Reflection in action by teacher – UGC NET Question

Option A – reflection-in-action Donald Schön distinguished between reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action in professional practice. Reflection-in-action occurs during the activity itself, when the practitioner notices that something is not working as expected and modifies their approach on the spot. In teaching, this means monitoring students’ reactions and altering explanations, examples or questions in real time to improve understanding. Therefore, a teacher who changes an explanation while teaching after sensing confusion is clearly engaging in reflection-in-action.

Option A:
Option A points to the teacher’s capacity to think critically about what is happening while it is happening and to respond creatively. This ongoing monitoring and adjustment are essential features of reflective teaching in dynamic classroom situations. Since the stem describes immediate changes based on observed confusion, reflection-in-action is the most accurate label.

Option B:
Option B, reflection-on-action, takes place after the lesson is over, when the teacher looks back on what happened, analyses successes and failures and plans improvements for future teaching. While this is also important, it does not occur during the live interaction, so it does not fit the scenario where the teacher adjusts explanations while teaching.

Option C:
Option C, indoctrination, refers to imposing a fixed set of beliefs on learners without encouraging critical examination or alternative viewpoints. It is unrelated to the teacher’s self-monitoring and responsive adjustment of explanations during instruction. Hence, indoctrination is not an appropriate term here.

Option D:
Option D, rote memorization, is a learning process in which information is repeated many times until remembered, often without deep understanding. It describes a student activity rather than a teacher’s reflective modification of teaching strategies. Consequently, rote memorization cannot complete the statement in the question.