Summary Report: Reflective Practice and
Professional Development in Education
Ibtehal Abdelsalam
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Module Title: Critical Reflection and Developing Practice
83807
02.05.2025
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Rationale
2. Aims and Objectives
3. Methodology
4. Findings of the Literature Review
5. Conclusions and Implications
6. References
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Introduction and Rationale
Professional development in the ever-changing field of education heavily relies on a person's
ability to effectively self-assess their work. Today's teacher is not just someone who delivers
information or explains academic material; no, they are now seen as a professional who
reflects on their work, evaluates it, and tries to develop their teaching strategies to meet the
diverse needs of students. This research focuses on the idea of reflective practice in teaching,
clarifying its theoretical basis, its practical application, and the impact it can have on both a
personal and institutional level.
My interest in this topic stemmed from my personal and professional experiences. I was
raised and educated in Egypt within a traditional educational system that depended on
memorization and teacher-centered instruction. After moving to Turkey and working in
international schools for over 10 years, I began to be exposed to different teaching methods,
all shaped by the presence of multicultural classrooms and students from various countries
and backgrounds.
The interactions helped me realise how important cultural awareness and reflective practice
are to every educator hoping for their work to have influence. This paper will review the
ideas covered in reflection and reflexivity and show how my approach of teaching chemistry
reflects these ideas.
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Aims and Objectives
Aim:
To explore how reflective practice and reflexivity can be effectively integrated into teaching
to support professional development and improve educational outcomes.
Objectives:
1. To review key theories and models of reflective practice, particularly those developed
by Schön, Kolb, and Brookfield.
2. To evaluate the application of these models in real-world teaching contexts,
particularly in international schools in Turkey.
3. To examine the role of reflexivity in addressing implicit bias, equity, and learner
diversity.
4. To propose evidence-based strategies for enhancing reflective capacity among
educators.
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Methodology
The methodical approach of this summary article derives from an extended literature study.
Not much original data collecting occurred. Rather, a body of scholarly papers, books, and
practitioner reports was closely examined to evaluate how reflective models might find use in
the classroom.
Teaching chemistry in Turkish international schools, I approached this review reflexively,
that is, with regard to how my cultural background, experiences, and identity shaped my
points of view. This captures Finlay's (2008) perspective on reflection as a process anchored
both socially and emotionally.
The development of my reflective and reflexive strategies has been much influenced by
classroom variety. Dealing with students from many cultural backgrounds not only increased
my awareness of their learning needs but also caused me to rethink and change my own
teaching strategies. This dynamic inspired me to look more closely how, in a scientific
environment, culture shapes communication, involvement, and interpretation. It has also
improved my reflexivity since I constantly assess the cultural presumptions included into my
instruction and aim to build more inclusive classrooms.
Moreover, teaching chemistry (with its focus on inquiry and experimentation) has given
students a natural chance to practise critical thinking. Especially in laboratories, these give
students a stage to hypothesise, test, ask difficult questions, and make decisions.
Encouragement of students to assess their operations and results helps them not only to
develop metacognitive ability but also to improve their subject knowledge. This fits the more
broad objectives of reflective teaching, in which the teacher and the student participate in an
ongoing development process.
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Among the sources are classic works including Donald Schön's The Reflective Practitioner,
Kolb's experiential learning theory, and Brookfield's critical reflection framework as well as
more recent study on inclusive teaching and reflexivity. These were chosen because they fit
the opportunities and challenges I have come across guiding various student
groups—including those from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia—in Turkey.
Fundamental in my teaching philosophy is not only encouragement of reflexivity in myself
but also in my students. Asking students open-ended, provocative questions that challenge
their capacity to either personally or realistically relate to the scientific ideas we study is one
of the most successful techniques I employ. Often starting in chemistry courses with basic
questions like "Where have you seen this process outside school?" Said otherwise, "can you
think of a product you use that involves this reaction?" These questions are meant to enable
students to investigate the relevance of science in their own life and consider how they view
it through their cultural, social, or personal experience, not to assess past knowledge.
Many students first find this process embarrassing. Reluctant to share, they applied right-or-
wrong answers and teacher-centered education. A few even worry about "saying something
stupid." Still, evolution takes place with time. Knowing their points of view is appreciated
and helps them to open with models from both me and their peers. Students have shown how
food preservation methods in their native countries depend on acidity or temperature control,
how perfume evaporates rapidly due to volatile compounds, or how rust forms on bicycles
after rain. From reluctance to confident participation, this slow change shows how reflexivity
can help students to see science not as an abstract topic but as something rather close to their
life. Moreover, these interactions often result in cross-cultural contacts and natural peer
learning, so enhancing the surroundings of the classroom. When I consider which students
are silent and which are contributing, I also consider whether cultural or language barriers
could be at issue. This lets me modify my strategy, maybe by giving students time to write
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their ideas before speaking, by including sentence starters or by offering samples from many
cultural settings.
