Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’ Essay

Maybe meditative utilizations offer us a counselling of trying to make sense of the incertainty in our ca-caplaces and the courage to work capably and ethically at the edge of order and chaos (Ghaye, 2000, p.7)Reflective blueprint has burge mavind over the last few decades throughout various fields of professional reading and education. In some professions it has become one of the defining features of competence, even if on occasion it has been adopted mistakenly and un wistfully to rationalise existing practice. The allure of the mirror image bandwagon lies in the fact that it rings true (Loughran, 2000). Within different disciplines and intellectual traditions, however, what is understood by broody practice varies considerably (Fook et al, 2006). Multiple and contradictory understandings of reflective practice potentiometer even be found indoors the same discipline.Despite this, some consensus has been achieved amid the profusion of definitions. In general, reflective practice is understood as the puzzle out of learning through and from experience towards gaining new-fashioned appreciations of self and/or practice (Boud et al 1985 Boyd and Fales, 1983 Mezirow, 1981, Jarvis, 1992). This often involves examining assumptions of everyday practice. It also tends to involve the soulfulness practitioner in be self-aw are and diminutively evaluating their experience responses to practice situations. The point is to recapture practice experiences and mull them over critically in order to gain new understandings and so improve future practice. This is understood as part of the process of life-long learning.Beyond these broad areas of agreement, however, contention and difficulty reign. There is debate about the extent to which practitioners should focus on themselves as individuals rather than the larger tender context. There are questions about how, when, where and why verbalism should take place. For busy professionals short on time, reflective practice is all too easily mathematical function in bland, mechanical, unthinking ways, Would-be practitioners may also find it testing to stand backwards from painful experiences and seek to be analytical about them. In this tangle of understandings, misunderstandings and difficulties, exactly how to apply and teach reflective practice effectively has become something of a conundrum.This paper explores current minds and debates relating to reflective practice. In the first two sections, I review key definitions and models of reflection factor comm whole used in professional practice. Then, in the reflective spirit myself, I critically examine the actual practice of the concept, highlighting ethical, professional, pedagogic and conceptual concerns. I put forward the case that reflective practice is both complex and situated and that it cannot work if applied mechanically or simplistically. On this basis, I conclude with some tentative suggestions for how educators might cheris h an effective reflective practice involving critical reflection.Defining reflective practicereflection can mean all things to all peopleit is used as a kind of umbrella or canopy term to signify something that is good or desirableeverybody has his or her own (usually undisclosed) explanation of what reflection means, and this interpretation is used as the basis for trumpeting the virtues of reflection in a way that makes it sound as virtuous as m new(prenominal)hood. Smyth (1992, p.285)The term reflective practice carries two-fold meanings that range from the idea of professionals engaging in lonely(a) introspection to that of engaging in critical dialogue with others. Practitioners may embrace it occasionally in formal, apparent ways or use it more fluidly in ongoing, tacit ways. For some, reflective practice simply refers to adopting a thinking approach to practice. other(a)s see it as self-indulgent navel gazing. For others still, itinvolves carefully coordinate and crafte d approaches towards being reflective about ones experiences in practice. For example, with reference to teacher education, Larrivee argues thatUnless teachers develop the practice of critical reflection, they hold on trapped in unexamined judgments, interpretations, assumptions, and expectations. Approaching teaching as a reflective practitioner involves fusing private beliefs and values into a professional identity (Larrivee, 2000, p.293). In practice, reflective practice is often seen as the bedrock of professional identity. Reflecting on performance and acting on refection, as McKay (2008, Forthcoming) notes, is a professional imperative. Indeed, it has been included in formalised benchmark standards laid down for professional registration and practice (see table 1 in Appendix 1).One example is in the way it has been included, explicitly and implicitly, in all Project 2000 curricula for Nursing Diplomas, while reflection is highlighted as a glacial skill to achieve required Standards of Proficiencies in nursing and other health professional education (NMC, 2004 HPC, 2004). It has also become a key strand of approaches to the broader field of continuing professional development, work-based learning and lifelong learning (Eby, 2000 HPC, 2006). precondition its growing emphasis in professional practice and education, it would seem important to explore the concept of reflective practice in some detail. To this end, this section distinguishes surrounded by different types of reflective practice and looks at the sister concepts of reflection, critical reflection and reflexivity. Reflection in and on practiceDewey (1933) was among the first to bring out reflection as a specialised form of thinking. He considered reflection to stem from doubt, hesitation or perplexity related to a directly experienced situation. For him, this prompted purposeful examination and problem resolution (Sinclair, 1998). Dewey also argued that reflective thinking moved people away from routine thinking/ fulfil (guided by tradition or foreign authority) towardsreflective action (involving careful, critical consideration of taken-for-granted tell apartledge). This way of conceptualising reflection crucially starts with experience and stresses how we learn from doing, i.e. practice. Specifically Dewey argued that we think the problem out towards formulating hypotheses in trial and error reflective situations and then use these to plan action, testing out our ideas.Deweys ideas provided a basis for the concept of reflective practice which gained influence with the comer of Schons (1983) The reflective practitioner how professionals think in action. In this seminal work, Schon identified ways in which professionals could become apprised of their implicit