An inquiry on the practice of ‘Reflective teaching’ among Secondary school teachers to bridge theory-practice gap in their professional service: the case of Secondary schools in technology villages on Hawassa University

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore the status of secondary school teachers’ engagement in reflective practice. The types of reflection in which secondary school teachers are engaged in, and the factors hindering the teachers’ engagement in reflective practice were the two basic questions to be answered by the research. To achieve the purpose of the research and answer the questions, mixed methods research design was used. The data were collected from secondary school teachers through questionnaire and focused group discussion. The findings of the research revealed that teachers were not engaged in reflective practice. Teachers' weak planning and evaluation of their lessons before implementation affected their reflection for-action; their weak focus on the effectiveness of their lessons during implementation affected their reflection-in-action, and their weak trend of evaluating the effectiveness of their lesson after implementation affected their reflection on-practice. From the data analysis, the factors which affected the teachers’ reflective practice were identified, and the implications of the results were indicated.