Reflective Practice
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Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to take a critical stance or attitude towards one's own practice and that of one's peers, engaging in a process of continuous adaptation and learning. According to one definition it involves "paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight". A key rationale for reflective practice is that experience alone does not necessarily lead to learning; deliberate
reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to: Science and technology * Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon ** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface *** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water ** Signal reflection, in ...
on experience is essential. Reflective practice can be an important tool in
practice-based professional learning Practice-based professional learning (PBPL) is understood in contrast to classroom- or theory-based learning. It is kindred to terms such as work-based learning, workplace or work-centred learning. Distinctive, though, are a concern for professiona ...
settings where people learn from their own professional experiences, rather than from
formal learning Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
or knowledge transfer. It may be the most important source of personal professional development and improvement. It is also an important way to bring together theory and practice; through reflection a person is able to see and label forms of thought and theory within the context of his or her work. A person who reflects throughout his or her practice is not just looking back on past actions and events, but is taking a conscious look at emotions, experiences, actions, and responses, and using that information to add to his or her existing knowledge base and reach a higher level of
understanding Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object. Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object ...
.


History and background

Donald Schön Donald Alan Schön (September 19, 1930 – September 13, 1997) was an American philosopher and professor in urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He developed the concept of reflective practice and contributed to the theory ...
's 1983 book ''The Reflective Practitioner'' introduced concepts such as ''reflection-on-action'' and ''reflection-in-action'' which explain how professionals meet the challenges of their work with a kind of improvisation that is improved through practice. However, the concepts underlying reflective practice are much older. Earlier in the 20th century, John Dewey was among the first to write about reflective practice with his exploration of experience, interaction and reflection. Soon thereafter, other researchers such as
Kurt Lewin Kurt Lewin ( ; 9 September 1890 – 12 February 1947) was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. During his professional career Lewin applied hi ...
and
Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemolo ...
were developing relevant theories of human learning and development. Some scholars have claimed to find precursors of reflective practice in ancient texts such as
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
teachings and the ''
Meditations ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' in Koine ...
'' of
Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism; one whose moral quality is associated with that school of philosophy * STOIC, a programming language * ''Stoic'' (film), a 2009 film by Uwe Boll * ''Stoic'' (mixtape), a 2012 mixtape by rapper T-Pain * ...
philosopher
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
. Central to the development of reflective theory was interest in the integration of theory and practice, the cyclic pattern of experience and the conscious application of lessons learned from experience. Since the 1970s, there has been a growing literature and focus around
experiential learning Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...
and the development and application of reflective practice. As adult education professor David Boud and his colleagues explained: "Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning." When a person is experiencing something, he or she may be implicitly learning; however, it can be difficult to put emotions, events, and thoughts into a coherent sequence of events. When a person rethinks or retells events, it is possible to categorize events, emotions, ideas, etc., and to compare the intended purpose of a past action with the results of the action. Stepping back from the action permits
critical reflection Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgement. The subject is complex; several different definitions exist, which generally include the rational, skeptical, and unbiased analysis ...
on a sequence of events. The emergence in more recent years of
blogging A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
has been seen as another form of reflection on experience in a technological age.


Models

Many models of reflective practice have been created to guide reasoning about action. However, they are not without their criticisms, and need to be understood within the context within which they were written.


Borton 1970

Terry Borton's 1970 book ''Reach, Touch, and Teach'' popularized a simple
learning cycle A learning cycle is a concept of how people learn from experience. A learning cycle will have a number of stages or phases, the last of which can be followed by the first. John Dewey In 1933, John Dewey described five phases or aspects of reflect ...
inspired by
Gestalt therapy Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility and focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist–client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life ...
composed of three questions which ask the practitioner: ''What'', ''So what'', and ''Now what''? Through this analysis, a description of a situation is given which then leads into the scrutiny of the situation and the construction of knowledge that has been learnt through the experience. Subsequently, practitioners reflect on ways in which they can personally improve and the consequences of their response to the experience. Borton's model was later adapted by practitioners outside the field of education, such as the field of nursing and the helping professions.


