The Importance Of School Placement

During my School Placement I had various ‘pre-established’ assumptions that were challenged immeasurably through both critical reflection and hands-on experiences. Prior to my teaching practice, my prime hegemonic assumption was the overall ‘mantle’ of teachers as firm, authoritative and ‘dictatorial monarchs’ of the classroom and if pupil misconduct arises in this environment, a reprimand is executed to ensure successful classroom management. In this reflective report, I will address the chief reasons behind this hegemonic assumption, its impact it placed upon me as a teacher, general analysis on this assumption and its inferences it has for me as a future teacher.

Hegemonic assumptions according to Brookfield are “assumptions that we think are in our own best interests but that actually work against us in the long term” (Brookfield, 1995). I believe this ‘subconscious stunt’ impeded in my overall success as a teacher as I feel it prohibited me from establishing myself as a better teacher. How was this so? How could this have happened ‘involuntarily’? My assumption in relation to classroom control was hindering me from creating a firm foundation for the ‘fruits’ of strong student-teacher relationships to ‘blossom’ and thus the ‘weeds’ of classroom climate persisted. Indeed, at times, the ‘stretch’ of these problematic periods created a slight barrier between the student and I, as we were perhaps ‘against’ one another and were not in complete mutuality or harmony. How was it achievable for us to actually learn if pupils depict me as a mere dictating, oppressive and commanding figure within the classroom, giving instructions and ‘bossing them’? “In students’ eyes an important component of successful learning is perceiving the teac...

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...rmined ‘philosophy’ has now been ‘rebuked’. Indeed, Brookfield’s lenses allowed me to ‘dive’ into the ‘pool’ of reason and rationale of my own teaching assumptions. I am now very much ‘awake’ as to how and why I assumed these ideas, their challenge and impact towards me as a teacher and their ‘evolution’ throughout my teaching. I gained an immense acknowledgement and awareness into fundamental features of teaching, namely pupil’s levels of motivation and managing a classroom. Essentially, the theory provides the groundwork upon which I can be a proficient teacher. However, if I overlook student’s opinions in favour of literature, I therefore will not be as proficient as what I can be. Overall, this was a very insightful and enlightening metamorphism for me as a young science teacher and my ‘newborn’ knowledge is central for my future maturation as a science teacher.