TITLE:
Tutors’ Use of Reflective Practice to Promote Teaching and Learning
AUTHORS:
Isaac Kwame Oduro, Azaare Bertha Akuta, Alfred Kuranchie
KEYWORDS:
Reflective Practice, Pre-Service Teachers, In-Service Teachers, Teacher Education, College of Education
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.13 No.7,
July
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: Reflectiveteaching is a significant element in pre-serviceteachers’ initial training programmes as well as teachers’ continuous development activities. It has been widely acknowledged by many researchers as an approach that promotes teachers’ professional development and improves the quality of teaching and learning. The research sought to uncover the use of reflective teaching by tutors in a College of Education in Ghana. It is qualitative research based on the phenomenological research design, which implements constructivist ideas. Participants were purposively sampled in view of their professional and academic backgrounds and experiences. Data was generated via the conduct of semi-structured interviews with the participants. The data wasanalyzed in relation to the research questions that guided the study. The research revealed that the tutors had a clear understanding of reflective practice andconsidered it a vital approachthatenablestutors to identify weaknesses in the teaching process,and adopt mechanisms to assuage the weaknessesto engenderlearners’ understanding and performance.The research confirmed reflective practice as a powerful, durable, and effective agent of quality educational change and therefore urged tutors to recognise and employ it as a tool to facilitate effective teaching and learning to help in the attainment of national educational goals. It suggests that reflective practice be habitually and constantly applied by tutors in their preparation; teaching and evaluation of instructions to enable them successfully achieve the instructional objectives and haveanimprovement in pre-service teachers’ performance.