Kolb and Fry 1975

Learning theorist
David A. Kolb David Allen Kolb (born December 12, 1939, in Moline, Illinois) is an American educational theorist whose interests and publications focus on experiential learning, the individual and social change, career development, and executive and professi ...
was highly influenced by the earlier research conducted by John Dewey and
Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemolo ...
. Kolb's reflective model, which also draws from the works of
Kurt Lewin Kurt Lewin ( ; 9 September 1890 – 12 February 1947) was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. During his professional career Lewin applied hi ...
, highlights the concept of
experiential learning Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...
and is centered on the transformation of information into knowledge. This takes place after a situation has occurred, and entails a practitioner reflecting on the experience, gaining a general understanding of the concepts encountered during the experience, and then testing these general understandings in a new situation. In this way, the knowledge that is formed from a situation is continuously applied and reapplied, building on a practitioner's prior experiences and knowledge.


Argyris and Schön 1978

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...
researchers Chris Argyris and
Donald Schön Donald Alan Schön (September 19, 1930 – September 13, 1997) was an American philosopher and professor in urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He developed the concept of reflective practice and contributed to the theory ...
introduced the "theory of action", which emerged out of their previous research on relationship between people and organizations. This theory defines learning as detection and correction of error. It included the distinction between ''single-loop learning'' and ''
double-loop learning Double-loop learning entails the modification of goals or decision-making rules in the light of experience. The first loop uses the goals or decision-making rules, the second loop enables their modification, hence "double-loop". Double-loop learnin ...
'' in 1978. Single-loop learning is when a practitioner or organisation, even after an error has occurred and a correction is made, continues to rely on current strategies, techniques or policies when a situation again comes to light. Double-loop learning involves the modification of objectives, strategies or policies so that when a similar situation arises a new framing system is employed. Schön claimed to derive the notions of "reflection-on-action, reflection-in-action, responding to problematic situations, problem framing, problem solving, and the priority of practical knowledge over abstract theory" from the writings of John Dewey, although education professor Harvey Shapiro has argued that Dewey's writings offer "more expansive, more integrated notions of professional growth" than do Schön's. Schön advocated two types of reflective practice. Firstly, reflection-on-action, which involves reflecting on an experience that you have already had, or an action that you have already taken, and considering what could have been done differently, as well as looking at the positives from that interaction. The other type of reflection Schön notes is reflection-in-action, or reflecting on your actions as you are doing them, and considering issues like best practice throughout the process. For Schön, professional growth really begins when a person starts to view things with a critical lens, by doubting his or her actions.
Doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty ...
brings about a way of thinking that questions and frames situations as "problems". Through careful planning and systematic elimination of other possible problems, doubt is settled, and people are able to affirm their knowledge of the situation. Then people are able to think about possible situations and their outcomes, and deliberate about whether they carried out the right actions.


Gibbs 1988

Learning researcher Graham Gibbs discussed the use of structured
debriefing Debriefing is a report of a mission or project or the information so obtained. It is a structured process following an exercise or event that reviews the actions taken. As a technical term, it implies a specific and active intervention process t ...
to facilitate the reflection involved in Kolb's experiential
learning cycle A learning cycle is a concept of how people learn from experience. A learning cycle will have a number of stages or phases, the last of which can be followed by the first. John Dewey In 1933, John Dewey described five phases or aspects of reflect ...
. Gibbs presents the stages of a full structured debriefing as follows: * (Initial experience) * Description *: "What happened? Don't make judgements yet or try to draw conclusions; simply describe." * Feelings *: "What were your reactions and feelings? Again don't move on to analysing these yet." * Evaluation *: "What was good or bad about the experience? Make value judgements." * Analysis *: "What sense can you make of the situation? Bring in ideas from outside the experience to help you." *: "What was really going on?" *: "Were different people's experiences similar or different in important ways?" * Conclusions (general) *: "What can be concluded, in a general sense, from these experiences and the analyses you have undertaken?" * Conclusions (specific) *: "What can be concluded about your own specific, unique, personal situation or way of working?" * Personal action plans *: "What are you going to do differently in this type of situation next time?" *: "What steps are you going to take on the basis of what you have learnt?" Gibbs' suggestions are often cited as "Gibbs' reflective cycle" or "Gibbs' model of reflection", and simplified into the following six distinct stages to assist in structuring reflection on learning experiences: * Description * Feelings * Evaluation * Analysis * Conclusions * Action plan


