critical reflection on your own education experience

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Using the 4 Lenses of Critical Reflection to Uncover Your Teaching Assumptions

By Christine Goedhart

“As with all aspects of science and education, new evidence will and should prompt us to revisit our assumptions, question our practices, and make new instructional choices that continuously improve teaching and learning.” ( Cooper et al., 2021 )

We’re now a full year into remote teaching during a global pandemic. During this time we’ve encountered new situations, new experiences, new technologies, and a whole lot of new information. As we cross this one-year threshold, it’s a good time to look back and critically reflect on what happened, what was learned, and how our thinking may have changed.

And in particular, now is a great time to identify, explore, and challenge our assumptions about teaching and learning.

Assumptions are a foundational part of teaching. In fact, our teaching philosophy and the decisions we make regarding our teaching practice are based on the assumptions that we hold about teaching (e.g., effective teaching uses active learning strategies), learning (e.g., opportunities to practice are needed for learning), and our students (e.g., students come into the course with certain background knowledge).

Ultimately, our teaching assumptions guide how and what we teach.

Assumptions don’t come out of nowhere – they are developed over time through our own experiences, our conversations with others, and our knowledge of scholarly research and theory. And assumptions are not necessarily bad, especially if they are well-informed and regularly examined.

In his book Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher , Stephen Brookfield describes critical reflection as “the sustained and intentional process of identifying and checking the accuracy and validity of our teaching assumptions.” This is easier said than done, because assumptions are often unconscious, making them difficult to recognize, and thus difficult to challenge.

However, this past year has been particularly conducive to critical reflection. The extraordinarily disruptive impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning has exposed numerous inequities and forced many of our deeply held assumptions to rise to the surface, providing us with a unique opportunity to see them and to address them.

To help us uncover our assumptions, Stephen Brookfield recommends that we critically reflect on our teaching using the following four lenses:

Lens #1: Personal experience – examining our own experiences with teaching and learning

There are important lessons to learn from your own experiences with teaching and learning this past year, especially as you’ve had the opportunity to use new teaching techniques, strategies, and technologies. In addition to being in an instructional role, you may have also experienced remote teaching and learning through different roles, such as observer, workshop participant, or perhaps even student.

Thinking back on all of your personal experiences this past year with remote teaching and learning, consider the following questions:

• What worked well? What were the elements that made it successful?
• What didn’t work so well? How could it be improved?
• What were some challenges that you faced?

Lens #2: Students’ experiences – seeing the course through students’ eyes

Over the past year your students have been remotely engaging with you and the course, and you’ve had a chance to get to know them in new and different ways. For example, new learning technologies may have allowed you to check in with students more frequently throughout the term, hear from students you don’t usually hear from, or get a better understanding of their lives and unique situations.

Thinking back on all the ways you’ve interacted with, and learned about your students this past year, consider the following questions:

• What was helpful for students’ learning or overall experience in this course?
• What hindered students’ learning or overall experience in this course?
• What were some challenges that students faced?

Lens #3: Colleagues’ perceptions – talking about teaching practices with colleagues

Your colleagues have also engaged in remote teaching over the past year and have their own personal experiences and perspectives to share. Talking with your colleagues may have helped you to see things in new ways, expand your understanding of teaching-related practices and situations, and determine if your own experiences are unique or shared by others.

Thinking back on your formal and informal conversations with colleagues over the past year, consider the following questions:

• In what ways has your remote teaching experience been similar to that of your colleagues?
• In what ways has your remote teaching experience been different from that of your colleagues?
• What are some things that you’ve learned from your colleagues?

Lens #4: Theory and Research – engaging with scholarly literature

When beginning something new in science, we often start with a literature review to inform our thinking on the topic. Similarly, you may have turned to the literature or revisited established learning theories as you worked to figure out how to teach remotely. Others may have also shared with you particularly useful articles or scholarly works that helped you make sense of the new teaching situation.

Thinking back on your exposure to educational scholarly literature this past year, consider the following questions:

• What have you noticed to be some popular topics or trends in the literature?
• What scholarly literature have you found to be most useful?
• Have you come across any literature that contradicts your understanding of teaching?

Each of these lenses provides a certain valuable perspective, but has its limitations. When we use all four lenses together we can see a more clear and complete picture, exposing our assumptions and bringing them into focus so that we can better explore them.