knowledge and learn from their experience. His main concern was to facilitate the development of reflective practitioners rather than describe the process of reflection per se. However, one of his most impor tant and enduring contributions was to identify two types of reflection reflection-on-action ( aft(prenominal)-the-event thinking) and reflection-in-action (thinking while doing). In the case of reflection-on-action, professionals are understood consciously to review, describe, analyse and evaluate their past practice with a view to gaining insight to improve future practice.With reflection-in-action, professionals are seen as examining their experiences and responses as they occur. In both types of reflection, professionals aim to connect with their feelings and attend to relevant supposition. They seek to build new understandings to condition their action in the unfolding situation. In Schons words The practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings which restrain been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment wh ich serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation. (Schon, 1983, p. 68)For Schon, reflection-in-action was the core of professional artistry a concept he contrasted with the technical-rationality demanded by the (still dominant) positivist paradigm whereby problems are solvable through the rigorous application of science. A contemporary example of this paradigm is the evidence-based practice movement, which favours quantitative studiesover qualitative ones, and established protocols over nonrational practice. In Schons view, technical-rationality failed to resolve the dilemma of rigour versus relevance confronting professionals. Schons argument, since taken up by others (e.g. Fish and Coles,1998), was as follows Professional practice is complex, atypical and messy. In order to cope, professionals have to be able to do morethan follow set procedures. They draw on both practical experience and theory as they think on their feet and impr ovise. They act both intuitively and creatively.Both reflection-in and on -action allows them to revise, modify and refine their expertise. Schon believed that as professionals become more expert in their practice, they developed the skill of being able to monitor and adapt their practice simultaneously, perhaps even intuitively. In contrast, novice practitioners, lacking knowing-in-action (tacit knowledge), tended to cling to rules and procedures, which they are given over to apply mechanically. Schon argued that novices needed to step back and, from a distance, take time to think through situations. Whether expert or novice, all professionals should reflect on practice both in general and with regard to specific situations. Schons work has been hugely influential some would say canonical in the way it has been applied to practice and professional training and education. For example, in the health care field, Atkins and Murphy (1993) identify three stages of the reflective proc ess.The first stage, triggered by the professional becoming aware of uncomfortable feelings and thoughts, is akin to Schons experience of surprise (what Boyd and Fales, 1983, identify as a sense of inner discomfort or unfinished business). The reciprocal ohm stage involves a critical summary of feelings and knowledge. The final stage of reflection involves the development of a new perspective. Atkins and Murphy argue that both cognitive and affective skills are prerequisites for reflection and that these combine in the processes of self-awareness, critical analysis, implication and evaluation (see Appendix 2). In the education field, Grushka, Hinde-McLeod and Reynolds (2005) distinguish between reflection for action, reflection in action and reflection on action (see Appendix 3).They offer a series of technical, practical and critical questions for teachers to engage with. For example, under reflection for action teachers are advised to consider their resources and how long the lesson will take (technical) how to make the resources relevant to different learning styles (practical) and to question why they are teaching this bad-tempered topic (critical). Zeichner and Liston (1996) differentiate between five different levels at which reflection can take place during teaching1. Rapid reflection immediate, ongoing and involuntary action by the teacher.2. Repair in which a thoughtful teacher makes decisions to alter their behaviour in response to students cues.3. Review when a teacher thinks about, discusses or writes about some element of their teaching.4. Research when a teacher engages in more systematic and sustained thinking over time, perhaps by roll up data or reading research.5. Retheorizing and reformulating the process by which a teacher critically examines their own practice and theories in the light of academic theories. While Schons work has inspired many much(prenominal) models of reflection and categories of reflective practice, it has a lso drawn criticism. Eraut (2004) faults the work for its lack of precision and clarity.Boud and Walker (1998) argue that Schons analysis ignores critical features of the context of reflection. Usher et al (1997) find Schons account and methodology unreflexive, while Smyth (1989) deplores the atheoretical and apolitical tonus of his conceptions. Greenwood (1993), meanwhile, targets Schon for downplaying the importance of reflection-before-action. Moon (1999) regards Schons pivotal concept of reflection-in-action as unachievable, while Ekebergh (2006) draws onphenomenological philosophy to argue that it is not possible to distance oneself from the lived situation to reflect in the moment. To achieve real self-reflection, she asserts, one needs to step out of the situation and reflect retrospectively (van Manen, 1990). Given this level of criticism, questions have to raised about the wide adoption of Schons work and the wayit has been applied in professional practice and education (U sher et al, 1997). There have been calls for a more critical, reflexive exploration of the nature of reflective practice.Reflection, critical reflection and reflexivityContemporary writing on reflective practice invites professionals to engage in both personal reflection and broader social critique. For example, work within the Open Universitys Health and Social Care faculty has put forward a model whereby reflective practice is seen as a synthesis of reflection, self-awareness and critical thinking (Eby, 2000) (see figure 1). In this model, the philosophical roots of reflective practice are identified in phenomenology (with its focus on lived experience and personal consciousness) and also in critical theory (which fosters the development of a critical consciousness towards emancipation