Theme: Theories

1. Promote professional development Reflective Practice Theme: Theories

2. Donald Schön (1983, 1996) Introduced the concept of a ‘reflective practitioner’, someone who consciously thinks about what he or she is doing, while it is occurring and afterwards. He explored ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’ and suggested it was the ability to reflect both during and after an action that distinguished an effective practitioner.

3. David Kolb Described experiential learning as a four-stage process: concrete experience observations and reflections formation of abstract concepts and generalisations testing applications of concepts in new situations.

4. Experience – Reflection – Action The primary goal of reflection is to increase your effectiveness through a constant process of review. A cycle of : Experience – Reflection – Action. Experiential learning is interlinked with reflective practice. We have an experience (1), explore what has happened (2), consider the different things we could have done (3) and try out new approaches when a similar situation arises (4).

5. Driscoll (1994 & 2000)…. They developed a structured ‘reflection model’ based around three elements of reflection: WHAT? a description of the event SO WHAT? an analysis of the event NOW WHAT? proposed actions following the event.

6. Neil Thompson ‘Reflective practice offers the use of a theory base to help us understand common themes and a focus on creativity to help us deal with the unique aspects of each situation we encounter.’ Thompson. N ‘People Skills’ Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 0-333-98746-2

7. How do we develop our skills? In the acquisition of skills, a major issue is the reliability of the performance. Any novice can get it right occasionally (beginner’s luck), but it is consistency which counts, and the progress of learning is often assessed on this basis. Reynolds points out that learning skills is largely a matter of them ‘soaking in’, so that performance becomes less self-conscious as learning progresses. The transition from one phase to another is marked by a release of energy, in the form of the freedom to concentrate on other things.

8. The stages below are an adaptation of Reynolds’ (1965) model The horizontal line represents a ‘notional’ threshold of  ‘competence’.

9. The Reynolds idea is closely linked to the 'progression of competence’ model • Unconscious incompetence • Conscious incompetence • Conscious competence • Unconscious competence • Most of us move across all four, as we excel at some things and new to others. • Which one of these would you consider most likely to result in unsafe practice? • Have you come across anyone working in this way?