Sometimes we completely reject our assumptions when we encounter new evidence, but more often our assumptions evolve to become more refined, nuanced, and complex. Similar to hypotheses in science, the continual act of intentionally articulating, questioning, and testing our teaching assumptions makes them more accurate and contextualized, ultimately leading to better teaching decisions, practices, and outcomes.

Which of your teaching assumptions were exposed or called into question this past year? How have they changed? How can you explore them further?

It can be difficult and uncomfortable to answer these questions, but because our teaching decisions are only as good as the assumptions on which they are based, it is important to continually uncover and challenge them. Doing so will result in more accurate assumptions, more informed teaching decisions, and better learning experiences for students.

Want to see a good example of critical reflection in action? Check out Cooper et al. (2021) .

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• Teaching & Learning
• Focus on learning

Critical reflection

How do we define reflection.

The root of the word ‘reflection’ is the Latin reflectere . Flectere means ‘to bend’, so re-flectere increases the inflection—‘to bend back’.

This means reviewing our inner processes of thinking and feeling. John Dewey, a key originator of thinking about reflection, sees it as a special form of problem-solving which requires qualities of open-mindedness, responsibility and self-awareness. Schön emphasises the concept of ‘reflection-in-action’, where the reflective practitioner evaluates intuitive understandings intrinsic to experience as a guide to action. This ‘on-the-spot’ processing is different from retrospective contemplation, which typifies most reflection on learning.

Some teachers find it useful to differentiate types or levels of reflection, each representing progressively deeper levels of self-awareness:

• the technical or evaluative level – students typically start at the first level, mostly describing and evaluating their experiences , with little connection to theory
• the practical or sense-making level – most progress to the second level, making sense of their experiences or learning in the light of theoretical understandings
• the critical level – students tend to find the third level the most challenging, as it requires a capacity to critically examine the values, beliefs and assumptions underlying their actions.

We may ask students to ‘critically analyse’ or ‘critically reflect’ without clearly defining these terms. Critical analysis usually requires taking a position on theory or literature, external to individual experience. Students may make reference to their own experience as part of drawing conclusions, without necessarily being critically self-reflective.

The term ‘critical self-reflection’ makes it clear what we expect of students:

Critical self-reflection involves questioning assumptions underlying one’s beliefs and values, reassessing those assumptions, exploring alternative perspectives and acting on new understandings.

Values, beliefs and assumptions

Strategies that support students to become critically self-reflective.

The SCU Library has an excellent resource of LibGuides about reflective practice.

Fisher, K. (2003). Demystifying critical reflection: Defining criteria for assessment . Higher Education Research and Development, 22(3), 318–335.

Mezirow, J. (Ed.). (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: A guide to transformative and emancipatory learning . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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

27 Oct 2020  

• Our Mission

5 Activities That Promote Reflection in the Classroom

The metacognitive work of reflecting on learning boosts engagement and encourages the development of critical thinking skills.

Reflection is a powerful tool for enhancing learning and knowledge acquisition and is essential for teachers and students. When students engage in reflective thinking, they are better able to analyze and evaluate their experiences, which enables them to extract meaning and actively process what they have learned and to make sense of it. By taking the time to engage in the metacognitive practice of thinking and reflecting on learning, students can make more meaningful connections and gain a deeper understanding of the material, leading to greater long-term retention and application of knowledge.

Reflection also helps students develop metacognitive and social and emotional skills, such as self-awareness and self-regulation, by identifying areas for improvement and setting new goals. These are all important skills for lifelong learning.

5 Learning Activities that Can Foster reflection

To promote reflection, there are many options available that provide students with choices in how to share what they have learned and to engage in reflective practice. 

1. Blogging. For students who enjoy writing or jotting down ideas, blogging or journaling can be a great choice. Whether students contribute to a class blog or share it only with their teacher, it enables students to practice their writing skills, reflect on their learning, and potentially receive feedback from their peers. The blog can be on a topic related to their coursework, such as a book review, a reflection on a field trip, or a summary of a research project and what they learned and how the experience was for them.

WeVideo is a neat way for students to compile a series of video reflections and have an artifact of their learning to look back on throughout the year. It also promotes student choice and building digital skills with its editing tools and features. Students can even collaborate with classmates as they reflect. 

2. Digital storytelling. Digital storytelling is a popular and engaging option for students who are looking to showcase their knowledge through multimedia. With digital storytelling, students are empowered with choices in how to create a visual representation of their learning in a fun, engaging, and meaningful way. Depending on the tool used, students can include images, video, and audio to share thoughts and reflections of learning. 

