Reflective practice

In this section, I provide an understanding of what reflection is and the implications and benefits of RP. It is important to state that defining reflection has been a difficult task for the various reflective practitioners and motivators of RP because it

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implies many things in many ways. Hence, I will try to focus on the meaning of reflection in terms of what it implies for teachers.

Boud et al. (1985) define reflection as ‘an important human activity’ in which people recall their experiences, think about them, give serious consideration and assess them. Boud et al. (1985:19) state that it ‘is this working with experience that is important in learning’. Nevertheless, they note that the unconscious processes involved in thinking about experiences are not enough to raise our learning awareness (Underhill 1992; Gebhard and Oprandy 1999a). Rather, ‘it is only when we bring our ideas to our consciousness that we can evaluate them and begin to make choices about what we will and will not do’ (Boud et al. 1985:19).

There are numerous definitions that attempt to capture the nature of reflection. Most of them coincide with defining it as a process of critically thinking and enquiring into actions, beliefs, knowledge, and theories involved in teaching. Some definitions advise considering the analysis of the teacher’s own context (social, political, economic, moral, and ethical), which will lead them to learn, grow, and develop through actions taken as a result of the reflection process. The following table (1) shows some definitions of reflection in order to have a clearer idea of it. The definitions are presented in chronological order.

Proponent Reflection is:

Dewey (1933:9)

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 conclusions to which it tends… it includes a conscious and voluntary effort to establish belief upon a firm basis of evidence and rationality.

Boyd and Fales (1983:100)

The process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self and results in changed conceptual perspective.

Boud, Keogh and Walker (1985:3)

A generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understanding and appreciation.

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Mezirow (1990:104)

The process of critically assessing the content process or premises of our efforts to interpret and give meaning to our experience.

Osterman (1990:134)

Mindful consideration of one’s actions, specifically, one’s professional actions.

Jarvis (1992:180)

Something more than thoughtful practice. It is that form of practice that seeks to problematise many situations of professional performance so that they can become potential learning situations and so the practitioner can continue to learn, grow and develop in and through practice.

Reid (1993:305)

A process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice.

Richards (1995:59)

It is a response to past experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for evaluation and decision- making and as a source for planning and action.

Moon (1999:63)

A set of abilities and skills to indicate the taking of a critical stance, an orientation to problem solving or state of mind.

Chamberlin (2000:353)

Ongoing conversation about teaching that gives teachers the opportunity to uncover the implicit beliefs and experiences that guide their pedagogy. Korthagen

(2001:58)

The mental process of trying to structure or restructure an experience or existing knowledge or insight.

Loughran (2002: 33).

Not just thinking about something, but a well-defined and crafted practice that carries very specific meaning and associated action.

Brant (2008:43)

A recapturing of experience in which the person thinks about it, mulls it over, and evaluates it.

Copland, Ma, and Mann (2009:18)

The ability to analyse an action systematically and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the action in order to improve practice.

Zwozdiak- Myers (2012:5)

A disposition to enquiry, incorporating the process through which student, early career and experienced teachers structure or restructure actions, beliefs, knowledge and theories that inform teaching for the purpose of professional development.

Table 1: Definitions of Reflection

As observed above, while varying in emphasis, the definitions coincide in considering reflection mainly as a conscious process for teachers to take carefully and critically into consideration their actions, beliefs, knowledge, and experiences. Dewey, Reid, Osterman, and Loughran, for instance, pay special attention to the mental process by emphasising that reflection is not just thinking about something, but mindfully analysing and evaluating beliefs, actions and knowledge. Moon and

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Jarvis describe it as a solving-problem and a learning opportunity. Zwozdiak-Myers and Korthagen see reflection as an occasion to structure and restructure beliefs and knowledge. Brant, Korthagen, Mezirow, Boud et al., and Boyd and Fales pay special attention to reflection on experience, triggered by the experience itself.

As we can observe in Table 1, Moon’s (1999:63) definition of reflection is to some extent vague as she defined it as ‘a set of abilities and skills to indicate the taking of a critical stance, an orientation to problem solving or state of mind’. In order to extend her definition of reflection for a better understanding, Moon (1999) points out some characteristics of RP:

 The subject matter of reflection is likely to be one’s own practice, paying more or less attention to the setting of the practice;

 Reflective practice may refer to reflection on the everyday events of practice or the conditions that shape reflection, such as political influences;

 Reflection may be ongoing or a reaction to a specific event or an unexpected occurrence or observation of a problem; it is characterised by states of uncertainty; it may have an ethical or moral content;

 Reflection may have a strong critical element;

 The end point of reflection in reflective practice may not be resolution of an issue, but attainment of a better understanding of it;

 Reflection will have involved the process of thinking, but it may be aided by the process of articulation of the thinking orally or in a written form;

 Review and reconstruction of the ideas surrounding reflection will be aimed at understanding or resolving the issue in the context of a general aim of improving practice, specifically or generally;  Still within the overall context of improving practice, the immediate

aim may be self-development, professional development, self- empowerment, or empowerment of the educationalist within the political sphere;

 Reflective practice is usually enhanced when there is some sharing of the reflection with others.

