During the academic year 2022-2023, Humanitas University piloted the Reflective Team method, offering faculty members a structured and collaborative opportunity to reflect on the key challenges they face in their teaching practice. This voluntary initiative complements the university’s teaching observation program, further enhancing reflective competencies among educators. This method, adapted from the "IntRef - The Intercultural Reflection on Teaching" project, builds on the systemic therapy framework originally developed by Tom Andersen in the 1980s and progressively adopted in training and evaluation contexts (Michling & Schmidt, 2017).

Rooted in systemic constructivist pedagogy (Reich, 2007), the Reflective Team sessions at Hunimed followed the IntRef framework closely. Each session began with a participating faculty member completing a structured form to describe a concrete issue encountered in their teaching, which was then brought to the group for analysis and discussion. The collection and systematic analysis of these forms allowed for the identification and categorization of themes and critical issues that faculty members perceive as most problematic in their teaching.

This initiative not only provides a platform to surface the challenges most relevant to faculty members but also fosters a reflective and supportive environment to address these issues collaboratively. By enabling educators to articulate and examine their difficulties, the Reflective Team method functions as a powerful faculty development tool that enhances problem-solving, fosters professional growth, and strengthens reflective practices. As part of a broader faculty development strategy, this approach underscores the value of integrating diverse reflective methodologies to support academic staff and improve teaching quality in higher education.

References:
[1] Michling, M. D., & Schmidt, J. (2017). Reflecting Team as an Evaluation/learning Instrument for Self-reflection of Teachers. Signum Temporis, 9(1), 30.
[2] Reich, Y., Kolberg, E., & Levin, I. L. Y. A. (2007). Designing contexts for learning design. International Journal of Engineering Education, 22(3), 489.

Keywords: Reflective team, reflective teaching, teachers training, faculty development.