Reflective Teaching Practices in Teachers and Their Attitudes Toward Professional Self-development

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the levels of teachers′ reflective practices as well as their attitudes toward professional self-development in relation to various variables, including gender, number of workshops attended and experience. The study sample consisted of 162 teachers who work as teachersat a number of private schools in Amman. Two scales have been used in this study; the first questionnaire consists of (28) items to measure teachers′ reflective practices in 6 dimensions. The second scale consists of (18) items to measure the attitudes-towards-professional-development. Results found that the level of teachers′ reflective practices on the scale as a whole were within an ′acceptable′ level; however, their practices in the subcategory of"appreciating criticism" were below acceptable. Findings indicated that teachers′ attitudes toward professional development were positive. Findings further revealed a strong correlation of 0.485 between the reflective practices and the attitudes toward self-development in teachers.