“It helped me grow and develop”: Video‐enhanced reflection and feedback in a Swedish teacher education context

Abstract

In this video the researcher presents preliminary findings from a research and development project (Gynne et al., 2022; Sert et al., 2020) that integrated a digital video tagging tool into the teacher practicum in Sweden. The project involved recording of lessons with the VEO app (Miller and Haines 2021; Sert 2019, 2021), and the use of the recordings in post-observation reflection sessions by student-teachers and mentors. This study presents preliminary findings from the final stage of the project: namely, the analyses of student-teachers' and school-based mentors' perspectives on the use of the method in English language teacher development. The analysis of the interviews with a subset of 6 preservice teachers of English and three mentors working in upper secondary schools showed that this data-led reflective framework promotes (visual) evidence-based reflection and feedback, enriches reflections through repeated (re)view, contributes to teacher leadership, fosters change and development, and encourages future Continuous Professional Development activities. The participants, however, emphasized the need for supervised and continuous use of the tool as well as some practical and technical constraints. Olcay Sert is a professor of English language education at Mälardalen University, Sweden. His book Social Interaction and L2 Classroom Discourse was shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize in 2016 and became a finalist for the AAAL first book award in 2017. His research deals with classroom discourse, TESOL, and language teacher education. The project was funded by Mälardalens kompetenscentrum för lärande (Mälardalen Competence Center for Learning), and the author was the principal investigator. The data from the interviews with the English language teachers and mentors are part of a broader data set that involves teachers and mentors in mathematics and Swedish as a second language. I thank my colleagues Annaliina Gynne and Maria Larsson who have been my collaborators in the project. I also would like to extend my gratitude to the learners, teachers, and mentors for their support. Video S1 Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.