Reflective Practice – Becoming a reflective practitioner

Workshop Workbook

Louise Livesey

This workshop will:

Introduce the key ideas within reflective practice and explore methods for
engaging in meaningful reflection. It will also examine some of the key models
used for reflection and discuss strengths and weaknesses of them.

Teaching points:

• What reflection is and is not

• Components and stages of the reflection process
• Reflective skills
• Examine models of reflection

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What is reflection and why is it important?

George Santayana, “Those who cannot

1863-1952, Poet & remember the past are
Philosopher . condemned to repeat it.”

Reflective practice, as a concept for learning, was introduced into many

professions in the 1980’s. It is seen as one of the ways that professionals learn
from experience in order to understand and develop their practice. Basically
reflective practice means that we learn by thinking about things that have
happened to us and looking at them in a different way, which enables us to
take some kind of action.

What is it? Why is it important?

- The ability to use past experience to - You don’t rely on others to learn,
inform future action. grow and improve.

- The active allocation of time to this - You take forward positives and
review of past experience. develop strategies to deal with
negatives.
- During this time, the analysis of that
past experience to identify its - It adds to your critical thinking
features, components, causes and toolkit.
effects.
- It improves the experience of
- The identification of where help, those you serve, help or work
improvement, knowledge or support with through your self-
can be gleaned from. development.

- The commitment to an idea that - Graduate-level professions rarely

nothing is perfect – everything can be want unthinking people who
built upon. cannot learn from mistakes or
enhance the field they work in.

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What it is not

X Conveyance of information, instruction or argument in a report, essay or ‘recipe’.

X Straightforward description, though description is an element
X A straightforward decision, e.g. about whether something is right/wrong, or
good/bad, etc
X Simple problem solving like recalling how to get to the nearest train station

Activity

See how you do without any information about reflection. Make two lists of things you
have done over the past week. On one side of the page, write down three things that you
would consider as routine or regular experiences. In this list might be things like ‘catching
the bus to university’; ‘collecting the children from school’; ‘doing the weekly shopping’.
Your second list will be ten things that have been different from your usual experiences.
These will probably stick out more in your mind because of this – for instance, you may
have booked a holiday, been to a party, received a piece of work back from a tutor or
learned a new skill at work.

Routine or regular Different from the norm

Select one of the experiences in your first list, and think about how you did it. Ask yourself
the following questions and make notes of the answers:

- What did I do?

- Why did I do it the way I did?

- What other ways could I have done it?

- How did I know to do it the way I did?

- What had I learned from doing it previously that means that I did it the way I
did?
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Now repeat this using an experience from your second list, answering these extra
questions as well:

- What did I do?

- Why did I do it the way I did?

- What other ways could I have done it?

- How did I know to do it the way I did?

- What had I learned from doing it previously that means that I did it the way I
did?

- What experience, or previous learning, have I drawn on to inform this

experience?

- What new learning has occurred?

- What have I learned that I will be able to use in the future?

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 Key ideas

Atkins identified the following three key stages in the reflective processes (for more
detailed information, see handout):

1. Awareness - The first stage is triggered by an awareness of (usually) uncomfortable

feelings and thoughts. This may arise because of some situation or event which does
not unfold in the way we would expect, whether that be positive or negative. Either
way there is some ‘out of the ordinary’ experience which causes us to begin
reflecting.
2. Critical Analysis - The second stage involves a critical analysis of the situation that
leads to an examination of feelings and knowledge – a ‘thinking on your feet’
situation, based on experience in the decision making process or ‘reflection in action’.
This means that when that feeling of inner discomfort is felt a change is immediately
made to bring about a better result. We may also want to talk with our colleagues
and learn from their experience.
3. New perspectives - The third stage involves ‘the development of a new perspective on
the situation.’ This means, moving from a position of a detached observer, to one of
becoming involved’.

