Page 235 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

The Impact of Pre-service Teachers’ Reflection

...when they want to do something, it is really hard to prevent them or when they don’t want to do some-
thing, it is again very hard to persuade them to do it. However, whatever they do, they are so forgivable.
I mean, you know they are so little and cute, so, you can’t get angry with them. Therefore, if someone
wants to be a kindergarten teacher, s/he should be more patient and lovely that anyone else.

...it was really good to learn. I wonder what I would learn more thanks to these observations.

...I have learned that it is not easy to be a teacher. I have learned a lot and I will try to use all of them
in the future.

...I think the teachers’ way of teaching is very effective. I hope to follow these techniques in the future.

SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

As reflection is a link between what is being done in the past and what can be done in the future, it is
very helpful for pre-service teachers in terms of making the connection between theory and practice, as
well as professional development.
Proposed by many researchers (Frid and Reid, 2003; McDraw, et.al. 2004; Fairbanks and Meritt, 1998;
Rodman, 2010), there is a fair consensus that teacher education programs, beginning in the very first
year, need to integrate reflection and reflective practice in their curriculum in order to help prospective
teachers construct their professional identity. This will provide them with the opportunity to develop
their personal philosophy of education with regard to their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. As indicated
in the findings of this study, engaging pre-service teachers in reflective activities at an early stage of
their education raised their awareness of the importance and effectiveness of reflection into their future
teaching. The earlier the reflective practice component is integrated in teacher education programs,
the sooner the pre-service teachers will start establishing their personal and professional constructs for
understanding teachers, students, teaching, and the learning environment.
Furthermore, in the study, the analyses of the diaries, field notes, and class discussions revealed that
freshmen pre-service English teachers started to think more critically about the incidents happening in
a real teaching environment. This indicates that if teacher education programs give more importance
to reflection and reflective practice, it will enhance the development of critical thinking skills at early
stages which will have a positive effect on their instructional practices in the future.
These experiences also facilitate the feeling of being a teacher and the capacity of dealing with the
complexities in the real classroom environment. To exemplify, when the participating teachers first
started the observations, they were not aware of important concepts in teaching such as teaching activi-
ties, instructional materials, and classroom management. After completion of the observation tasks, they
became more aware of effective materials and activities to be implemented during language teaching and
learning as well as with the efficient strategies to cope with classroom management problems in general.
To conclude, based on the findings of the study, through reflection and reflective activities, pre-service
teachers develop the ability to better understand their teaching skills and practices. It is recommended
that teacher education programs in Turkey should be evaluated and redesigned according to the needs
of the students, teachers, administrators, parents and other stakeholders while taking into consideration
the premises of reflection and reflective practice in professional development.

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