THE ROLE OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICES IN PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Reflective practice is a continuous self evaluation process, it aids pre service teachers in the development of personal and professional phases. Research seeks to explain the significance of self reflective practices among pre service teachers in India which remains unaddressed due to the existing research bias toward Western education systems. The research collected data through a quantitative survey-based approach from 56 pre-service teachers in order to analyze the level of their knowledge, participation, and attitude toward self-reflective practices. Results determined a gap between the acknowledgement of self-reflection and its actual deployment, meaning self-reflection practices are not used as often as they should. It was noted that most of the researched individuals performed self-reflective practices on a weekly basis as opposed to daily. The analysis shows that mentorship, reflection activities, and peer talk contribute greatly to the self-reflective practices of pre-service teachers and indicate that there is a great need to incorporate them in India?s pre-service teacher training program more rigidly. Hence, teachers will be able to promote their resilience and improve their teaching skills, along with bridging the gap between educational theories and practices for improved learning outcomes of the students. This study ends with suggestions on the use of the information technology resources, mentoring, and reflection activities which, if incorporated into the teacher training framework, would increase the effectiveness of reflective practices.