Predicting Reflective thinking among Saudi Elementary School Teachers in Riyadh Public Schools

Abstract

One of the educational objectives of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is to develop students who are creative and critical thinkers. The present study thus examined Saudi elementary teachers’ reflective thinking, based on the ideas that teachers who possess reflective thinking will have direct influence on their students’ thinking, and that reflective thinking is closely related to critical and creative thinking. The study looked at four variables, lifelong learning, self-awareness, self-belief, and teaching awareness, testing each variable’s influence on teachers’ reflective thinking skills. The study adopted and utilized the instrument of reflective thinking developed by Choy, Yim, and Tan (2017) creating a survey to examine these relationships. The study found that only two of the constructs, teaching awareness and self-awareness, have a significant relationship with reflective thinking. Self-belief and lifelong learning were found to have no significant relationship with reflective thinking. The results suggest that it is necessary to incorporate activities and practices that foster reflective thinking into teacher preparation programs. It is suggested to conduct further research in order to identify what factors influence teachers’ reflective thinking and to compare teachers of different students’ ages.