In teaching, adopting a reflective practice involves a systematic analysis and evaluation of teachers’ own teaching practice in order to improve it. It achieves this through challenging assumptions and linking experiences to develop teachers’ abilities by gaining new insights into themselves and their practice. Developing reflective practice begins during ITE.

This guidance is designed to support trainees’ reflections so that the process does not become onerous and they attend to the appropriate aspects of their practice in reflecting. This will help ensure they are demonstrating meeting the Teachers’ Standards.

Completing ePortfolio

This guidance is set out sequentially to match the order the reflection boxes appear on a Weekly Review Page in ePortfolio.

Reflecting on Targets

This box is to reflect on the targets you have been working on this week. They will have been set in last week’s Weekly Review and are recorded further down the same page as this box is on. Things to do when writing this reflection: Avoid providing a detailed context. This can become lengthy and descriptive and therefore of little evidence that you are meeting the Teachers’ Standards. Focus on what you have learnt in meeting the targets and why this is important. Spend 10 minutes on this and write about 200-250 words. Remember, little descriptive contextual writing. Focus on what you have learnt, e.g.:

FIA: In reducing low-level disruption, I’ve learned the importance of setting clear expectations from the beginning of the lesson and consistently enforcing them. I’ve realised that when children are actively involved in the lesson, like they were in this week’s observed science lesson, they are less likely to engage in disruptive behaviour. I have become acutely aware of the importance of proactively engaging children with activities as part of promoting behaviours for learning. Providing clear instructions in helping minimise distractions has been difficult to achieve because my instructions were often complicated. I have learnt how to simplify these so the children can retain what it is they have to do.

Other targets: Making greater use of open-ended questions has shown me how important it is in encouraging the children to critical think and challenge their understanding in order to develop it further. Through carefully planning the questions I ask (see lesson plan for this week’s formal observation) I have found that using a variety of questioning techniques also keeps children engaged and encourages them to consider different perspectives. I have also learnt this week that smooth transitions require preparation and clear communication. I’ve learned that anticipating the next activity helps me develop a well-structured plan regarding the things the children need to do and in what order. In doing this, positive changes have been made in my classroom, as the children are now more engaged and disruptions have decreased during transitions. 

Teaching Moments

Trainees identify two teaching moments every week. One that represents a strength within their practice and one that represents an area of development.

A teaching moment is a specific incident within a lesson. It focuses on individual events that took place in the lesson rather than general observations that overarched it. For example, “the pace of the lesson was too slow” is too general and not specific enough to be a teaching moment. Identifying the point at which the pace slowed and why it slowed makes for a better teaching moment because it is less general and more specific. This teaching moment might focus on an explanation in during the input of a lesson that was laboured and ineffective, or the asking of one question that caused confusion and then needed to be resolved to avoid misconceptions developing.

Trainees should use the ‘Why?’ Challenge in order to help them identify and reflect on a teaching moment.

The EAM framework is used to support trainees reflecting on both teaching moments. EAM stands for Explain, Assess and Modify and represents the three stages that form each reflection. To keep each stage focused, written reflections should be completed with 150-200 words and the framework should be followed carefully as described here which illustrates Teaching Moment 2.

Explain

This box must include two explanations:

1. What it was the trainee was aiming to do at this point in the lesson
2. Why doing this is important

It can include some contextual detail but needs to focus more on the two points above. This example is taken from the ‘Why? Challenge’:

This lesson aimed to help Year 1 pupils understand that combining two or more parts to make a whole is called aggregation, and that this can be represented using the addition symbol (+). The key learning was the structure: part (addend) + part (addend) = whole (total). This is a fundamental concept in early mathematics, supporting children’s understanding of number composition and laying the foundation for more complex addition and reasoning. At this stage, it’s vital that pupils connect what they do physically with concrete objects to the abstract written form. Modelling plays a central role in bridging this gap, and must be delivered with clarity and precision. The aim was not just for children to produce stem sentences, but to develop a conceptual understanding of what the symbols represent. The lesson was designed to progress from practical combining using manipulatives, to drawing representations, and finally to abstract simple equations. For this to be successful, the modelling had to be consistent and structured, highlighting the connection between each stage. The ultimate goal was for children to see the addition symbol not just as something they write, but as a meaningful representation of a mathematical action.