Johns 1995

Professor of nursing Christopher Johns designed a structured mode of reflection that provides a practitioner with a guide to gain greater understanding of his or her practice. It is designed to be carried out through the act of sharing with a colleague or mentor, which enables the experience to become learnt knowledge at a faster rate than reflection alone. Johns highlights the importance of experienced knowledge and the ability of a practitioner to access, understand and put into practice information that has been acquired through empirical means. Reflection occurs though "looking in" on one's thoughts and emotions and "looking out" at the situation experienced. Johns draws on the work of Barbara Carper to expand on the notion of "looking out" at a situation. Five patterns of knowing are incorporated into the guided reflection: the aesthetic, personal, ethical, empirical and reflexive aspects of the situation. Johns' model is comprehensive and allows for reflection that touches on many important elements.


Brookfield 1998

Adult education scholar Stephen Brookfield proposed that critically reflective practitioners constantly research their assumptions by seeing practice through four complementary lenses: the lens of their autobiography as learners of reflective practice, the lens of other learners' eyes, the lens of colleagues' experiences, and the lens of theoretical, philosophical and research literature. Reviewing practice through these lenses makes us more aware of the power dynamics that infuse all practice settings. It also helps us detect hegemonic assumptions—assumptions that we think are in our own best interests, but actually work against us in the long run. Brookfield argued that these four lenses will reflect back to us starkly different pictures of who we are and what we do. * ''Lens 1: Our autobiography as a learner''. Our autobiography is an important source of insight into practice. As we talk to each other about critical events in our practice, we start to realize that individual crises are usually collectively experienced dilemmas. Analyzing our autobiographies allows us to draw insight and meanings for practice on a deep visceral emotional level. * ''Lens 2: Our learners' eyes''. Seeing ourselves through learners' eyes, we may discover that learners are interpreting our actions in the way that we mean them. But often we are surprised by the diversity of meanings people read into our words and actions. A cardinal principle of seeing ourselves through learners' eyes is that of ensuring the anonymity of their critical opinions. We have to make learners feel safe. Seeing our practice through learners' eyes helps us teach more responsively. * ''Lens 3: Our colleagues' experiences''. Our colleagues serve as critical mirrors reflecting back to us images of our actions. Talking to colleagues about problems and gaining their perspective increases our chance of finding some information that can help our situation. * ''Lens 4: Theoretical literature''. Theory can help us "name" our practice by illuminating the general elements of what we think are idiosyncratic experiences.


Nguyen Nhat Quang's iceberg of reflection 2022

Reflection is not linear, uniform, and homogeneous. Nguyen Nhat Quang (2022) adopts Fleck (2012)'s classification of reflective practices into an iceberg of reflection. That is, reflection consists of different layers representing four stages. Descriptive reflection is the tip of the iceberg as it manifests as narratives of reality without any multilateral accounts and analyses to bring forward a change in individual perspective. Dialogic reflection, just below water surface, represents the interdependence and correlations of experiences through iterative self- questioning cycles seeking reasons for an action. After identifying these reasons, this process can provide the reflectors with alternative interpretations. Following repeated cycles of dialogic reflection, transformative reflection allows the reflective practitioners to revisit issues with alternative solutions that may create more transformative and welcomed outcomes compared to those in the past. Critical reflection, the deepest level of reflection, goes beyond the reflection-on-action process by looking at what, why, and how an incident or series of incidents happened through an ecological well-rounded lens inclusive of social, historical, political, and cultural factors. It is important to note that not all reflective practices are able to reach all four layers as the depth of reflection is subjective to reflectors' cognitive, metacognitive ability as well as their sociocultural background.


