With the same number of hours again being required to practice the skills of reflection. The researchers estimate that the initial training of the teachers to view events objectively took between 20 and 30 hours, This process took time and patience and effective trainers. Helping this group of teachers to revise their thinking about classroom events became central. Further observation revealed the tendency of teachers to evaluate events rather than review the contributory factors in a considered manner by, in effect, standing outside the situation. They describe the initial understanding in the teachers with whom they were working as being “utilitarian … and not rich or detailed enough to drive systematic reflection.” Teachers rarely have the time or opportunities to view their own or the teaching of others in an objective manner. Wildman and Niles observed that systematic reflection on teaching required a sound ability to understand classroom events in an objective manner. The teachers were taken through a program of talking about teaching events, moving on to reflecting about specific issues in a supported, and later an independent, manner. Reflection on a complex task such as teaching is not easy. They were concerned that many would be “drawn to these new, refreshing” conceptions of teaching only to find that the void between the abstractions and the realities of teacher reflection is too great to bridge. They designed an experimental strategy for a group of teachers in Virginia and worked with 40 practicing teachers over several years. Wildman and Niles were particularly interested in investigating the conditions under which reflection might flourish–a subject on which there is little guidance in the literature. This was justified by the view that reflective practice could help teachers to feel more intellectually involved in their role and work in teaching and enable them to cope with the paucity of scientific fact and the uncertainty of knowledge in the discipline of teaching. Niles (1987) describe a scheme for developing reflective practice in experienced teachers. Teachers, it is thought, benefit from the practice of reflection, the conscious act of thinking deeply about and carefully examining the interactions and events within their own classrooms.
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