How Reflective Practice Promotes Personal And Professional Development Essay

How Reflective Practice Promotes Personal And Professional Development of Teachers - Essay Example ing nature of the basic learning needs of children, youth and adults requires a broadening of the scope of basic education and redefining it to meet the needs of changing times. The changing dynamics of the social fabric in multicultural societies across the globe have increasingly become major challenges within the education system, especially in UK secondary school system. 2. Need for teacher development The quality and standard of teaching considerably influences students’ performance. The teachers need to evolve and develop appropriate skills to suit the changing needs of the pupils and raise their achievement level. It is important to understand the nature of teachers’ learning in order to exploit their competencies and promote new initiatives in teaching methodologies. Moreover, the key objective of a teachers’ development program is to challenge the status quo of existing knowledge to evolve a more creative way of teaching effectively (Craft, 1996). Teache rs’ teaching is also influenced by their beliefs, ideas and their life experience (Borko, 2004). Moreover, teachers should also be able to communicate effectively to transfer knowledge. Their ability to communicate and their expertise in the subject are a critical paradigm that must be constantly updated to include new approaches and ideas. Effective communication promotes the retention of knowledge and the development of a critical outlook amongst the students. Effective teaching is contextual as its efficacy can only be tested in the context of learning and the environment and support within which it is imparted. Thus, environmental changes vis-a-vis advancing technology, globalization, demographic changes etc. become challenging issues for teachers that significantly impact teaching. Though,... This paper approves that the need to identify and evaluate various parameters of reflective practices becomes an essential ingredient for teacher development. At the same time, many other issues like socio-psychological factors have significant impact on the metacognitive responses of the teachers. Thus, the behaviour, attitude, beliefs, value system etc. of the teachers have increasingly emerged as crucial elements within teaching process for eliciting positive responses from the students. Teachers learn what type of behaviour and attitude motivates students for higher achievement. When they change their behaviour to suit the needs of the students, they improve their teaching. This report makes a conclusion that the role of teachers is important within the field of education as they are proactively involved in the development of children and students into responsible citizens. Their professional development becomes necessary due to the evolving dynamics of the external environment. Reflective practices in the professional development of teachers help to identify shortcomings and promote wider understanding of the various methodologies that can be used to enable teachers to become more articulate and effective in teaching. Reflective practices therefore have gained popularity due to their active learning processes that constantly motivate teachers to improve. The various facets of reflective practice as discussed, reveal their importance in the overall development of teachers and how they contribute in adding value to the teaching.