The nature of reflective practice

CAROL HAYES

Harry stared at the stone basin. The contents had returned to their original, silvery-white state swirling and rippling beneath his gaze.

'What is it?' Harry asked shakily.

'This? It is called a Pensieve,' said Dumbledore. 'I sometimes find, and I am sure that you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.'

'Err,' said Harry who couldn't truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort.

'At these times,' said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, 'I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.'

(J K Rowling, 2000)

What is reflection?

Can you swim? When you go to the swimming pool do you dive in with a flourish or do you lower yourself into the water carefully and with trepidation? Are you comfortable at the deep end where you cannot put your feet down or do you wade in slowly ensuring that you know how to get back?

Reflection is a little like this. You can lean over the pool looking at the blue water glistening in the sunlight and see your reflection looking back at you and while the pool is not disturbed your image is clear and easy to see. Once other people enter the pool the water starts to move and ripple and your reflection gets more difficult to assess. When children enter the water, the splashing and energy with which they engage makes it even harder to see your reflection clearly.

When you see your reflection in the water do you say

• Oh look there's me, or

• Is this what I want to be like?

When you look into the water do you see who you expect to see or can you see someone else at your shoulder? Those of you who are confident swimmers, like confident practitioners, are happy to take the plunge and accept the challenges of the deep water with no armbands or life jacket. As you dive in, the water opens up for you to see as you explore the depths of the pool, touching the bottom, perhaps gathering new things from the floor of the pool. These practitioners perfect their style and levels of confidence by listening to friends and instructors, talking to others who have observed them and perhaps reading about how water is displaced, aerodynamic shapes, speed and velocity.

However, most of us slip gingerly into the cold pool, putting a toe into the water of reflective practice; needing instructors to keep us afloat and to help us to take our feet off the bottom, change our style and review our practices.

It is common to hear early years practitioners say:

• We can do the job so why do we need to do more?

• I have been in the job for the last 30 years and have vast experience; I do not need to do more.

• Forget about what you were taught in college. This is the real world!

Sylva et al (2004) documented, in The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) Project, that early years settings run by critically reflective, well-qualified staff were more effectively run, more reflective and more open to change and challenge. The evidence for the importance of reflective practice is so compelling that it cannot be ignored any more.

Like the experienced swimmer and diver, the reflective practitioner is the one with vision, the ability to judge the depth of the water, the temperature of the water and the content of the water and has creative flair as they dive. With this ability they are able to be responsive and creative in their practice. The experienced swimming instructor is there to take you by the hand and guide you through further training, which will give you better understanding, develop your confidence and resilience and encourage your reflection upon events, critical incidents and experiences past, present and future. So too is a book like this designed to take you through the processes and hold your hand when the reflection appears scary, to raise your levels of confidence and your image as an advanced practitioner.

Reflection could be considered a synonym for 'thought process' which involves looking back at events and asking questions, looking forward and crystal ball gazing. Reflection involves a self-assessment or self-appraisal of practice and competence at a given time and in a given situation. It is about looking for learning points within the reflection, about striving for better understanding and eventually identifying future developmental needs.

Is there really a definition?

The original definition of reflection in education probably came from Dewey (1933), who discusses reflection in the light of professionalism, and this was developed further by Schön (1983), into a process he called 'reflective practice'. How often have you heard the phrase That's all very well in theory but what about here in the nursery, what use is that here in the real world? from practitioners looking for real solutions to real problems? However, Schön (1983) saw this as a serious misunderstanding of the relationship of theory to practice. He thought that attributing to professionals' knowledge and autonomy in their work granted them extraordinary rights and privileges in return for their very special contribution to society. His concern about this led to his idea that there are two types of reflection: reflection on action and reflection in action.

Reflection on action

Reflection on action is looking back, so it can only be done retrospectively, once the situation has happened and a possible solution has been found. This then involves asking questions such as:

• Are these the right solutions?

• Are there other solutions?

• What would be the consequences if different solutions had been found?

If you are a driver you could liken this to replaying a 'near miss' in your mind; as a practitioner this is perhaps an incident with a parent that was not resolved satisfactorily – the scenario of If only I had....

Reflection in...