According to Dewey (1933), reflective thought is “active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (p.5). Rodgers (2002) views reflection as “a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry” and views reflection as an approach to problem solving. Reflective thinking is at the heart of the movement away from viewing the teacher as technician to the teacher as reflective practitioner (Ramsey, 2003).

Numerous studies have been conducted on the importance of reflective thinking in literature. Wubbles and Korthagen (1990) studied the relationship between teachers’ reflective thinking skills and job satisfaction. The results of this study indicated that individuals who participate in reflective thinking education have increased job satisfaction. Shieh and Hung (1992) investigated the effectiveness of students’ conceptual transfer in the study of electro-magnetism, by means of reflective thinking and learning strategy. The results of the study indicated that the scores of the experimental group who were presented with reflective thinking were higher. Norton (1997) found in his study on 42 class teachers in their first year that there is a positive relationship between effective instruction and reflective thinking. Oruç (2000) conducted a study on the effect of reflective teaching program on teachers’ perceptions of the classroom environment and attitudes to the teaching profession. The researchers’ observations and reflective journals kept by the teachers in the experimental group showed that the reflective teaching program have positive effects on teachers’ perception of the classroom environment and attitudes to the teaching profession. Leung and Kember (2003) found that there is a strong relationship between reflective thinking and deep learning approach. The studies conducted show that reflective thinking has an important role in the development of effective instruction.

Despite its power to improve learning and practice, reflection does not seem to be a spontaneous activity in the teaching profession as teachers need to actively dedicate time and effort to make reflections (Gelter, 2003). In regard of this, one could state that there are certain factors that constrain reflective thinking. According to Oxman and Barell (1983), these negative factors are shortcomings due to the teachers’ lack of training and preparation for reflective thinking, students’ lack of experience in reflective thinking, the load of the program and the school system. Moreover, according to Wendy and John (1983), teacher education programs fail to encourage student teachers to practice reflective thinking. Richert (1990) found in his study that lack of time was the reason that teachers were not reflective in their instruction. Additionally, Richert found that safety was an important issue in the conditions where teachers worked with others(cited in Pickett, 2009).

This study aimed to determine the reflective thinking profiles of class teachers. Specifically, the following research questions were investigated: (a) What are the views of class teachers regarding reflective thinking attributes? (b) What are the results of observations of class teachers’ attributes of reflective thinking?  

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