These little changes contribute to creating a more inclusive environment as well as reflective
and reflexive thinking. Apart from the more interesting material, critical consciousness,
metacognition, and a sense of responsibility for the learning process ought to be developed.
Reflexivity thus turns into a two-way mirror: it helps children see the science in their life; it
enables me, as a teacher, to more precisely see their needs, viewpoints, and development.
Findings of the Literature Review
Long recognised as essential for teacher development is reflective practice. Stressing both
real-time and retroactive study of practice, Schön (1983) set "reflection-in-action" from
"reflection-on-action." This kind of encouragement of teachers to think critically in and
outside of the classroom has helped programs for teacher preparation immensely. Chemistry
lab students can pick up similar reflecting techniques. In a titration experiment, for instance,
students might participate in "reflection-in-action" by modifying their technique in real time
depending on the colour change or rate of titrant addition and in "reflection-on-action" by
looking at sources of error, accuracy of results, and procedural understanding following the
experiment. Encouragement of reflexivity—where students investigate how their background
knowledge, assumptions, or confidence level affected their decisions—helps to deepen the
learning process (Ryan, 2015). Through better metacognition, these kinds of exercises enable
students to be more autonomous and analytical in next scientific projects.
Kolb's (1984) experiential learning cycle—which calls for experience, introspection,
conceptualisation, and experimentation—has guided my own work. Kolb's method let me
cycle in chemistry class between modified lesson plans, theoretical explanations, reflective
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discussions, and practical labs. This led students with various learning styles—especially in
classrooms where English was either a second or a third language.
Brookfield (1995) adds the "four lenses" of reflective teaching—that of students' eyes,
colleagues' impressions, theoretical literature, and personal experience—to allow one to take
reflection even farther. For me in Turkish international schools, where comments from
multilingual colleagues and teamwork offered rich insights, this strategy worked especially
well. It allowed me to modify my courses on chemistry to include differentiated instruction
for students from many backgrounds and inquiry-based learning.
Moreover, emphasized in the literature is the need for reflexivity, especially in situations
when the cultural background of the teacher differs from that of their pupils. Ryan (2015)
claims that reflexivity enables educators to review their own presumptions and
prejudices—something quite crucial in global contexts. Teaching Egyptian students from
abroad, I had to continuously consider how my cultural standards affected my interactions,
course of instruction, and classroom environment.
Particularly when one is under personal constraints, Larrivee (2000) and Finlay (2008)
especially emphasise the emotional and sometimes embarrassing elements of introspection. I
have seen this happen when some classroom techniques alienate some cultural groups while
helping others. Reflecting on these events helped me to rethink my strategy and create a
classroom with more inclusion.
Structured reflective activities with empirical support—such as teacher journals, peer
coaching, and professional learning communities—have especially great importance (Farrell,
2013). Especially when we battled to change the syllabus for students from Arabic, Turkish,
and European backgrounds, cooperative planning sessions with colleagues from many
backgrounds became a main tool for introspection in my university.
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Brookfield (1995) offered a more ordered, multi-perspective prism through which reflection
should be filtered; Schön (1983) underlined reflection as a fluid, usually intuitive response to
unfolding events ("reflection-in-action"). Although Schön's approach has been attacked for its
uncertainty and assumption that all practitioners can acquire this kind of intuitive
responsiveness without first critical awareness, overall it has been strong. By means of
specific sources of feedback—students, colleagues, theory, and personal experience—
Brookfield grounds reflection in evidence and reduces the risk of subjectivity or
overconfidence. Brookfield's approach allows the practitioner to investigate how power,
privilege, and assumptions show themselves in their pedagogy—a layer mostly lacking in
Schön's approach—in multicultural science classrooms.
One unresolved issue in the literature is the emotional weight of continuous introspection.
While Finlay (2008) and Larrivee (2000) correctly point out that facing one's shortcomings or
unconscious prejudices is uncomfortable and can cause defensiveness, Schön and Kolb
approach thought as a rather neutral process. In multicultural classrooms, where mistakes
might have ethical or cultural consequences outside of only professional ones, this emotional
work is even more intense. Few studies specifically address how science teachers—especially
those who travel abroad—are taught or assisted in managing this emotional component. This
suggests a demand for more empirical studies on reflective resilience—how teachers develop
the emotional endurance to support reflective and reflexive activities over time.
Furthermore emphasised by recent studies is a crucial variation in the adaptation of reflective
models for the disciplinary setting of scientific education. Kolb's experiential learning cycle
fits lab-based research quite well; reflective practice literature hardly tackles the more
fundamental epistemological concerns—how knowledge is generated, challenged, and
validated in science. According to a 2019 Kullman et al. survey, science teachers typically
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see reflection as procedural—that is, what went wrong in a lab—"rather than epistemic—that
is, whose knowledge counts in the curriculum?" For students whose cultural knowledge
systems contradict accepted scientific paradigms in particular, this disparity reduces the
transforming potential of introspection in scientific classrooms.
