What Effective Practice Really Means - 1690 Words

In everyday life if we want to improve on something that we have done, we must be open to reflection, so that we can identify our strengths and weaknesses and find areas that can be improved on. As the GTCNI competence Framework states, â€Å"Teachers should keep curricular, subject and pedagogical knowledge up-to-date through reflection, self-study and collaboration with colleagues.† (Internet source 1) By taking this into consideration it is then evident that just like in everyday life, if teachers want to become truly effective practitioners they must develop their capacity for critically reflecting upon their practice. No person every stops learning, so no matter how long someone has been teaching, time must be given to reflect upon their†¦show more content†¦Teaching requires a combination of both the subject knowledge and an understanding of effective practice for it to be effective within the classroom. From my own experience out on the school serial days, one of the main things I noticed was that teaching involved a whole lot more than just teaching the curriculum to the pupils. All students have different methods of learning and within the classroom there is a wide range of abilities. So it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to reach their full potential, in order for them to be truly effective practitioners. On the other hand reflective practice can be seen as the central aspect of the teaching and learning process. Boyd and Fayles (1983:1) defined reflective practice as, â€Å"learning is the process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective.† Schon believes that there are two aspects to reflective practice: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Schon, D. A. (1983), [cited in