Development of reflective practice through in-service teacher education program: A case study of a participant

The English language is the number one language in the world so far as its influence and number of speakers are concerned. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, the effective teaching of this language has been neglected at levels. As a result, the written & oral comprehension has gone down to the lowest ebb. While the general situation of education is dismal enough, that of learning/teaching of English invites pessimism. Despite its importance and influence teaching of English in Pakistan has not received the serious academic attention it deserves. Learning new ways of teaching is a long term process. Teacher development looks beyond initial training and deals with the on-going professional development of teachers, particularly, through in-service education programs. Some in-service programs go beyond teaching techniques at the classroom level to develop the participants as self-directed learners. One of the most important ways to achieve that is their development as reflective practitioners through critical thinking. Do the teachers who attend such programs become better reflective thinkers and practitioners than others? What methods do they use to inculcate reflective practice in them, if at all? Using interviews and descriptive observation, a case study was made of the reflective practice of an in-service program participant in the contexts of the teacher-education institute and the school. Most of the research was carried out in the in-service context of the teacher (the classroom). Still, some ADELT sessions were also attended to see how praxis was being translated from theory. I explored the successes and failures of in-service teacher education program with regard to the development of reflective practice. This study describes how an in-service teacher education program helps teachers become reflective practitioners. I have made an attempt to investigate what reflective practice means to the teachers and how it helps improve their classroom practice. Teachers are mostly reluctant to implement what they learn from in-service teacher education programs. Their challenges, and constraints have also been discussed. The study concludes that self-directed learning if implemented well, motivates participants to learn on their own and from each other