Application

Reflective practice has been described as an unstructured or semi-structured approach directing learning, and a self-regulated process commonly used in health and teaching professions, though applicable to all professions. Reflective practice is a learning process taught to professionals from a variety of disciplines, with the aim of enhancing abilities to communicate and making informed and balanced decisions. Professional associations such as the
American Association of Nurse Practitioners The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is a North American for profit, membership organization formed in 2013 as a result of a merger between the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (founded in 1985) and the American College ...
are recognizing the importance of reflective practice and require practitioners to prepare reflective portfolios as a requirement to be licensed, and for yearly quality assurance purposes.


Education

The concept of reflective practice has found wide application in the field of education, for learners, teachers and those who teach teachers (teacher educators). Tsangaridou & O'Sullivan (1997) define reflection in education as "the act of thinking about, analyzing, assessing, or altering educational meanings, intentions, beliefs, decisions, actions, or products by focusing on the process of achieving them … The primary purpose of this action is to structure, adjust, generate, refine, restructure, or alter knowledge and actions that inform practice. Microreflection gives meaning to or informs day-to-day practice, and macroreflection gives meaning to or informs practice over time". Reflection is the key to successful learning for teachers and for learners.


Students

Students can benefit from engaging in reflective practice as it can foster the critical thinking and decision making necessary for continuous learning and improvement. When students are engaged in reflection, they are thinking about how their work meets established criteria; they analyze the effectiveness of their efforts, and plan for improvement. Rolheiser and et al. (2000) assert that "Reflection is linked to elements that are fundamental to meaningful learning and cognitive development: the development of metacognition – the capacity for students to improve their ability to think about their thinking; the ability to self-evaluate - the capacity for students to judge the quality of their work based on evidence and explicit criteria for the purpose of doing better work; the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making; and the enhancement of teacher understanding of the learner." (p 31-32) When teachers teach metacognitive skills, it promotes student self-monitoring and self-regulation that can lead to intellectual growth, increase academic achievement, and support transfer of skills so that students are able to use any strategy at any time and for any purpose. Guiding students in the habits of reflection requires teachers to approach their role as that of "facilitator of
meaning-making In psychology, meaning-making is the process of how people construe, understand, or make sense of life events, relationships, and the self. The term is widely used in constructivist approaches to counseling psychology and psychotherapy, especial ...
" – they organize instruction and classroom practice so that students are the producers, not just the consumers, of knowledge. Rolheiser and colleagues (2000) state that "When students develop their capacity to understand their own thinking processes, they are better equipped to employ the necessary cognitive skills to complete a task or achieve a goal. Students who have acquired metacognitive skills are better able to compensate for both low ability and insufficient information." (p. 34) The Ontario Ministry of Education (2007) describes many ways in which educators can help students acquire the skills required for effective reflection and self-assessment, including: modelling and/or intentionally teaching critical thinking skills necessary for reflection and self-assessment practices; addressing students' perceptions of self-assessment; engaging in discussion and dialogue about why self-assessment is important; allowing time to learn self-assessment and reflection skills; providing many opportunities to practice different aspects of the self-assessment and reflection process; and ensuring that parents/guardians understand that self-assessment is only one of a variety of assessment strategies that is utilized for student learning.


