Exploring Reflective Practice as a Supportive Professional Development Tool for Novice Teachers: A Narrative Inquiry

As a novice teacher, I experienced many obstacles in my first two years of teaching in a South African school context. Before embarking on my teaching career in South Africa, I taught in Taiwan for six years. The South African context proved to be very different and any or all expectations I had, was disempowering as there were no support programs in place for novice teacher. It thus became my concern to ascertain the possibilities of exploring reflective practice as a supportive professional development tool. This study was a narrative inquiry of processes to encourage and maintain novice teachers’ professional development. The data in this study comprised of journal entries and field notes, which were constructed from my conversations with colleagues and my observations of my own practice. Main ideas were developed within my narrative to analyze. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the possibilities of professional development through reflective practice; to highlight reflective practice as a strategy which might bring about change, however imperfect, and to consider the human agency in this. The initial process of novice teachers entering the teaching profession is often associated with the terms “sink or swim”. This process can often lead to feeling vulnerable and confused. The aim of this chapter is thus to show that based on my personal experience as a novice teacher, a “swim” mentality is possible for novice teachers by using reflective practice as a supportive professional development tool.