scholarly journals Critical Reflection in the Professional Development of Teachers: Challenges and Possibilities

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-85
Author(s):  
Marjeta Šarić ◽  
Barbara Šteh
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Support Students

Critical reflection in teachers’ professional development has received much attention in the scholarly literature, and there is an overwhelming consensus about its great significance to the quality of teachers’ work. Nevertheless, despite the well-established role of reflection, a large gap between the professed goals and the actual reflective practice of teachers remains. The article starts with a short overview of the different definitions of critical reflection in the context of teachers’ professional development and then underlines some empirical research findings on the problems that teachers and teacher educators face when putting reflective practice into practice, especially at the deeper and more complex levels of reflection. It continues with a consideration of teachers’ qualifications for in-depth reflection as well as the obstacles and challenges facing teachers and teacher educators. The obstacles occur at the level of individual teachers’ personal traits and at the level of the context in which reflection is done. Employing an analysis of the obstacles, the authors develop some guidelines on how to support teachers in their attempts at making critical reflection part of their teaching practice. It is crucial for this encouragement not to overlook the principal purpose of teachers’ critical reflection; to contribute to new insights, knowledge reframing, and the introduction of such changes in teaching that will support students’ learning and the development of the community for the better learning, work, and life of all its individuals.

scholarly journals Teachers Who Reflect, Teach Better: Reflective Practice at The Heart of Teachers’ Professional Development Programs

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
Zuraimi Zakaria ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Teaching Improvement ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
The Relationship

While there is a significant amount of research and literature to explain the role of reflective practice in teaching, there is little research that reported the extent of such practice on classroom instructions and its spill effects on student learning outcomes. For this reason, this paper looks at the magnitude of reflective practice in shaping classroom instructions and how it facilitates for better student performance within the context of teachers’ professional development (PD) programs. Hence, the focus of the paper is two-fold: examining teachers’ PD programs that promoted reflective practice; and the relationship between reflective practice and student performance. The discussion on teachers’ reflective practice is timely. In particular, with the growing educational research and increasing body of evidence that pointed towards PD as having a significant influence on student achievement (Achinstein & Athanases, 2006; Fullan, 1990; Little, 2001). In addition, most PD efforts focused on teacher collaboration as a strategy for teaching improvement and eventually better academic performance of the students (Achinstein & Athanases, 2006). Many educators (Fendler, 2003; Loughran, 2002; Schon, 1983; Walkington, 2005) viewed reflective practice as situated at the heart of PD programs that sought teachers to examine their practice for improvement. This paper assists policy makers and education reformists in re-examining their PD efforts in targeting for variables that matter.

scholarly journals Reflective Practice: its Contributions for Initial Pre-service Teachers and Further Teachers’ Professional Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-116
Author(s):  
Muhamad Ahsanu
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Research Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Teaching Quality ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

This article deals with the notion of reflective practice (RP) and how it may contribute to the professional development in teacher education programs especially for pre-service teachers and in-service teachers within the context of Indonesia. It aims to explore and explain the stance and features of RP and how it can serve to help both pre-service and in-service teachers improve their teaching quality and develop their teaching professionalism, especially those involved in English language teaching (ELT). This article examines the feasibility of this concept to be applied in Indonesian pedagogical contexts. Being widely accepted as an empowering teaching mode practice in most parts of the world, this RP plays a central role in triggering teachers' professional development, leading the teachers to be self-learning, autonomous learning, self-evaluating, and problem-solving-oriented practitioners. The research method used in this article is library research, through which the standpoint and characteristics of RP are explored and disclosed, and RP's potential can be maximized systematically. This library research method is realized based on the five research problems posed in this article. The same data on RP were extracted from research articles and textbooks on RP. The main findings suggest such aspects as the conceptualization of RP, defining features of RP practitioners, benefits teachers can gain from RP, and potential contributions of RP for both pre-service and in-service teachers' teaching competence and continual professional development. Hence, this RP article potentially provides a meaningful paradigm for language teachers and enriches their pedagogical repertoire.  Thus, this article brings about two important notes. First, it theoretically portrays how RP can meaningfully affect the efficacy of ELT practice in Indonesia. Secondly, it fundamentally sets out RP conceptualization as the basis for professional teaching practice through continuous learning and development. That is, learning to develop through a critical self-evaluation of teachers' teaching practice

scholarly journals Foreign Language Teachers’ Professional Development through Peer Observation Programme

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Miguel Dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Peer Observation ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Observation Programme

<p>The<strong> </strong>purpose of the research is to explore the development of peer-observation programme for the use of an extension language school in Hong Kong. The research objectives were to explore teachers’ perceptions on a peer observation programme as a means to improve teaching practice, examine how teachers make sense of the peer observation programme after they have taken part in it and to suggest alternative approaches and measures by which schools can improve peer observation programmes in schools.</p><p>Data was collected from six teachers who participated in peer observation programme in Hong Kong through an interview process. The research has found out that peer observation can be a good tool for continuous professional development for teachers in order to develop their teaching strategies. This is especially important within the field of language education. From the analysis, most teachers are wary of the practicalities of peer observation due to the sensitivity that is associated with it. The research also found out that teachers think that if the peer observation approach is well developed, it can be potentially interesting or generate excitement among teachers.</p>

scholarly journals Internationalizing teacher education curricula: opportunities for academic staff development

