Mr Marcus Joseph
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- Date Submitted: 07/21/2015 01:52 PM
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Reflective practice is "the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning".[1] 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".[2]
A key idea is that experience alone does not lead to learning but that ‘considered and deliberative’ reflection on experience is essential;.[3][4]
Reflective practice can be an important tool in practice-based professional learning settings where individuals learning from their own professional experiences, rather than from formal teaching or knowledge transfer, may be the most important source of personal professional development and improvement. Further, it is also an important way to be able to bring together theory and practice; through reflection you are able to see and label schools of thought and theory within the context of your work.[5] What is important about reflection throughout your practice is that you are not just looking back on past actions and events, but rather you are taking a conscious look at the emotions, experiences, actions, and responses, and using that to add to your existing knowledge base to draw out new knowledge, meaning and have a higher level of understanding.[6] As such the notion has achieved wide take-up, particularly in professional development for practitioners in the areas of education and healthcare. The question of how best to learn from experience has wider relevance however, to any organizational learning environment. In particular, people in leadership positions have a tremendous development opportunity if they engage in reflective practice.
Gibbs 1988
Graham Gibbs discussed the use of structured debriefing to facilitate the reflection involved in Kolb's "experiential learning cycle". He presents the stages of a full structured debriefing as follows:
* (Initial experience)...
A key idea is that experience alone does not lead to learning but that ‘considered and deliberative’ reflection on experience is essential;.[3][4]
Reflective practice can be an important tool in practice-based professional learning settings where individuals learning from their own professional experiences, rather than from formal teaching or knowledge transfer, may be the most important source of personal professional development and improvement. Further, it is also an important way to be able to bring together theory and practice; through reflection you are able to see and label schools of thought and theory within the context of your work.[5] What is important about reflection throughout your practice is that you are not just looking back on past actions and events, but rather you are taking a conscious look at the emotions, experiences, actions, and responses, and using that to add to your existing knowledge base to draw out new knowledge, meaning and have a higher level of understanding.[6] As such the notion has achieved wide take-up, particularly in professional development for practitioners in the areas of education and healthcare. The question of how best to learn from experience has wider relevance however, to any organizational learning environment. In particular, people in leadership positions have a tremendous development opportunity if they engage in reflective practice.
Gibbs 1988
Graham Gibbs discussed the use of structured debriefing to facilitate the reflection involved in Kolb's "experiential learning cycle". He presents the stages of a full structured debriefing as follows:
* (Initial experience)...