Reflective practiceChris Winberg29 March 2012

What is reflection?

Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends (Dewey 1933)

Two important thinkers onlearning in practice

Donald Schön Jack Mezirow

Reflection as learning

Reflection for learning (“feed-forward”)

Reflection during learning Reflection after learning

All are important for professional development

Schön, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. How professionals think in action, London: Temple Smith

Schön, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

‘Double-loop’ learning

Three levels of Reflection

• Content Reflection: on the content of what was taught/learned.

• Process Reflection: about the strategies used to teach/facilitate learning of the content (rather than the content itself)

• Premise Reflection: questioning the relevance of the content itself—underlying assumptions, beliefs, or values.

Mezirow, J. 1990. Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Mezirow, J. 2000. Learning as Transformation: critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Ex post facto

reflection

Process

Reflective action

Presuppositions

(critical reflection)

Thoughtful action with

reflection

Content

Action

Thoughtful action

without reflection

Non-reflective action

Habitual action

Mezirow’s stages1. A disorienting dilemma2. Self-examination with feelings of fear, anger, guilt, or shame3. A critical assessment of assumptions4. Recognition that one’s discontent and the process of

transformation are shared5. Exploration of options for new roles, relationships, and actions6. Planning a course of action7. Acquiring knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans8. Provisional trying of new roles9. Building competence and self-confidence in new roles and

relationships10. A reintegration into one’s life on the basis of conditions dictated

by one’s new perspective(Mezirow, 1991:22)

Implications for teaching: reflective feedback:

Facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning.

Encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning.

Helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards).

Provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance.

Delivers high quality information to students about their learning.

Encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem.

Provides information to teachers that can be used to shape the teaching.

(from HEA guide Enhancing student learning through effective formative feedback, p. 2)

Doing reflection

• How? – reflective questions; – journal writing

• What?• Why?• Iterative/comparative…

Reflection is what allows us to learn from our experiences: it is a self- assessment of where we have been and where we want to go next.

From reflective teaching to scholarly teaching

‘Every day reflective teacher’

‘Deeply reflective teacher’

‘A scholarly teacher’

Now, write up your reflection of the past few days

1)What have you learned? (content)2)What has your experience been? (process)3)Have you been an active, engaged learner? (premise)