Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioningAlbert Einstein
Reflective practice allows a childcare professional to maintain and continuously improve the quality of their educational practice and continuously improve the quality of their educational practice. It involves a continuous cycle of questioning one’s own assumptions about good practice and self-examination with a goal of developing and improving professional practice. (Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, 2016).
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer who worked in developing the theory of reflective practice in the early 20th century. In 1910 he wrote that reflective practice refers to the “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it”. He noted the difference between actions based on reflection compared with action based on impulsive thinking.
Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one’s actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learningDavid Shön
Donald Shön also worked on developing the theory of reflective practice in professional development. He particularly applied the concept of reflective practice as an useful tool for new teachers to help them improve. He observed that reflective practice had two parts to it: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action.
Watch
Understanding Reflective Practice
Reflective practice is a way of analysing the things you do and thinking about how you could develop or improve your behaviour, skills or knowledge.
Expected Duration: 3:13 minutes
Questions
Pre Watch Question: As you watch the video, think about how reflective practice can help you in your own practice.
Post Watch Task: Note down the key points about what reflective thinking and reflective practice are.
- What did I learn?
- What do I need to learn more about?
- What was easy?
- Why did I feel the way I did?
- What went well?
- What was difficult?
- What went badly?
- How can I improve in the future?
- I wonder what would happen if...
Reflective practice allows kaiako to continually evaluate and improve their teaching methods and overall professional practice, as well as interactions with tamariki.
Watch
Experiential Learning: How We All Learn Naturally
The most natural and powerful form of learning is through experience, or more precisely through reflection on doing. This is also known as experiential learning.
Expected Duration: 3:53 minutes
Reading
Effective critical reflection: Creating a sustainable culture during (and after) initial teacher education
A teacher explains on the use of reflective practice as an effective tool in the development of teaching and learning.
Expected Duration: 20 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: What are the benefits of becoming a reflective educator?
Post Read Task: Note down examples from your own practice where you engaged in reflective practice. Are there any disadvantages to engaging in reflective practice?
A reflective diary is a good way for an early childhood educator record a range of experiences, thoughts, feelings and reflections. Reflective diaries can take different forms: dialogue journal, daily diary, teaching log etc. and should suit the individual user. The reflective diary is used to note experiences, feelings and reflections candidly. (Di Pardo Leon-Henri, 2020)
Reading
14 Reasons Teachers Should Keep a Reflective Journal
Reflective journals can take many shapes, sizes and forms. This article explains the benefits of keeping a journal to develop a critical eye for troubleshooting in the classroom.
Expected Duration: 30 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: Do you keep a reflective diary?
URL: https://reflectiveteachingjournal.com/reasons-teachers-should-keep-a-reflective-journal/
Post Read Task: How can you use a reflective diary in your own practice? Use the advice in this article to help you get going, if you don’t already do this! What form do you/would you use in your own reflective journal?
The Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a structured model for reflection, commonly used in education as well as in healthcare and other professional fields. It is one of the best-known reflection models and consists of six stages to reflect on an experience: Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusion and Action Plan.
Watch
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle Explained
In this video, we'll explain the theory behind Gibbs' Reflective Cycle and look at a detailed example so you can bring the theory to life.
Expected Duration: 8:46 minutes
Post Watch Task: Read the following article and start thinking about how you could implement this model in your own work life.
Reading
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
One of the most famous cyclical models of reflection leading you through six stages exploring an experience.
Expected Duration: 20 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: As you read this article make notes of the key points of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle.
URL: https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/gibbs-reflective-cycle
Post Read Task: Conduct further research into Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle and provide examples of the six stages. What are the positives and negatives of using this model?
The What? So what? Now what? model is a simple framework for reflection, with three stages defined to move from thinking about the experience to its implications and then the consequences for future action.
Watch
What is a Critical Reflection? Introducing the “What, So What, Now What” Model
Critical reflection explained with the What? So What? Now What? model of reflection described.
Expected Duration: 2:44 minutes
Post Watch Task: Read the following article and start thinking about how you could implement this model in your own work life.
Reading
What? So What? Now What?
One of the simplest frameworks of reflection - by moving through three reflective stages, you will think about an experience, its implications, and what that means for the future.
Expected Duration: 20 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: As you read this article make notes of the key points of the What? So What? Now What? model of reflection
URL: https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/what-so-what-now-what
Post Read Task: What are the positives and negatives of this model?
Kolb’s Learning Cycle is another four stage model which is used to understand and enhance learning from experience with each stage supporting and feeding into the next.
Watch
Kolb’s Learning Cycle Explained with Example
Kolb’s Learning Cycle aka the Experiential Learning Cycle explained, looking at the four stages
Expected Duration: 10:57 minutes
Post Watch Task: Read the following article and start thinking about the relevance of Kolb’s model for your own reflective practice
Reading
Kolb’s Learning Styles And Experiential Learning Cycle
A detailed article looking at David Kolb’s learning styles model which is based on the learner’s internal cognitive processes.
Expected Duration: 20 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: As you read this article make notes of the key points of Kolb’s Learning Cycle
URL: https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Post Read Task: What are the positives and negatives of this model?
John Smyth believes that there are four forms of action a teacher needs to engage in to overcome the forces which hold them back with respect to their practice. His model of reflection consists of:
- Describe
Describe the event or experience in detail, including the context, people involved, actions taken and any relevant background information - Inform
Analyse the event by examining the reasons behind your actions and factors which influenced the outcome. Reflect on the emotions, thoughts and assumptions that were present during the experience. - Confront
Evaluate the event by assessing its strengths and weaknesses. Reflect on what went well and what could have been improved. - Reconstruct
Identify actionable insights and develop an action plan for future practice.
Reading
Smyth’s Model of Reflection
An overview of multiple different models of reflection, including Smyth’s model.
Expected Duration: 15 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: What are the four stages of Smyth’s Model of Reflection?
URL: https://blog.storypark.com/2022/09/reflective-practice-in-early-childhood-education/
Post Read Task: What are the positives and negatives of this model? Research further about the model on other websites. Look at other models of reflection described in this blog which we haven’t specifically looked at in this topic. Do any of them resonate with you?
The DATA Model of Reflection has similarities to Smyth’s Model, but some differences too. The DATA model also consists of four stages: Describe, Analyse, Theorise, Act. On the surface this may look the same as Smyth’s model, but there are differences in the Theorise stages, where the DATA model emphasises the exploration of relevant theories, concepts or literature to gain deeper insights into the experience being reflected on, whereas Smyth’s Evaluation stage does not specifically integrate theory.
Reading
Reflective Models
An overview of multiple different models of reflection, including the DATA model.
Expected Duration: 15 minutes
Questions
Pre Read Question: How does exploring theory make this model different from Smyth’s model? Is this something you would find useful in practice?
URL: https://literacynz.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/reflective-models/
Post Read Task: What are the positives and negatives of this model? Research further about the model on other websites. Look at other models of reflection described in this article which we haven’t specifically looked at in this topic. Do any of them resonate with you?
You’ve reached the end of this topic. Let’s go over the key points:
- What is reflective practice and why is it important
- Why you should use a reflective diary in your practice
- Different models of reflection
- Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
- What? So What? Now What?
- Kolb’s Learning Cycle
- Smyth’s Model of Reflection
- DATA Model of Reflection
And that’s the end of the learning content for this Course 1! Make sure you’ve completed the quiz questions and have submitted your assessments. The next module is “Communities of Aotearoa | New Zealand”.
