Reflective Practice: What, Who, When, Where, & How

1. Reflective Practice: What, Who, When, Where, & How A Brief Overview of the Work in Progress Discussion Paper No.4 Reflective Practice: A Way of Learning for Community Development Practitioners Prepared by Liz McDougall March 2014

2. Reflection: What is it? • Reflection, in its simplest form, is when we give something “serious and careful thought”. • ‘Thinking carefully’ is not only about what happened but deeply exploring experiences, giving meaning and examining “possibilities and options” to inform action. • Reflection is not an end point but a continuous process.

3. Reflective Practice: What is this? • Reflective practice is what practitioners do when they actively engage in an intentional process of learning. • It is an iterative (repeating) process of reviewing a “practice experience in order to describe, analyze, and evaluate to inform and change future practice”. • Reflection involves: • self-awareness • understanding the experience • applying/transferring the learning from one situation to another NOTE: This process does not always offer a solution but brings understanding and clarity to situations that could otherwise remain an obstacle to practice.

4. Who, When, Where? • Reflection is not a new concept. We do it all the time in our work and in our everyday experiences. No one discipline owns reflection. • Reflection can happen at any time, in any place, and with anyone. It can be: • undertaken prior to action (anticipatory reflection), during action (reflection-in-action), and/or after the action (reflection-on-action) • done privately (self-reflection), with another person (one on one) or in a group (guided group reflection) • applied to adverse events/experiences as well as positive ones

5. Why Do It? • Overall, being a reflective practitioner can enhance community practice. • It gives us a lens from which to view the complexity of our community work and grants us the space to pause and critically analyze our practice, exploring: • where things are at in our day-to-day work • what directions hold promise • what may need to be reconsidered • This sharpens our capacity to view community change as it unfolds and allows our practice to be flexible and responsive.

6. Why? Some Other Reasons • Specifically, reflective practice has the potential to enhance our professional and personal growth. • Examples of professional growth – bridge the theory/practice gap, foster the application of knowledge, permit the resolution of practice-related concerns through a deliberate process. • Examples of personal growth – improve self-esteem and self-awareness and increase interpersonal effectiveness.

7. Reflective practice tells us that “not paying attention to our behavior is not an option…our behaviour has a major impact on those we work with; reflection, adaptation and changing is a necessity in practice”. • Reflective practice provides a mechanism to challenge our established ways of thinking and practicing (“habits of the mind”) that we may not be aware of. • It gives us permission to step back and take a closer look at the role(s), beliefs, values and assumptions we bring to situations and their impact. • It may lead us to change our perspective and/or undertake different actions in situations.

8. How is it Done? • There is no one right way to reflect. • Reflective practice is active and experimental – the best way to learn about reflective practice is by doing it!HOW TO GET STARTED? • read some literature on reflection • find some-one (or a group) to reflect with • use a reflective model/framework to help you get started • practice reflective writing • work on your basic reflective practice skills KEY INGREDIENT: Have the courage to challenge and change.

9. Basic Reflective Practice Skills • 5 basic skills underlying reflective practice: • description • self-awareness • critical analysis • evaluation • synthesis • These skills provide a helpful guide to review values, challenge assumptions and consider broader social, political, and professional issues.

10. Reflective Model/Framework • REMINDER: • There is not a standardized approach to reflection, no one right way (no recipe or formula). However, using a reflective model can stimulate and frame the reflection experience. • CAUTION: • Don’t get boxed in or restricted by a model. A model is simply a guide that helps with exploration, regardless how one chooses to reflect. • KEY: • What matters is going though the entire reflective process. • Don’t stop at describing the experience, don’t get marred in endless analysis, don’t jump to solutions. • The richness comes with moving though the process.

11. Experiencing The activity phase (Description) ? Now What? Applying Planning effective use of learning (Learning in Action) Sharing Exchanging reactions + observations (Self-Awareness) ? Generalizing Developing real-world principles + understanding (Synthesis) ? So What? Processing Discussion patterns (Evaluation & Critical Analysis) What? Reflective Practice Pilot Model

12. Sample Template for Reflective Practice (For Template see Work in Progress Discussion Paper No. 4, pg. 27) • This template is based on a simple ‘WHAT’, ‘SO WHAT’ and ‘NOW What’ model. • Questions under each heading: • provide prompts or cues to deconstruct and reconstruct experience • help to understand what is brought into practice • help analyze experiences from many angles to make sense of what happened • act as a springboard for dialogue • allow for both structured and creative reflection • guide deeper exploration of practice REMINDER: No need to answer all questions, there is no set order. Go with the flow - the process is fluid! To locate original sources for quotes in this PowerPoint, please refer to the Work in Progress Discussion Paper No. 4 and its bibliography– thank you.