Examining Reflective Practice in the Syrian EFL Postgraduate Context

Reflective practice plays a significant role in teacher learning and professional development. It contributes to the development of the quality of instruction and offers opportunities for teachers to self-assess their teaching knowledge and practices (Cirocki & Farrell, 2017; Farrell, 2015; McGregor & Cartwright, 2011). This chapter thoroughly accounts for reflective practice as implemented in a teacher education programme in Syria. The programme, run in 2009 for the first time, is offered as a master’s degree in TESOL at the four largest state universities in Syria (Damascus, Aleppo, Al-Baath, and Tishreen). This chapter both describes and examines how different types of reflective practice are embedded in this programme while highlighting their strengths and the challenges they have faced. Different examples of reflective practice and also professional development offered to teacher learners (e.g., portfolios, post-observation conferences) from module content and assessment are provided and critically analyzed. The analysis of reflective practice in this Syrian EFL context is linked to the wider social, cultural, and political influences that directly impact not only on the provision of the programme, but also how it is provided, with a particular focus on reflective practice. These sociocultural and socio-political factors are even further relevant to the Syrian context after the start of the conflict in 2011 and the refugee crisis that followed. The chapter concludes with pedagogical implications and recommendations for how the programme could further promote reflective practice and help build reflective practitioners.