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Mónica Lourenço
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Staff Development ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of a collaborative workshop, aimed to support teacher educators in embedding a “global outlook” in the curriculum on their perceived professional development. Design/methodology/approach The workshop included working sessions, during a period of 13 months, and was structured as participatory action research, according to which volunteer academics designed, developed and evaluated global education projects in their course units. Data were gathered through a focus group session, conducted with the teacher educators at a final stage of the workshop, and analyzed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Findings Results of the analysis suggest that the workshop presented a meaningful opportunity for teacher educators to reconstruct their knowledge and teaching practice to (re)discover the importance of collaborative work and to assume new commitments to themselves and to others. Originality/value The study addresses a gap in the existing literature on academic staff development in internationalization of the curriculum, focusing on the perceptions of teacher educators’, whose voices have been largely silent in research in the field. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for a professional development program in internationalization of the curriculum.

scholarly journals Teacher Learning Community and EFL Teacher Professional Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-58
Author(s):  
Hongmei Han ◽  
◽  
Jinghua Wang
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Teacher Learning Community

This study explores the impact of teacher learning community on EFL teachers’ professional development. The participants are 17 EFL teachers from Hebei University in China. A year-long study was conducted on these teachers' group leaning activities through participatory observation and in-depth interviews. The preliminary results are as follows: 1) Generally speaking, through conversation, interaction and online peer evaluation in learning community, participant teachers have improved professionally in terms of critical thinking, academic writing, reflective thinking and research awareness; 2) In learning activities of the community, the experienced teachers focused more on the construction of knowledge regarding research methodology, through interaction with others and participation in teaching-based research activities, to reconstruct their knowledge about teaching and research; while the novice teachers placed more emphasis on the reconstruction of knowledge regarding pedagogical theories and the way these theories are applied in teaching practice, through social interaction with other teachers.

scholarly journals Client Analysis in Teacher Education: What Some Canadian and South African Teachers Identify as their Professional Development Needs

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Epstein
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Professional Development Needs ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

The client analysis conducted in this study explores the professional development needs of11 language teachers, five in South Africa and six in Canada. The study employs a questionnaire and interviews to discover how each teacher's background and context affects his or her perceived professional development needs. Interviews show that teacher educators cannot necessarily predict teachers' professional development needs based on their backgrounds and contexts alone. A variety of inputs from recipients over an extended time is desirable and would yield more accurate predictability of an individual's professional development needs. This would result in teacher education programs that more accurately meet a teacher's real needs.

scholarly journals Benchmarking of University teachers’ professional development: successful European, Chinese, and Russian practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Tatiana Tregubova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Effective Practices ◽  
Teaching Activities ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
European Universities ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Higher Education Organizations ◽  
The University

In the context of socio-pedagogical transformations of higher education organizations, the modernization of the system of teachers’ professional development becomes an integral component of the reforms. Today university teachers have to be ready for continuous development and advanced training throughout their lives. Thus, the study of the problem of university teachers’ professional development in Russia and abroad is very relevant and timely as a response to the modern requirements of civil society for the personality of the teacher. The need for professional development among university teachers is closely related to his (her) desire for more successful indicators in teaching activities. To do this, it is necessary to fulfill several pedagogical conditions, including the teacher's own awareness of the need for professional development; the interest of the university administration and the availability of resources to organize an effective professional development system, etc. The purpose of the article is to show some successful practices of the teachers’ professional development in Russian, Chinese and European universities which the author observed while visiting those universities within the realization the project “Enhancing teaching practice in the universities of Russia and China”. The article presents the possibilities of benchmarking in higher education, in particular, the use of the benchmarking technology as a method of studying the effective practices of organizing the teachers’ professional development in a modern university.

Customized Consultation to Enhance Teacher Educators' Techno-Pedagogical Skills

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-118
Author(s):  
Tami Seifert
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Professional Development Training ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
Training Impact ◽  
Evaluating Professional Development

Educational technology is an indispensable element of higher education teaching. Teacher educators need knowledge and skills to design and successfully implement technology-enhanced learning. However, research reveals that professional development programs have only a low impact on teacher educators' teaching practice. An evaluation framework evaluating professional development training programs was implemented. The model evaluates training impact over four levels: participant's satisfaction, learning, and application of what was learned and connection of the training results to organizational outcomes. Consultation meetings varying in length, offered by the ICT unit, assisted teacher educators to integrate technology according to their content, style, and needs. They could also participate in courses designed and implemented by colleagues, group meetings, workshops, and online synchronous and asynchronous consultation meetings. The college's educational vision and integration of the PD program into the teacher educator's teaching practice were important factors for success.

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