Reflective practices for quality education in Malaysia: A mixed method approach

Abstract

Teachers in Malaysia are expected to possess the necessary reflective skills to help them analyse and think through classroom situations that require diplomacy and sound judgement. This study examined the contributions of lifelong learning skills, self-assessment ability, self-belief, teaching awareness and reflective thinking in explaining the differences in teaching practices among Malaysian pre service teachers (PSTs). A mixed-methods approach was used to provide pragmatic knowledge that can be applied to further develop reflective thinking practices among PSTs. The sample of this study were 387 PSTs enrolled in Bachelor level programmes from which 11 of them volunteered to participate in the interviews. The quantitative data showed lifelong learning skills, self-belief, and teaching awareness had a significant relationship with reflective thinking. From the qualitative data analysis, PSTs were generally focused on the immediate challenge of becoming better teachers and were open to further education in time. Similarly, the results of the qualitative thread showed the PSTs were able to manage their planning, monitoring of students and evaluation of themselves and their relation to students, suggesting metacognitive awareness, a good indicator of established reflective thinking processes. Future studies will need to consider how this will influence how reflective thinking is carried out when they are practicing teachers.