Transforming Teacher Beliefs About Reflective Practice: A Study of Professional Development in Special Education Schools

This qualitative research was grounded on the conceptual change theory and aimed to determine how a planned professional development program impacted the beliefs of in-service teachers regarding reflective practice in special education settings. The study determined the extent and way contextually designed program of incorporating an initial workshop and subsequent guided experiential and reflective activities changed the professional beliefs of the teachers. In this intervention study ten teachers in schools under special education in Sialkot, Pakistan were involved in the study. In form of pre interview and post interview, those were also gathered via the reflective journals and pictures and with respect to the reflection regarding peer observation. Thematic analysis indicated that the beliefs of the participants about reflective practice changed essentially as the participants displayed demonstration of a greater willingness to systematically reflect and engage in constructive dialogues. The participants demonstrated a deeper knowledge of reflection as a tool of professional learning and the firmly assured capability at applying reflective strategies. The conclusions indicate that appropriate professional development plans with theoretical backgrounds supported with consistent practice are capable of driving belief change among special education teachers. The research is a significant addition to the knowledge on the role of the response to the context-based approach in helping teachers develop in a challenging educational setting, and the findings have some implications to agenda setting in the design of a viable teacher education project in a developing context.