Abstract:

A qualitative research is conducted to identify the level of reflection attained by primary school teachers and specific factors that could determine higher level of reflection. In more detail, the present research aims to categorize the critical incidents, to identify the level of reflection achieved by teachers through the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) according to the categorization of Lee (2005). Finally, it aims to examine whether gender, age, level of education and years of teaching experience of teachers are related to their level of reflection. The Critical Incident Technique was selected and implemented through twenty teachers’ semi-structured interviews. For the interpretation of research data, thematic analysis is primarily chosen to explore the level of teachers' reflection and furthermore SPSS 25 is used to examine factors that could determine a higher level of reflection. The results so far indicate that the majority of participants tend to reflect on Rationalization Level while a small percentage of the sample leads to a higher level of reflection, Reflective Level, in accordance with Lee’s three-level categorization of reflective thinking’s depth (namely Recall Level, Rationalization Level, Reflective Level). The research also highlights specific factors, such as age, level of education, years of teaching experience that have a crucial impact on teachers’ developing a higher level of reflection. They also confirm that CIT can provide teachers with valuable feedback about the complexity of their teaching practice and also helps them discover aspects of their work and the nature of their work, relationships with other teachers/ students and thus leading to changes in the way they think, feel or act in order to cope with subsequent similar incidents in matters of their daily practice, ensuring and fostering thus their professional development. In conclusion, CIT analysis is an authentic educational experience for reflection, self-criticism and reconstruction of the teachers’ educational practice according to their weaknesses and wrong practices in their teaching work. Therefore, the necessary foundations for future actions are strengthened and as a result CIT analysis is an opportunity for both personal and professional development. All things considered, these qualitative data that are provided and the conclusions drawn through in the first phase of the present research will be supplemented, generalized and quantified of a larger sample of teachers in the second research phase.

Keywords:

Level of reflection, primary school teachers, Critical Incident Technique, qualitative research.