Abstract:

The changing world involving globalisation, abundance of information, and rapid technological advancement is becoming an important challenge of the 21st century for every member of the society. Teachers and schools also encounter new challenges and requirements for continuous improvement, learning, and adaptation to change. The manifestation of reflective practice in the general education school as a learning institution is one of the most meaningful ways of improving the quality of school education by involving all participants of the educational process. School performance improves when its headmaster, teachers and pupils ponder on their experience and actions, analyse the organisation’s activities and events, evaluate their achievements, learn from their personal and others’ experiences, and reasonably plan their future actions. The manifestation of reflective practice is a complex phenomenon including thinking, the analysis of experience, and the practice of teaching and learning in professional activities, which promotes the teacher’s professional, personal development as well as the organisational development.

The purpose of the research is to reveal the manifestation of reflective practise in the general education school as a learning organization at the individual, group and organizational level.

Methods of the research:
1) Written survey (by applying a closed-ended questionnaire);
2) Statistical analysis: descriptive statistics, multivariate statistical methods were applied.

These include exploratory factor analysis by applying the method of principal components, calculating Cronbach α coefficient and the VARIMAX rotation with the Kaiser normalisation, analysing the factorial weight (L). The results of the study were analysed based on the data of 162 teachers working in general education schools in one of the districts of Lithuania. The results demonstrate that the manifestation of reflective practise in the general education school as a learning organisation has an effect at all – individual, group/class and organisational – levels. The individual manifestation of reflective practise is revealed through understanding of learning from one’s own and others’ experience, using reflection and self-reflection abilities. Teachers use their previous experiences and knowledge, constantly reflecting and improving their personal work and work in the classroom with pupils. They collaborate with other colleagues and encourage each other to share experiences. Reflecting in groups, they make decisions on how to improve the outcomes of their work. Teachers also improve their work using the best practice of their colleagues. Group reflection results in the change in the belief of the group, its values and attitudes. Reflective leadership at the school level manifests itself in planning work in the organisation, which also promotes reflective learning processes among all members of the school community. The strategy and objectives developed by the school are aimed at the improvement of the school’s education process through the analysis of experience. This way, conditions are created to manage change by constantly updating knowledge and improving activities within the school. Teachers learn from their experience and share leadership to achieve the best results.

Keywords:

General education school, learning organization, teachers, reflective practice.