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 • Awareness of positive or negative
feelings

• Critical analysis or asking

questions of ourselves

• New perspectives, ie moving

from being detached to involved

Reflective practice skills

In order to become a reflective practitioner, the individual needs to acquire the skills of
reflective practice

Activity
There are six skills the reflective practitioner look to develop which work in a cycle. These
are
Description Synthesis Change

Critical Analysis Evaluation Self-awareness

Place each of these in the diagram below and jot down what you are doing in each stage.
(Completed cycle follows and answers are on handout)

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Conclusion
Self awareness, description, critical analysis and evaluation are important skills for
reflection. Reflection itself is a complex but vital skill which is central both to our capacity
to learn from experience and to apply that learning to our professional practice.

Engaging in meaningful reflection

It’s all very well knowing the process of reflection and we will briefly discuss later the
different practical ways of learning through reflection, but how do you actually start
writing and what do you write?

Key reflective models

Below are three different models of reflection. With your neighbour, read and analyse
each model answering the questions below each. (Answers are at the end of the
workbook)
Three ‘whats’ stage reflection process:

What? Keep it short – give the reader

just enough context to understand what
comes next

So what? The most substantial part of

your work. Make the link between your
personal experience and the knowledge
and experience of others.

Now what? A short section- next steps or

action plan

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What strengths does this model have?

What are its weaknesses and how could these be improved?

Kolb’s cycle of reflection

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 What strengths does this model have?

What are its weaknesses and how could these be improved?

Gibb’s Cycle

What strengths does this model have?

What are its weaknesses and how could these be improved?

How might this (Gibbs) work on paper?

A member of the group, Delia, stormed out when Rob and Shireen pointed out that her
performance was not very good. They were being honest with Delia, even if it was not
very sensitive. Tuckman (2004) has found that during the ‘storming’ stage of groups,
group members often argue as they feel more comfortable in being honest but might
not have yet developed ‘norms’ of acceptable group behaviour.

It is important to demonstrate respect when working with others if you want them to
feel valued (Weiss, 2000). I now know how important this is and will try to learn more
about respectful, assertive communication.

What strengths does this excerpt have?

What are its weaknesses and how could these be improved?

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Answers

3 Whats Strengths: simple and straightforward

3 Whats Weaknesses: lack of detail may hinder certain aspects of reflections; no
mention of theory
Kolb’s cycle Strengths: concept that learning perpetuates itself, i.e. an individual is
constantly learning and improving
Kolb’s cycle Weaknesses: still a little simplistic?
Gibb’s cycle Strengths: applicable to many disciplines
Gibb’s cycle Weaknesses: is it a cycle? Does the cycle continue from Conclusion to
Action plan as there may not be a similar situation arising again so the process could
legitimately stop. Does this mean we close the cycle?

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 References

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/subjects/medev/Focus-
_Becoming_a_reflective_practitioner
Prof. David Brigden, Mr Nigel Purcell. Accessed 17.2.14

https://www.iaff.org/ET/JobAid/LHRC/What_is_the_Tuckman_Model_of_team_developme
nt_.htm Accessed 18.2.14 Bruce Tuckman’s model of team development

Atkins S, Murphy K. Reflection: a review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing

1993; 18: 118-119

Blomfield R. Hardy. In Trender L & Reynold S, Eds (2000) Evidence Based Practice. A
Critical Appraisal. Blackwell Science

Brigden D.R, Lilley J.D., and Sackville A.D. (1999) ‘Encouraging Reflective Practice’:
Mersey Deanery Occasional Paper

Eraut M. (1994) ‘Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence’ Falmer

Jasper, M. (2013) Beginning reflective practice. 2nd ed. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Moon, J.A. (2004) Reflection in learning and professional development. 2nd ed. London :
Routledge

Moon, J.A. (2009) A handbook of reflective and experiential learning : theory and practice
Abingdon : RoutledgeFalmer.

Perkins E.R. (2006) ‘Training and Education’. Evidence Health Promotion. UK: Wiley
Spiro, J., Williams, K., and Woolliams, M. (2012) Reflective Writing. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.

Taylor J.L., and Svensson J (1999) Radiography Student Guide Cambridge: Anglia
Polytechnic University

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