Teachers

The concept of reflective practice is now widely employed in the field of
teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their t ...
and teacher professional development and many programs of initial teacher education claim to espouse it. Education professor Hope Hartman has described reflective practice in education as teacher
metacognition Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word '' meta'', meaning "beyond", or "on top of".Metcalfe, J., & Shimamura, A. P. (1994). ''Metacognition: knowi ...
., indicating there is broad consensus that teaching effectively requires a reflective approach. Attard & Armour explain that "teachers who are reflective systematically collect evidence from their practice, allowing them to rethink and potentially open themselves to new interpretations". Teaching and learning are complex processes, and there is not one right approach. Reflecting on different approaches to teaching, and reshaping the understanding of past and current experiences, can lead to improvement in teaching practices. Schön's reflection-in-action can help teachers explicitly incorporate into their decision-making the professional knowledge that they gain from their experience in the classroom. As professor of education Barbara Larrivee argues, reflective practice moves teachers from their knowledge base of distinct skills to a stage in their careers where they are able to modify their skills to suit specific contexts and situations, and eventually to invent new strategies. In implementing a process of reflective practice teachers will be able to move themselves, and their schools, beyond existing theories in practice. Larrivee concludes that teachers should "resist establishing a classroom culture of control and become a reflective practitioner, continuously engaging in a critical reflection, consequently remaining fluid in the dynamic environment of the classroom". It is important to note that, "the reflective process should eventually help the teacher to change, adapt and modify his/her teaching to the particular context. This does not happen in stages, but is a continuum of reflection, leading to change ... and further reflection". Without reflection, teachers are not able to look objectively at their actions or take into account the emotions, experience, or consequences of actions to improve their practice. It is argued that, through the process of reflection, teachers are held accountable to the standards of practice for teaching, such as those in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
: commitment to students and student learning, professional knowledge, professional practice, leadership in learning communities, and ongoing professional learning. Overall, through reflective practice, teachers look back on their practice and reflect on how they have supported students by treating them "equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning".


Teacher educators

For students to acquire necessary skills in reflection, their teachers need to be able to teach and model reflective practice (see above); similarly, teachers themselves need to have been taught reflective practice during their initial teacher education, and to continue to develop their reflective skills throughout their career. However, Mary Ryan has noted that students are often asked to "reflect" without being taught how to do so, or without being taught that different types of reflection are possible; they may not even receive a clear definition or rationale for reflective practice. Many new teachers do not know how to transfer the reflection strategies they learned in college to their classroom teaching. Some writers have advocated that reflective practice needs to be taught explicitly to student teachers because it is not an intuitive act; it is not enough for teacher educators to provide student teachers with "opportunities" to reflect: they must explicitly "teach reflection and types of reflection" and "need explicitly to facilitate the process of reflection and make transparent the metacognitive process it entails". Larrivee noted that (student) teachers require "carefully constructed guidance" and "multifaceted and strategically constructed interventions" if they are to reflect effectively on their practice. Rod Lane and colleagues listed strategies by which teacher educators can promote a habit of reflective practice in
pre-service teacher education Pre-service teacher education is the education and training provided to student teachers before they have undertaken any teaching. In contrast, in-service teacher education provides learning opportunities for practicing teachers. Requirements f ...
, such as discussions of a teaching situation, reflective interviews or essays about one's teaching experiences,
action research Action research is a philosophy and methodology of research generally applied in the social sciences. It seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical refle ...
, or journaling or blogging. Neville Hatton and David Smith, in a brief literature review, concluded that teacher education programs do use a wide range of strategies with the aim of encouraging students teachers to reflect (e.g. action research, case studies, video-recording or supervised practicum experiences), but that "there is little research evidence to show that this imis actually being achieved". The implication of all this is that teacher educators must also be highly skilled in reflective practice. Andrea Gelfuso and Danielle Dennis, in a report on a formative experiment with student teachers, suggested that teaching how to reflect requires teacher educators to possess and deploy specific competences. However, Janet Dyment and Timothy O'Connell, in a small-scale study of experienced teacher educators, noted that the teacher educators they studied had received no training in using reflection themselves, and that they in turn did not give such training to their students; all parties were expected to know how to reflect. Many writers advocate for teacher educators themselves to act as models of reflective practice. This implies that the way that teacher educators teach their students needs to be congruent with the approaches they expect their students to adopt with pupils; teacher educators should not only model the way to teach, but should also explain why they have chosen a particular approach whilst doing so, by reference to theory; this implies that teacher educators need to be aware of their own tacit theories of teaching and able to connect them overtly to public theory. However, some teacher educators do not always "teach as they preach"; they base their teaching decisions on "common sense" more than on public theory and struggle with modelling reflective practice. Tom Russell, in a reflective article looking back on 35 years as teacher educator, concurred that teacher educators rarely model reflective practice, fail to link reflection clearly and directly to professional learning, and rarely explain what they mean by reflection, with the result that student teachers may complete their initial teacher education with "a muddled and negative view of what reflection is and how it might contribute to their professional learning". For Russell, these problems result from the fact that teacher educators have not sufficiently explored how theories of reflective practice relate to their own teaching, and so have not made the necessary "paradigmatic changes" which they expect their students to make.