Notice how, in addressing the second question above and explaining why the aim is important (highlighted), the reflection integrates theory and practice and demonstrates what the trainee has learnt, providing evidence of meeting the Teachers’ Standards. This can be developed further in the “Learn that” box (see below).

Assess

This stage of the reflection is about considering how effective it has been. It needs to assess and evaluate what happened in the teaching moment and why.

Although the lesson had clear intentions, its impact was reduced by inconsistent modelling, which confused the children and disrupted the pace. I presented aggregation using several different representations, counters, cubes, and bar models, but failed to maintain consistency in how I structured and explained each example. For instance, in one case I modelled “3 + 2 = 5” from left to right, but in another, I described the total first, or swapped the addends’ positions without explanation or checking the children had understood the left to right notation. This inconsistency led to visible confusion, with pupils asking questions like, “Which number comes first?” and hesitating when creating their own number sentences. Rather than reinforcing learning through the structured use of variation, my modelling involved erratic variation, which caused cognitive overload. As a result, the lesson slowed as I tried to clarify misconceptions on the spot. However, my attempts to address the issue during the lesson added further complexity instead of resolving the confusion. The children were left unsure of what aggregation looked like.

Notice again that the reflection draws on theory and relates this to practice (e.g. cognitive load) which again can evidence the meeting of the Teachers’ Standards.

Modify

The aim of the final stage of the reflection is to consider the changes that are needed to modify things for future lessons. The highlighted text in the following example suggests the learning that the trainee has acquired as a result of the experience, which helps provide evidence of meeting the Teachers’ Standards.

To improve future lessons, I need to ensure that modelling is consistent, clear, and rehearsed. This means using the same structure and language each time, beginning with positioning the addends on the right first, and consistently using the stem sentence appropriate to the context (e.g. I can see 5 ducks, 3 are swimming and 2 are on the bank), and supporting this with another stem sentence “we can write this as 5 = 3 + 2″. While showing different representations can deepen understanding, this must be done gradually and with clear links drawn between them. I will also reduce improvisation during key teaching points and instead rehearse how I will introduce each example, especially when introducing abstract symbols. Rather than aiming to be flexible mid-lesson, I should focus on being deliberate and predictable, which is more supportive for the children’s learning at this stage. I’ll also include key questions on the lesson plan to ensure that my explanations remain focused and variation is appropriately structured.

CCF Links

Under the three EAM reflection boxes is one for references to the Core Content Framework (CCF). Demonstrating that trainees have learned about the various elements of practice and how to do them them with provide evidence of meeting the Teachers’ Standards.

To maintain the focus on the learning that trainees have acquired from each teaching moment, trainees should include three references to the CCF and no more. The references chosen should the ones most relative to the teaching moment. In the case of the above example, the three most relevant references are:

• Standard 4 (3) – Modelling helps pupils understand new processes and ideas; good models make abstract ideas concrete and accessible.
• Standard 4 (b) – Using modelling, explanations and scaffolds, acknowledging that novices need more structure early in a domain.
• Standard 4 (h) – Combining a verbal explanation with a relevant graphical representation of the same concept or process, where appropriate.

Learn That

The final box of the reflection is the ‘Learn that’ box, referring to the content of the CCF under the same title. The reflection in this box should therefore integrate theory with practice by considering how the trainees’ EAM reflections for teaching moments 1 and 2 link to what they have learnt at university, including their readings.

This example is about one teaching moment and not two, like it should, because there is only one exemplified teaching moment above.

This reflection builds on theory introduced at university, particularly cognitive load theory and Rosenshine’s principles of instruction, both of which stress the importance of clear, structured modelling for novice learners. As we studied, effective modelling helps pupils access abstract ideas by making them concrete and visible, supporting their transition from practical experience to symbolic representation—such as moving from combining cubes to writing 5 = 3 + 2. In this lesson, my inconsistent modelling and unclear representations caused confusion and increased cognitive load, limiting pupils’ ability to generalise the concept of aggregation. This reflects what we learned about the need for scaffolded, consistent input when introducing new processes. Modelling, I now see more clearly, is not just showing, it is a structured teaching strategy that, when done well, supports pupils in forming secure mental models and deepening understanding.

To ensure the complete reflection is cohesive, the content of this box needs to link well with that of the others. In doing so, it means that the references in the ‘CCF Links’ box will be the same as those cited for both teaching moments and can be copied and pasted.