and resisting oppression ).Self-awarenessRoots phenomenology The cognitive ability to think, feel,sense and know through intuition To evaluate the knowledge derived throughself-awareness to develop understandingReflectionRoots existentialphenomenology andcritical theory-interpretive and critical theory fauna for promoting self- andsocial awarenessand social action improving self-expression,learning and co-operation links theory and practiceReflectivePracticeCritical thinkingRoots disbelief andcritical theory identifying and challengingassumptions challenging the importanceof context to imagine and explorealternatives which leads toreflective scepticismFigure 1 Skills underpinning the concept of reflective practice. Other authors argue for the concept of critical reflection, which is seen as offering a more thorough-going form of reflection through the use of critical theory (Brookfield, 1995). For adherents of critical reflection, reflection on its own tends to remain at the level of relatively undisruptive changes in techniques or superficial thinking (Fook, White and Gardner, 2006, p.9). In contrast, critical reflection involves be to discourse and social and political an alysis it seeks to enable transformative social action and change. For Fook (2006), critical reflectionenables an understanding of the way (socially dominant) assumptions may be socially restrictive, and therefore enables new, more em powering ideas and practices. Critical reflection thus enables social change beginning at individual levels. Once individuals become aware of the hidden power of ideas they have absorbed unwittingly from their social contexts, they are then freed to make choices on their own terms.Fook and Askeland argue that the focus of critical reflection should be on connecting individual identity and social contextPart of the power of critical reflection in opening up new perspectives andchoices about practice may only be realized if the connections between individual thinking and identity, and dominant social beliefs are articulated and realized. (Fook and Askeland, 2006, p.53).For Reynolds (1998), four characteristics distinguish critical reflection from other versions of reflection (1) its concern to question assumptions (2) its social rather than individual focus (3) the particular attention it pays to the analysis of power relations and (4) its pursuit of emancipation (Reynolds, 1998). By way of example, Reynolds argues that when managers critically reflect (rather than just reflect) they become aware of the wider environment in which they operate. They begin to grasp the social power exercised by their organisation through its networks and relationships. In the field of teaching, Brookfield (1995) characterises critical reflection as stance and dance. The critically reflective teachers stance toward teaching is one of inquiry and being open to further investigation. The dance involves experimentation and risk towards modifying practice while moving to fluctuating, and possibly contradictory, rhythms (Larrivee, 2000).A key concept giving momentum to the idea of reflective practice involving both personal reflection and social critiqu e is reflexivity. Reflexive practitioners engage in critical self-reflection reflecting critically on the impact of their own background, assumptions, positioning, feelings, behaviour while also attending to the impact of the wider organisational, discursive, ideological and political context. The terms reflection, critical reflection and reflexivity are often confused and wrong assumed to be interchangeable. Finlay and Gough (2003, p. ix) find it helpful to think of these concepts forming a continuum. At one end stands reflection, defined simply as thinking about something after the event. At the other end stands reflexivity a more immediate and dynamic process which involves continuing self-awareness. Critical reflection lies somewhere in between.Previously, Ive proposed five overlapping variants of reflexivity with critical selfreflection at the core introspection intersubjective reflection mutual collaboration social critique and ironic deconstruction (Finlay, 2002, 2003). Thes e variants can similarly be applied todistinguishing between the types of reflection practitioners could engage in when reflecting on practice. Reflective practice as introspection involves the practitioner in solitary self-dialogue in which they probe personal meanings andemotions. Intersubjective reflection makes the practitioner focus on the relational context, on the emergent, negotiated nature of practice encounters. With mutual collaboration, a participatory, dialogical approach to reflective practice is sought what Ghaye (2000) calls a reflective conversation. Here, for example, a mentor and student, or members of a team, seek to solve problems collaboratively. Reflective practice as social critique focuses attention on the wider discursive, social and political context. For instance, the practitioner may think about coercive institutional practices or seek to manage the power imbalances inherent in education/practice contexts. Finally, reflective practice as ironic deconstr uction would cue into postmodern and poststructural imperatives to deconstruct discursive practices and represent something of the ambiguity and multiplicity of meanings in particular organisational and social contexts. At the very least, a critical and possibly satirical gaze could be turned to challenging the ubiquitously unreflexive hot air of reflective practice.In practice, introspection is the dominant mode of reflective practice. Sometimes presented as merely a promising personal attribute (Loughran , 2006), it is a preponderantly individualistic and personal exercise (Reynolds and Vince, 2004) in which practitioners tend to focus on their own thoughts, feelings, behaviours and evaluations. This passes as legitimate reflective practice which professionals then can use to advance their cause to fit formal requirements for continuing professional development.While such reflective practice may take place in dialogical contexts such as supervision sessions, the onus stays on th e individual practitioner to reflect upon and evaluate their own practice. What is lacking is any mutual, reciprocal, shared process. Institutional structures and quality assurancesystems encourage, perhaps even require, this individual focus. It starts early on during professional education and training where learners engage professional socialisation and are taught how to reflect, using structured models of reflection.One of the consequences of the lack of consensus and clarity about the concept of reflective practice is the proliferation of different versions and models to operationalise reflective practice.