Challenges

Reflective practice "is a term that carries diverse meaning" and about which there is not complete consensus. Professor Tim Fletcher of Brock University argues forward-thinking is a professional habit, but we must reflect on the past to inform how it translates into the present and future. Always thinking about 'what's next' rather than 'what just happened' can constrain an educator's reflective process. The concept of reflection is difficult as beginning teachers are stuck between "the conflicting values of schools and universities" and "the contradictory values at work within schools and within university faculties and with the increasing influence of factors external to school and universities such as policy makers". Conflicting opinions make it difficult to direct the reflection process, as it is hard to establish what values you are trying to align with. It is important to acknowledge reflective practice "follows a twisting path that involves false starts and detours". Meaning once you reflect on an issue it cannot be set aside as many assume. Newman refers to Gilroy's assertion that "the 'knowledge' produced by reflection can only be recognized by further reflection, which in turn requires reflection to recognize it as knowledge". In turn, reflective practice cannot hold one meaning, it is contextual based on the practitioner. It is argued that the term 'reflection' shouldn't be used as there are associations to it being "more of a hindrance than a help". It is suggested the term is referred to 'critical practice' or 'practical philosophy' to "suggest an approach which practitioners can adopt in the different social context in which they find themselves". Meanwhile, Oluwatoyin discusses some disadvantages and barriers to reflective practice as, feeling stress by reflecting on negative issues and frustration from not being able to solve those identified issues, and time constraints. With reflection often taking place independently, educators lack the motivation and assistance in tackling these difficult problems. It is suggested that teachers communicate with one another, or have an indicated individual to talk to, this way there is external informed feedback. Overall, before engaging in reflective practice it is important to be aware of the challenges.


Health professionals

Reflective practice is viewed as an important strategy for health professionals who embrace lifelong learning. Due to the ever-changing context of healthcare and the continual growth of medical knowledge, there is a high level of demand on healthcare professionals' expertise. Due to this complex and continually changing environment, healthcare professionals could benefit from a program of reflective practice. Adrienne Price explained that there are several reasons why a healthcare practitioner would engage in reflective practice: to further understand one's motives, perceptions, attitudes, values, and feelings associated with client care; to provide a fresh outlook to practice situations and to challenge existing thoughts, feelings, and actions; and to explore how the practice situation may be approached differently. In the field of nursing there is concern that actions may run the risk of habitualisation, thus dehumanizing patients and their needs. In using reflective practice, nurses are able to plan their actions and consciously monitor the action to ensure it is beneficial to their patient. The act of reflection is seen as a way of promoting the development of autonomous, qualified and self-directed professionals, as well as a way of developing more effective healthcare teams. Engaging in reflective practice is associated with improved quality of care, stimulating personal and professional growth and closing the gap between theory and practice. Medical practitioners can combine reflective practice with checklists (when appropriate) to reduce diagnostic error. Activities to promote reflection are now being incorporated into undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education across a variety of health professions. Professor of medical education Karen Mann and her colleagues found through a 2009 literature review that in practicing professionals the process of reflection appears to include a number of different aspects, and practicing professionals vary in their tendency and ability to reflect. They noted that the evidence to support curricular interventions and innovations promoting reflective practice remains largely theoretical. Samantha Davies identified benefits as well as limitations to reflective practice: Benefits to reflective practice include: * Increased learning from an experience or situation * Promotion of deep learning * Identification of personal and professional strengths and areas for improvement * Identification of educational needs * Acquisition of new knowledge and skills * Further understanding of own beliefs, attitudes and values * Encouragement of self-motivation and self-directed learning * Could act as a source of feedback * Possible improvements of personal and clinical confidence Limitations to reflective practice include: * Not all practitioners may understand the reflective process * May feel uncomfortable challenging and evaluating own practice * Could be time-consuming * May have confusion as to which situations/experiences to reflect upon * May not be adequate to resolve clinical problems


