Teaching Critical Reflection using a 4Cs Approach: A Multimethod Study of Two Secondary Classes

Abstract

Critical reflection is a necessary capability that positively transforms how people see, act, and think for the social good. However, many secondary educators experience doubt when conceptualising this phenomenon and teaching it effectively. This study originated in response to this need and aims to provide a roadmap for secondary teachers to understand, plan and program, and deliver critically reflective teaching and learning. By offering this roadmap, the study makes a novel contribution to transformative educational research that seeks to develop a pedagogy of critical reflection to inform how this capability is imagined, taught, and used to transform Australian schools. It focused on how critical reflection was fostered in Australian Stage 4 (Year 8) secondary classrooms, aiming to explore the relationship between critical reflection and poetry—a creative tool used to facilitate it. Moonstone High School [HS], located in Wollongong, New South Wales [NSW], was chosen using purposive sampling due to its adoption of a transformative pedagogical framework known as the 4Cs (Jefferson & Anderson, 2017, 2021a). A phenomenological multimethod and multicase study combined hermeneutic phenomenology and poetic inquiry to answer the research questions. Four teachers and 49 Year 8 students participated across English and Geography classes. The study was conducted in three phases, and qualitative data was gathered via semi-structured and in-situ interviews, observational field notes, and artifacts. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis [IPA] (Smith et al., 2009) and low-level thematic analysis (Dawadi, 2020) were employed. The findings suggest that creative, collaborative, and provocative strategies including student and teacher questioning, narrative, poetry, and classroom provocations, can foster critical reflection in the Stage 4 classroom. Exploring diverse perspectives and entering the ‘learning pit’ (Nottingham, 2016) are also central to developing this capability.