Teacher development: Critical friends group

Owing to the changes in economy and politics, the education system in Turkey has been exposed to educational reforms. One of the key elements in implementing the educational reforms into the classroom is the professional development of teachers, which has received a great deal of attention for a long time. Thus, the Ministry of National Education has implemented teacher development meetings and workshops to enhance the qualities of teachers. However, the study of Baran and Çağıltay (2006) reveal that not many teachers have engaged in the teacher development activities willingly since they feel that these activities do not contribute to their professional development. As Yumru (2000) suggests, a sense of ownership rests on the core of professional development of teachers. In this study, it was aimed to explore whether Critical Friends Group (CFG), a kind of teacher development program based on reflective teaching, can contribute to teachers? professional development through creating opportunities for them to share their experiences and dilemmas related to their teaching in collegiality. The researcher acted, as a participant observer, called CFG facilitator and 4 participant teachers were included in this study lasted 8 weeks. The data was collected using diary keeping, the researchers? field notes, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that Critical Friends Group programs could contribute to professional development of teachers by enabling teachers to work in collaboratively to improve their professional knowledge and teaching in a supportive and reflective professional community.