Developing teachers’ reflective practice: an explorative study of teachers’ professional learning experience in a private Lebanese school

Abstract

This article examines the in-house professional development program in a private school in Lebanon and the approach it adopts to train teachers on reflective practice. It identifies the contextual factors in the school that teachers perceive as supporting their professional learning of reflective practice, and investigates the teachers’ perceptions of the impact of this professional learning experience on enhancing their ability and understanding of reflective practice. The study adopted a qualitative case-study design guided by interpretive epistemology to explore the meaning that the participants gave to their professional learning experiences as they developed their reflective skills within the organizational context of a professional learning community. The study finds that the school vision of building a professional learning community combined with an in-house professional development program that provides structured opportunities for professional collaboration have set conditions that successfully promote the teachers’ ability to reflect on their practice. However, despite the promises of the school approach for promoting reflective practice, the study reveals two areas for improvement: differences in the teachers’ and administrations’ interpretations of reflection; and a limited view that both teachers and administrations hold of reflection and how it can be practiced at higher levels.

Keywords:

• professional development
• professional learning
• critical reflection
• reflective practice
• professional learning community