Abstract

• The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of students teachers, regarding learning outcomes associated with reflective journal writing and their critical thinking skills in Education Degree Colleges of Ayeyarwady, Yangon and Bago (East) Regions. This study was also to evaluate and determine the reflective thinking and critical thinking skills of student teachers. Reflective journal writing is used extensively in teacher training program curriculum, specifically those preparing to become teachers with reflective and critical thinking skills. The original Reflective Journaling Instrument developed by McMullan (2006) and Maloney et al. (2013) that was adapted by Genua in 2019 was used in this study.The study was performed with the participation of 669 (male = 331 and female =338 ) student teachers enrolled in the seven selected Education Degree College from three regions in (2022-2023) Academic Year. Participants were selected by using simple random sampling method. The independent sample t-test and Tukey HSD multiple comparison results showed that reflective thinking skills as well as perceptions on reflective journal writing do not depend on gender but depend on EDCs. This means that student teachers in each EDC have different perceptions on reflective journal writing. In the comparison of student teachers' critical thinking skills by gender and by EDCs, there were significant differences. This means that student teachers' critical thinking skills depend on gender and EDC. The result of the value of Pearson product-moment showed a significant correlation. Reflective journal writing and critical thinking skills were positively correlated. This means that reflective journal writing in teacher education develop student teachers' critical thinking skills. Therefore, this study can provide some innovations and self-assessment habits for nurturing program of effective teachers to create an educated nation in the 21st century.