StoryJumper is a digital storytelling platform that promotes student choice and voice in learning. Students can choose different background scenes, characters, and props and record audio for their books. Books can easily be shared with a QR code. 

3. Making mind maps. Creating graphic organizers or mind maps can be another way to boost visualization of learning and for students to present their thought processes, ideas, and connections between different concepts they have learned. Mind maps can promote critical thinking and creativity skills, as well as helping students evaluate how well they understand complex topics and develop a deeper understanding of the material.

Ideamapper is a tool that can be used by students and teachers for creating a mind map. There are many templates available to start with that make it easy to process learning, creating visualizations that help students reflect on concepts learned and make connections, leading to better content retention. 

4. Podcasting. For students who prefer speaking rather than writing to communicate their thoughts and ideas, podcasts are a great option. I started my own podcast as a way to reflect on my teaching practices and also to share what I was learning and how it impacted my classroom. By creating a podcast, students can explore their communication skills, delve deeper into a topic, and have a thoughtful discussion with classmates or simply a conversation with themselves that they can listen to and process for further reflection.

Students can create an episode to talk about a current event or a specific area of study, or to self-assess their learning experiences. Students can provide their unique perspective and insights on a topic while refining their speaking and communication skills. They will articulate their ideas more clearly, structure their thoughts, and engage in conversation, all of which also benefit their SEL skills.

Soundtrap for Education offers students and teachers many resources for getting started with podcasting in the classroom. Soundtrap also has lesson plans on a variety of topics and content areas for educators to explore and start podcasting with students right away.

5. Building digital portfolios. Digital portfolios are a great way to have students track their progress. Through a portfolio, they can build a narrative of their work and have a space to reflect on their progress and set goals.

Spaces EDU is a digital portfolio platform that helps teachers gain a deeper understanding of students’ interests, needs, and learning styles. Students can track their growth over time, identifying strengths and areas where they can set new goals. This information is critical in supporting reflective practice, allowing teachers to adjust their teaching strategies to better serve each student’s unique needs. 

Wakelet offers many possibilities for classroom use. Students can have their own Wakelet to add artifacts of work and create a digital portfolio, as well as record Flip videos to reflect on their learning. Flip has been a very beneficial tool in my classroom for several years. Whether students record videos to share their ideas or respond to prompts, it offers many choices that provide authentic and engaging learning and reflection opportunities for students. 

Benefits of reflection

Reflection promotes self-awareness and self-improvement and helps students identify strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and develop strategies to improve their learning outcomes. We want students to take ownership of their learning and become more active and engaged learners.

Reflective practices also enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills. When we engage in the metacognitive process of thinking about thinking, we develop greater awareness of our learning experiences. Students will develop a habit of self-reflection that will enable them to better adapt to new challenges, learn from experiences, and continue to grow and develop as they prepare for the future.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

5 Documenting Your Learning and Personal Growth: Critical Reflection

One key aspect of a portfolio is reflective expression. According to Carole Rodgers, “Reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with a deeper understanding of its relationship with and connections to other experiences and ideas. It is the thread that makes continuity of learning possible.” While the resume and curriculum vitae show what you have done, a reflection shows what you think about what you have done. It allows you to demonstrate thought, and process and document personal growth.

“Reflecting means being intentionally thoughtful about defining an experience, explaining that experience, and determining future implications and actions,” according to Parkes, Dredger, and Hickes.  Reflection most often takes the form of writing, but it can also include video or audio reflections.  Reflection should take place throughout the portfolio and it “reaches its full potential” when it becomes progressive in that each reflection builds on the others.  It is woven into the about me and is an important part of the gallery of artifacts.

Guiding Principles of Reflection

Carole Rogers suggests there are several guiding principles of reflection and at the heart of these are meaning-making, systematic thinking, and personal growth.

• Meaning Making: Reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and connections to other experiences and ideas.
• Systematic Thinking: Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking.
• Focused on Personal Growth: Reflection requires attitudes that value personal and intellectual growth. 

Now that you know the role of reflection in a portfolio and that it is made up of meaning-making, systematic thinking, and personal growth, let’s look at several ways to get started with writing your reflection.