(Moon, 1999:64, vignettes design by researcher)

By describing some characteristics of RP, when Moon (1999) refers to teachers, we observe that she perceives reflection as something more than just a set of skills. Moon sees reflection as the opportunity to improve practice, but also to

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promote self-development or professional development or empowerment of the teacher. Moon says that teachers pay attention to their own practice and reflect on specific or unexpected events, sometimes with an ethical and moral content. What is more, Moon indicates that by articulating orally or in written form and sharing with others this may aid reflection; one is not looking for a solution necessarily, but trying to better understand a problem or situation.

The term ‘reflective practice’ may sound redundant for some people because they might suppose that this is what good teachers routinely do in order to teach: teachers need to think about their teaching and that such thinking could be the same as reflection. The process of ‘just thinking’ about teaching is not necessarily reflection. Zeichner and Liston (1996:1) clarify the difference, highlighting the contrast between reflective teaching and technical teaching by noting that ‘if a teacher never questions the goals and the values that guide his or her work, the context in which he or she teaches, or never examines his or her assumptions, then, this individual is not engaged in reflective teaching’. Zeichner and Liston concur with Dewey’s (1910) proposal of routine action and reflective action, as explained in 3.1.1 (also considered by Zwozdiak-Myers 2012, and van Manen 1977). According to Zeichner and Liston (1996), engaging in reflection brings many benefits to our teaching practice. Bolton (2010), supporting the latter authors, argues that reflection enables teachers to learn through personal experiences about themselves, their lives at home and work, and the society and culture in which they are immersed. Bolton (2010:3–4, vignettes design by researcher) declares that some of the benefits teachers get through reflection are:

 It can provide relatively safe and confidential ways to explore and express experiences that are otherwise difficult to communicate;

 It challenges assumptions, ideological illusions, damaging social and cultural biases and inequalities, and questions personal behaviours, which perhaps silence the voices of others or otherwise marginalise them.

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According to Bolton, another benefit that RP can enable is the inquiry into teachers’

conscious knowledge; about what they want to learn and what they think, feel, believe, and understand about their role and their boundaries. This form of reflection, according to Bolton’s view (2010), seems to enable reflective practitioners to explore and experiment on the context in which they work (e.g. ‘how to counteract seemingly given social, cultural and political structures’); to compare their own work with others and to value the perspective and perception that others have about them; and to analyse the impact of their practice depending on their mood (e.g. if one is stressed). Other authors (e.g. Scrivener 2005; Pettis 2002; Bailey, Curtis and Nunan 2001; Murphy 2001; Wallace 1991) also highlight the importance of reflecting and they agree with the fact that being reflective is an essential aspect in adopting teaching strategies and improving our performance, as well as developing a deeper understanding of teaching and self-evaluating our teaching abilities. Moreover, it would be easy to say that reflection is the best solution to improve our teaching and to professionally develop. Nevertheless, this might be a difficult thing to know with exactitude due to the complexity and different variables involved in reflection. As Zeichner and Liston (1996) argue:

if teachers reflect and examine their basic values, are wholehearted and responsible in their concern for their students, are tuned into and have questioned the images that guide their teaching –then they are better teachers, [but] There is the belief that reflective teaching is not necessarily good teaching and that uncritically accepting knowledge and action generated through teacher reflection is problematic because, under some circumstances, more reflection may actually serve to legitimate and strengthen practices that are harmful to some students.

(Zeichner and Liston 1996:48)

Zeichner and Liston make a point about the usefulness (or lack of it) of RP when they indicate that reflection does not necessarily guarantee an improvement in our teaching. As stated by Zuber-Skerritt (1989), teachers in general fall into the habit of just thinking in a superficial way about their teaching without clear guidelines,

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and that superficial reflection ‘does not help to address genuine concerns that arise from their teaching environment and hence does not bring about any meaningful action to rectify or improve teaching at all’ (Kwan and Simpson 2010:417). The lack of depth in reflection and the (possible) lack of usefulness of the practice (e.g. when it can be harmful to some students, as stated by Zeichner and Liston 1996) make me think of the importance of working with others (which will be explained in 3.2.8) to support or dismiss our assumptions and analyse our own actions with the help of others’ opinions. The purpose, in my view, is to promote reflection by making teachers aware of the importance of taking mindful considerations of the aspects influencing their practice; the main goal should be to encourage learning and effectiveness through reflection on their teaching practice and experience, as well as on their environment, in order to take action. It is necessary to increase responsibility over their own professional development because ‘the outcomes of reflection include learning and action, empowerment and emancipation’ (Moon 1999:65).