Systematic reflective enquiry methods in teacher education

This paper discusses the importance of teaching the capacity to be reflective at earlier points of the professional development, so that teachers can be more receptive to change. Literature argues that in order to embrace the pedagogical practices that teachers need to learn in order to become professionals, they have to bring their beliefs about teaching to a conscious level and accommodate them with new knowledge acquired during the training. It presents the case study of 14 teacher trainees before and after the implementation of a systematic reflective enquiry method. In conclusion it argues that this approach to teaching could facilitate in-depth reflection and lead to a more autonomous learner that can make sense of the way old beliefs interfere with new theories and that is able to make the right decisions for changing professional practice. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Dr. Zafer Bekirogullari.