The Importance of Audience and Purpose

As with all writing, you should have a clear sense of purpose and audience. For example, “I am writing these portfolio reflections to be read by future employers for the purpose of getting a job in the field of marketing” or “I am writing these portfolio reflections to be read by the admittance committee for the purpose of getting accepted into graduate school.” Finally, your purpose may be, “I am writing these reflections as a way to help me better understand my skills so I can visualize a variety of paths in my future.” It is likely that your portfolio will have multiple audiences and you should proceed keeping those audiences in mind. As Gallagher and Poklop suggest, students should consider “inviting different readers to have different experiences of the portfolio by offering them guidance in how to understand, experience, and interact with the portfolio.”

Let’s look at one model of using critical reflection referred to as the what, so what, and now what reflection, also called the Driscoll Cycle. I will explain the cycle, share with you question prompts, offer a video review of the cycle, and then an example of what the cycle looks like when applied.

Critical Reflection Using the Three Step Model

The Driscoll Cycle of Reflection includes three very basic steps:

• What? Describe what happened.
• So What? Analyze the event.
• Now what? Anticipate future practice based on what you learned.

Let’s break them down one at a time.

In the “what” stage, you should recall what you did and write about it as objectively as possible. Just the facts. 

• What happened?
• What is your artifact? Name and describe it.
• What context/background information is important or relevant to your audience?
• What happened in a particular situation? What did you do? What were the results?
• How much did you know about the subject before we started?
• What process did you go through to produce this piece or complete this project/activity?
• What problems did you encounter while you were working on this project/activity? How did you solve them?
• What were the challenges?
• What were powerful learning moments?

Let’s look at an example from a student portfolio. Kaitlyn LaMaster answered the “what” step this way.

Undertaking the task of writing a paper on the “Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Paralysis from Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)” was an enormous challenge that tested my critical thinking and organizational skills. My neurobiology professor had challenged us to select a topic that interested us, dive into the relevant scientific journals, analyze the findings, and produce a final product of professional quality. Despite feeling overwhelmed, I approached the task step by step, reading one journal after the other, and using my available resources to help me prepare. After numerous drafts and revisions, I submitted the paper, and it earned me an A grade, which reinforced my dedication and hard work.

In the “so what” step, you begin to look for patterns and for what it means. You are talking about moments of significance. Your goal is to write about why this encounter or assignment matters to you.

• What insights did you gain from the project or assignment?
• What are your feelings about this?
• How does what you learned relate to your education or career aspirations?
• What did you learn about yourself from this?
• How does this connect to other skills, experiences, or knowledge?
• What was important about the situation?
• How did you apply course concepts?
• What skills did you use or acquire?
• How did you overcome barriers or challenges?
• What part are you most proud of? Why?
• What would you do differently?
• How was your experience different from what you expected?
• What is the most important thing you learned personally during this project/activity?
• How do you feel about this project/activity?
• What were your goals for this project/activity? Did your goals change as you worked on it? Did you meet your goals?
• What does this project/activity reveal about you as a learner?
• How does this project/activity link to previous experiences/knowledge?
• In what ways did this change how you looked at this subject/topic?
• What did you learn about yourself while working on this?
• What moments are you most proud of your efforts/involvement?
• In what ways have you improved at this kind of work?
• In what ways do you think you need to improve?

Kaitlyn LaMaster answered the “so what” step this way.

This experience taught me invaluable lessons about preparation and organization, which I can apply to any other aspect of life, including sales. I not only researched my topic but also familiarized myself with the best practices for writing a paper of that size. This helped me discover useful resources and applications that aided me in keeping track of the vast amount of information I needed to read, summarize, and cite. With these skills, I could effectively manage dozens of articles, citations, photographs, and other sources, leading to the success of my paper.

In the “now what” step, you will write about what you will do next.

• How will this influence the way you approach future projects or endeavors?
• How have you changed or grown because of this experience?
• What will change as a result of this?
• What would you like to learn more about?
• What are you going to do as a result?
• What did this experience teach you?
• How will you apply what you learned from your experience?
• What would you like to learn more about, related to this project or issue?
• What is the impact on others from your project?
• How does this advance the understanding of the topic?
• What is one thing you want people to notice when they look at your work?

Kaitlyn LaMaster answered the “now what” step this way.

Through this experience, I realized the importance of being organized and prepared, and I know this will be an asset in any career, including sales. It has taught me the value of breaking down complex tasks into manageable steps, using available resources, and being organized in managing information, all essential skills in a sales position.

As with all writing, you should have an engaging opening sentence, a clear thesis, and an interesting closing sentence. In essence, each of your reflections should follow this five-step process.