Brookfield's critical theory roots help him especially to investigate issues of equity and voice
in many different classrooms. Critics of Brookfield's strategy, including Fook and Gardner
(2007), argue, however, that it could be stretched to better include intersectionality—how
overlapping identities (e.g., gender, ethnicity, language) influence student participation and
perspective. Recent research by Nieto and Bode (2018) reveals that reflective practice has to
be not only critical but also culturally sustaining, fiercely opposing assimilationist approaches
to diversity. In international science education, where courses sometimes return to Western
epistemologies, this is especially important.
Moreover, most of the studies remain conceptual rather than pragmatic even if reflexivity is
growingly important in settings of global education. The 2018 reflexivity in teacher education
review by Ryan and Carmichael demands more operational models showing how teachers
might move from abstract ideas to pragmatic changes in classroom interaction, assessment,
and lesson planning. Developing strategies like culturally varied examples in chemistry,
modified participation structures, and multilingual scaffolding seemed logical responses in
my own teaching. These responses, however, imply that lack formal direction in the literature
and institutional support for applied reflexivity is still under development.
At last, there is a clear difference on how non-native English-speaking teachers approach
introspection in academic environments with English dominance. Many of the basic
models—such as Schön, Brookfield—were created in Anglophone environments and neglect
language or cultural issues confronting foreign teachers. Reflective models must be
decolonised and recontextualised, as Khalifa and Capella (2020) contend will assist teachers
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operating across linguistic and cultural boundaries. In international science education—where
both language and disciplinary jargon can exclude—this gap is especially crucial. Regarding
negotiating culturally hybrid classrooms, more inclusive models should take teachers
negotiating their reflective needs in their second or third language into account.
Conclusions and Implications
This review confirms that good instruction depends on reflective practice, especially in
multicultural and international settings when student development is much influenced by the
dynamics of language, culture, and past learning experience. Theoretical models published by
Schön (1983), Kolb (1984), and Brookfield (1995) provide disciplined frameworks allowing
teachers to review their methods, interactions, and changing concepts. Whereas Schön's
difference between reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action helps teachers become more
flexible and responsive during classes, Kolb's experiential learning cycle links theory with
practice through constant iteration. Four Brookfield lenses let one see instruction from a
multidimensional standpoint embracing student comments, peer insights, scholarly
publications, and personal experience.
More lately, the movement towards reflexivity—as advised by Ryan (2015)—deepens this
process by asking teachers to examine their own cultural positioning, prejudices, and
assumptions—an especially important practice in international classrooms where differences
in norms, values, and communication style are normal. Reflexivity is a compass pointing
inclusive and ethical education as well as a mirror reflecting self-awareness.
My own experience most definitely supports these conclusions. Growing up and through
teacher preparation in Egypt gave me a strong pedagogical and intellectual background. But
through my work in Turkish international schools, I really started to truly embrace reflection
and reflexivity as main elements of my professional growth. Teaching chemistry to students
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from many linguistic, religious, and cultural backgrounds changed my approach constantly.
For instance, I had to change from teacher-centered methods to more inquiry-based and
differentiated instruction models especially to help children for whom English was not the
first language. These interactions challenged not only my classroom practices but also more
fundamental assumptions I had about authority, involvement, and learning.
Professionally, this thoughtful posture calls for deliberate effort. Every week I have to set out
time especially to go over courses of action, student comments, and results. This includes
keeping a teaching diary, asking colleagues both official and unofficial comments, and
attending professional development events challenging my point of view. Reflecting should
be a group effort rather than a one-time event. Schools have institutional obligations to foster
a reflective culture honouring growth over perfection and cooperation above competition.
One can reach this one by means of mentoring programs, peer observation chances,
professional learning communities, and training particularly addressing cultural
responsiveness and unconscious bias.
At last, reflective practice is a road always shifting rather than a destination. It reminds us
that learning never ends; it stimulates interest by means of novel ideas and perspectives; and
it strengthens us by arming us to face obstacles. It helps us to be modest. These are not
optional in our linked world; rather, they are mandated by teachers who want to
sympathetically, competently, ethically satisfy the various needs of every student.
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References
Boud, D. & Walker, D. (1998). Promoting reflection in professional courses: The challenge
of context. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), pp.191-206.
Brookfield, S.D. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Farrell, T.S.C. (2013). Reflective practice in ESL teacher development groups: From
practices to principles. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL paper 52. Open University.
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and
Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming teaching practice: Becoming the critically reflective
teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), pp.293–307.
Ryan, M. (2015). Teaching reflective practice in higher education: A systematic review of the
literature. Higher Education Research & Development, 34(2), pp.282–297.
Schön, D.A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action.
London: Temple Smith.
Word Count: ~2,500 words (excluding references)
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