Abstract

This article discusses the transformations in the social representations and in the strategies for teaching reflection among practicum tutors in initial teacher education after participating in a training program focused on the teaching of reflection. The program is grounded in findings from a prior study on tutors' and trainees' social representations of the conditions, strategies, and effects of reflection; it also draws on international research and socioconstructivist principles. The present study follows a longitudinal mixed-methods action research (AR) design, with a predominantly qualitative approach, carried out in three Chilean teacher education programs in primary and special education. A total of 29 tutors participated in the program and completed pre- and post-program questionnaires. The tutors who participated in the program were 29 and completed pre- and post-program questionnaires. Some of them also formed dyads with a student teacher. The members of these six dyads (tutor/student teacher) were individually interviewed after reviewing the video recordings of the tutoring sessions before and after the training program, in order to explore their social representations and teaching strategies for reflection. Data were processed through content analysis, and the following transformations in social representations were reported: regarding the effects of reflection, representations shifted toward more generative conceptions; regarding the conditions for reflection, representations evolved toward horizontality, the student teacher agency, and the co-construction of shared representations among tutors about their teaching; and regarding the strategies used, a shift was observed from directive approaches based on judgments or suggestions to student teacher agency through dialogue involving diverse questions and agreements. The findings reveal progression from microgenetic social representations toward ontogenetic and sociogenetic levels, which were progressively objectified in new strategies for teaching reflection. © 2025 PEL.