Reflective practice in developing world contexts: a general review of literature and a specific consideration of an Iranian experience

Abstract

This paper begins with a review of an emerging set of studies, combining a critical focus on reflective teacher development in developing educational contexts, and a greater level of authorial identification (as compared with previous studies) with the contexts being researched. Next, the paper adds to this emerging literature an analysis of a teacher development initiative in Iran, aimed at giving a group of experienced English-as-a-foreign-language writing teachers time to reflect on their practice. This analysis reveals some shaping influences that appear similar to influences observed in other developing contexts. At the same time, the analysis highlights particularities of this Iranian context. Consistent with findings in other contexts, the teachers’ reflections focused on their working conditions, but did not go very far beyond understanding the challenges these conditions constituted. The teachers also talked about their limited engagement with professional literature, and reflected on how this may have affected their ability to enact new practices. Despite these constraints, the teachers did raise their awareness of various aspects of policy and practice, they did challenge aspects of the hierarchical Iranian education system, and over time they appeared to develop a heightened sense of professional agency.