Environmental management and sustainability

The use of reflective practice in environmental management, combined with
system monitoring A system monitor is a hardware or software component used to monitor system resources and performance in a computer system. Among the management issues regarding use of system monitoring tools are resource usage and privacy. Overview Software ...
, is often called ''
adaptive management Adaptive management, also known as adaptive resource management or adaptive environmental assessment and management, is a structured, iterative process of robust decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim to reducing uncertainty over ...
''. There is some criticism that traditional environmental management, which simply focuses on the problem at hand, fails to integrate into the decision making the wider systems within which an environment is situated. While research and science must inform the process of environmental management, it is up to the practitioner to integrate those results within these wider systems. In order to deal with this and to reaffirm the utility of environmental management, Bryant and Wilson propose that a "more reflective approach is required that seeks to rethink the basic premises of environmental management as a process". This style of approach has been found to be successful in
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
projects where participants appreciated and enjoyed the educational aspect of utilizing reflective practice throughout. However, the authors noted the challenges with melding the "circularity" of reflective practice theory with the "doing" of sustainability.


Leadership positions

Reflective practice provides a development opportunity for those in leadership positions. Managing a team of people requires a delicate balance between people skills and technical expertise, and success in this type of role does not come easily. Reflective practice provides leaders with an opportunity to critically review what has been successful in the past and where improvement can be made. Reflective learning organizations have invested in
coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...
programs for their emerging and established leaders. Leaders frequently engage in self-limiting behaviours because of their over-reliance on their preferred ways of reacting and responding. Coaching can help support the establishment of new behaviours, as it encourages reflection, critical thinking and transformative learning. Adults have acquired a body of experience throughout their life, as well as habits of mind that define their world. Coaching programs support the process of questioning and potentially rebuilding these pre-determined habits of mind. The goal is for leaders to maximize their professional potential, and in order to do this, there must be a process of critical reflection on current assumptions.


Other professions

Reflective practice can help any individual to develop personally, and is useful for professions other than those discussed above. It allows professionals to continually update their skills and knowledge and consider new ways to interact with their colleagues. David Somerville and June Keeling suggested eight simple ways that professionals can practice more reflectively: # Seek feedback: Ask "Can you give me some feedback on what I did?" # Ask yourself "What have I learnt today?" and ask others "What have you learnt today?" # Value personal strengths: Identify positive accomplishments and areas for growth # View experiences objectively: Imagine the situation is on stage and you are in the audience # Empathize: Say out loud what you imagine the other person is experiencing # Keep a journal: Record your thoughts, feelings and future plans; look for emerging patterns # Plan for the future: Plan changes in behavior based on the patterns you identified # Create your own future: Combine the virtues of the dreamer, the realist, and the critic


Human activity and work in general

Reflective practices can also be applied to areas of
human activity Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity ( mentally, physically, and socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to internal and external stimuli throughout their life. Kagan, Jerome, Marc H. Bornstein, and Richard M. ...
, in particular
work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal t ...
, and include considering the impacts of one's (or a
workforce The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...
's) actions. Relevant considerations could include ethical values, environmental impacts and efficiency and could be determinants of one's choice of activity or work during lifetime. Reflective capacities could be strengthened by education and possibly other means.


See also

*
Moral intelligence Moral intelligence is the capacity to understand right from wrong and to behave based on the value that is believed to be right'Retrieved 28 April 2016. (similar to the notion of moral competence). Moral intelligence was first developed as a conce ...
* Video-based reflection


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reflective practice Personal development Education theory Vocational education Learning theory (education) Learning methods Experiential learning Nursing education