Exploring Physics teachers’ reflective practices and the challenges

Exploring Physics teachers’ reflective practices and the challenges

Kinga Tshering* kingat@education.gov.bt Trashigang Middle Secondary School Bhutan
Kinley Seden kseden.sce@rub.edu.bt Samtse College of Education Bhutan
Karma Utha kutha.sce@rub.edu.bt Samtse college of education Bhutan
Summary: 
Reflective practices have become an important part of the teaching and learning process. When teachers practice it, they are considering their own practice, examining curricular choices, incorporating students’ feedback and making changes to improve students’ learning. This study aimed at exploring reflective practices of Physics teachers in Bhutan. In addition, it also examined the challenges that affected Physics teachers’ reflective practices. This qualitative study gathered data from seven Physics teachers teaching in two Higher and Middle Secondary Schools located in the eastern part of Bhutan. Data for this study were obtained from four sources; semi-structured face-to-face interviews, class observations with post-observation conferences and analysis of documents. The study revealed that Physics teachers incorporated different reflective practices such as self-reflection, different strategies and skills and feedback. Factors promoting reflective approaches included different classroom activities, questions, and responses by students while challenges in the process of reflection were lack of resources, large student number, bulky syllabus, and workload. This study recommends the need for an ICT-enabled environment in the schools to promote reflective practices. In addition, it recommends the Ministry of Education to review the workload of Physics teachers.
Keywords: 
Reflective practices
reflection
teaching-learning process
feedback
qualitative method.
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