Effect of Reflective Teaching Practices on the Performance of Prospective Physical Education Teachers

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of reflective teaching practices on the performance of prospective Physical Education teachers. Based on experimental research design forty (N=40) female prospective Physical Education teachers at Bandarawela National College of Education, Uva province, Sri Lanka were selected as subjects by using a purposive sampling method. The age of the subjects ranged from 21 – 24 years. Selected subjects were randomly divided into two equal groups: Group I (experimental group, n=20, underwent the teaching module program 40 minutes/session, five days per week for six weeks); Group II (control group, n=20). Teacher appearance, lesson planning, brainstorming, presentation, learning activity, extended work, critical and creative learning, affective classroom climate, classroom management, concept understanding, communication skill, feedback, use of instructional time, assessment and evaluation, overall professional development of teacher, and self-reflection were taken as criterion variables of this study. The selected subjects were tested on criterion variables by using the rubric level test before and after the experiment. The mixed ANOVA test was used to analyze the mean values of the pre-test and post-test of the experimental group and control group. In all the cases 0.05 level of confidence was fixed to test the significance. The results revealed that there was a significant difference found in all criterion variables. Mean differences showed a positive effect on all criterion variables. The mean difference between the control group and experimental group was 0.18 and 0.98 respectively and the significant difference of each indicator was p < 0.05. It was concluded that reflective teaching practice has a positive effect on enhancing the performance of prospective physical education teachers. The study also suggests conducting additional research to emphasize the value of reflective teaching practices to a more comprehensive and diverse for prospective teachers.