The phrase “research plus action” maps onto action research, covered later in this guide. The pattern is the same: a small loop of try, observe, change, try again. The action half of the loop is what makes reflection more than journaling.

Assumption 3: understanding requires dialogue

The third assumption draws on social constructivism (Kemmis and McTaggart 1992, Wells 1999, Vygotsky 1999). It says that understanding is built jointly through language and dialogue, not alone in a room.

Four claims sit inside this assumption.

1. The mind is mediated by language. What we can think depends partly on the words we have.
2. Understanding is jointly constructed through dialogue. A teacher who talks through a problem with a colleague reaches insights neither could reach alone.
3. Knowledge is socially derived. What counts as good teaching is not a private discovery; it is shaped by colleagues, culture, and shared norms.
4. Learning occurs through collaborative effort. This applies to teachers as well as students.

The practical implication is that reflective practice should not be a solo activity. A reflective teacher who only writes in a private journal misses the dialogue. A teacher who also talks regularly with a critical friend, attends a learning network, or works through reflections with a mentor reaches further.

What this means for the reflective practitioner

Putting the three assumptions together gives a working picture. A reflective practitioner is someone who:

1. Does inquiry in their own classroom.
2. Acts on what they find.
3. Talks with others to test and sharpen their understanding.

Becoming this kind of practitioner takes time, commitment, responsibility, and discipline. It is not a single workshop or a course. It is a way of working that builds across years. The teacher does not graduate from reflective practice; the practice keeps deepening.

Brookfield’s four lenses

Stephen Brookfield (2002, p. 32) gave the field a useful tool for surfacing assumptions: four lenses through which a teacher can look at their own practice. Each lens shows something the others miss.

Lens 1: autobiography

Your own life as a learner. What did you experience as a student that shaped what you now think a classroom should look like? A teacher who was bored by lectures may have a strong reaction against lecturing, even when a short lecture would actually work for the topic. A teacher who thrived under strict discipline may default to strictness, even with students for whom it does not fit.

The autobiographical lens reveals the patterns the teacher carries into the room without noticing.

Lens 2: students

Student feedback, both formal (surveys, written comments) and informal (body language, questions, what they say to each other). The student lens often reveals that what the teacher thought was happening is not what students experienced.

This lens is the single most useful one for many teachers because it is the cheapest to access and the most often ignored.

Lens 3: colleagues

Other teachers’ perceptions, gathered through peer observation, conversations in the staffroom, or working sessions. Colleagues see what the teacher cannot see from inside their own practice.

This lens is also where critical friend relationships become important. A trusted colleague who can give honest feedback is more useful than ten polite ones.

Lens 4: educational literature

Published research and theory. The literature lens lifts a teacher’s reflection out of the immediate setting and connects it to the wider field. A teacher reflecting on group work who has read research on cooperative learning has more material to think with than one who has not.

The four lenses are not a checklist. A teacher does not need to use all four for every reflection. The point is that each lens shows different assumptions, and a teacher who sticks to one lens misses what the others would have shown.

Flashcard

What are Brookfield's four lenses for surfacing assumptions?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Autobiography, students, colleagues, literature

Autobiography reveals what your own learning history brought into the room. Students show what was actually experienced from their side. Colleagues see what is invisible from inside your own practice. Literature lifts the reflection into the wider field of research and theory.

A teacher who uses only one lens has a narrow view of their own assumptions.

Why surfacing assumptions matters

Reflective teaching, in this framing, is the work of discovering the assumptions that shape how the teacher teaches. Without that surfacing, change is hard. The teacher keeps making the same choices for the same unexamined reasons.

Looking at practice through the four lenses reveals two kinds of assumption.

1. Assumptions about pedagogy. What methods, techniques, and approaches the teacher believes are good or bad.
2. Assumptions about learning. What conditions the teacher believes best support student learning.

Both kinds of assumption show up in everyday decisions. Both can be wrong. Reflective practice is the slow work of testing them.