Reflective practice as a way of being
By Karen Hanson and Karen Appleby, Principal Lecturers within the Centre for Early Childhood, Institute of Education, The University of Worcester.
The ÎÞÂëÌìÌÃ's Quality Improvement Scheme has been recognised by the Department for Education (DfE) as being a significant and valuable accreditation for settings to improve the quality of their provision. This in turn, will be recognised by other quality assurance bodies, including Ofsted, within the process of quality inspections. In naming the accreditation ‘Excellence through Reflection’, the ÎÞÂëÌìÌà are valuing the importance of reflection for identifying strengths and areas for development in practice. However, do we all have a similar understanding of what reflection and reflective practice is and looks like? What follows is the perspective of two Principal Lecturers in the Centre for Early Childhood at the University of Worcester. We would like to emphasise that this perspective is meant to stimulate your thinking and challenge your existing assumptions around the concept of reflection and reflective practice, rather than to present a prescriptive definition.
As early years practitioners we are continually thinking about creating exciting learning experiences for the children we work with. Outside of the early years setting, how many times have you stopped yourself discarding some household packaging with the thought that the children would enjoy using it for some kind of creative activity? This type of action becomes habitual, routine and part of who we are. This ‘way of being’ as a practitioner and other qualities are part of our professional identity, but have you ever stopped to question why you behave in this way? Why do you consider the needs of the children when you're not with them? Why do you think they might enjoy using that object you've kept or bought? Questioning our actions in this way and going one step further with our thinking to justify our actions enables us to develop a professional artistry as described by Schon (1983, 1987). Understanding and articulating why we do the things we do supports our professional credibility as early years practitioners. But what can support us in feeling confident in our practice? How can we do this consistently, so this also becomes a way of being?
Reflective practice / practitioner is a term that is difficult to avoid when you are working in a caring profession, especially when it is an expected approach to practice and linked to quality improvement. What does this term mean to you? Consider the following thoughts from this case study by Karen Hanson:
"When I was practising in an early years mainstream classroom I prided myself on being a reflective practitioner. It wasn't until I moved to a different educational institution and started to discover other perspectives and definitions of reflective practice, that I realised I was merely going through a cycle of 'plan, do and review', guided predominantly by the policies at play within that particular institution. Of course there was nothing wrong with this but I was only using a limited amount of knowledge to inform my evaluations. This knowledge was drawn from my own experience (previous experience and what I had observed within my classroom), and what the policy expectations were within the school environment (predominantly Ofsted). What I had neglected was to consider the perspectives of others who were central to the impact of my actions - the children and the adults I worked with. I had also forgotten to keep asking myself 'why' I was doing what I was doing; the theoretical justification underpinning my practice."
If you are not considering the wider perspectives it is all too easy ‘…to be blown about by the winds of cultural and pedagogic preference’ (Brookfield, 1985, p265).
One of the new theories influencing Karen’s thinking was Brookfield‘s (1985) theory of four lenses for critical reflection. Knowing that her understanding of reflective practice was unclear prompted her to research into the influences and conditions affecting the development of reflective dispositions (Hanson, 2012). The diagram below demonstrates the four lenses Brookfield asks us to consider in being critically reflective. Karen has added a fifth lens – the 'Peripheral Socio Cultural l' lens which enables us to think about the specific context we are working in and the specific influences impacting upon the people within that context. This diagram is explained further within a podcast discussion with Dr. Karen Hanson and Karen Appleby. If you are interested in finding out more, please follow the link:
(Hanson 2012 p144)
References
Brookfield, S., 1995. How To Become A Critically Reflective Teacher. San Fransisco: Jossey Boss
Hanson K. J., 2012. How Can I Support Early Childhood Studies Undergraduate Students To Develop Reflective Dispositions? University of Exeter: Exeter
Hanson K. & Appleby, K., 2015. Reflective Practice. In: Reed, M. & Walker, R. (2015). Early Childhood Studies: A Critical Reader. London, Sage Publications. pp.24-3
Schön, D. A., 1983. The Reflective Practitioner. London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Schön, D. A., 1987. Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.