Now that you know the process, let’s take a look at a couple of examples.

Examples of Using the What, So What, Now What for Study Abroad Reflections

Xavier Smith, Career Counselor at the University of Arkansas helps students write about their experiences while studying abroad. Here is his advice and an example.

How can you explain your story in your portfolio?  A helpful method in describing your story is a technique called “What? So what? Now what?”  “What” calls for you to explain what took place in your involvement or what you noticed.  “So what?” calls for you to connect the relevance of it. What was the impact? Discuss any themes, skills, or lessons that were learned. Lastly, describe the “now what”. “Now what” calls for you to describe how you will use the new skills, experience, or insight in future endeavors.

“While studying abroad in Belize, I collaborated with 10 classmates to coordinate rural health clinics in villages in Belize. My classmates and I performed basic diagnostic tests such as the hip-waist test and blood-glucose readings.”

“Because the village was removed from the city, the locals had limited access to health assessments. I was able to connect with the locals and help work towards better overall community health. The experience allowed me to learn culturally competent communication. It was important that I meet the locals where they were to be able to connect with them. Additionally, I learned how to organize a health clinic and collaborate with local community leaders to be able to build rapport with the community.”

“The project informed me of the importance of actively listening to the people I am working with instead of trying to impose my values on them. As a career counselor, I am learning how to listen to the experiences of others and help them discover their unique path. Because of my time in Belize, I am extremely considerate of the perspectives and culture that people bring with them to any space. I intend to continue to grow in understanding through active listening to maximize the efforts of the students.”

Check out Xavier’s Portfolio to see how he uses the “what”, “who what,” “now what” in other examples. 

After viewing Xavier’s portfolio, answer these questions:

• Which of the “now what’s” resonated with you?
• How might an employer view his experience studying abroad?
• In what ways did the photos enhance the message?

Can You Identify the What, So What, Now What Parts?

Look at this post from Sydney Maples and see if you can identify the what, so what, and now what parts of this reflection.

The “Empathy” Study: A Virtual Exploration of Homelessness

“While I worked as a programmer in Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab (the campus virtual reality lab), we received a grant to work on an Empathy-based study in virtual reality. I, along with another person within the lab, spent the summer creating a study that immersed participants in a virtual world in which they were homeless on the streets. This in itself required some aspect of science communication, as we both worked on separate components of the study and ultimately tied each component together — which required a lot of justification and debate over best programming practices for the study. I also worked on this study when I was still fairly new to programming, and while most of the knowledge was self-contained within the platform, working on a team to create something so important was part of what got me interested in science communication so early on. It was a wonderful blend of mediums (from video game engines to the Oculus Rift), and watching my programs being used in social psychology studies on participants – including demonstrations at nearby events – was what really made a difference to me and my ability to communicate with others about scientific topics. Not only did I communicate about the current state of homelessness, but I was also given further opportunities to discuss topics pertaining to the environment, such as ocean acidification, before placing participants into a virtual world to see for themselves. Between giving scientific information about the study to participants, to consoling participants if they got upset by what they were experiencing in the virtual world, I learned how to communicate both emotionally and practically as required in a scientific setting.”  Sydney Maples 

After viewing this example from Sydney, answer these questions:

• Could you identify the “what,” “so what” and “now what?”
• Did she give you enough information about her project that you would understand what it was and why it mattered?
• Compare the format of Xavier to the format of Sydney and talk about the impact of the different approaches.

Looking for more examples to examine. Look at these portfolios and see if you can identify the “what,” “so what” and “now what?”

Laura Barnum, Biochemistry major at University of Waterloo. 

Look at the Sample and Analyze

Analyze Hannah Gabrielle’s Course Reflection. 

Analyze Carrie Whites Report Reflection

Look at the sample reflections and rate the following items: (did not do)  1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9- 10 (excellent)

• The example answered the question, “What?”
• The example answered the question, “So What?” The example represented systematic thinking. ( There was evidence of thoughtfulness and connections were made).
• The example represented making meaning. ( It didn’t just give an example, it gave meaning to why this example was included or why it mattered).
• The example answered the question, “Now What?” The example demonstrated personal growth.
• The example was engaging.
• The example used college-level professional writing.
• The example had an engaging opening sentence.
• The example had an engaging closing sentence.
• The example had a clear thesis.

Key Take Aways

• Reflection should include meaning-making, systematic thinking, and personal growth.
• Reflections can be written but they can also be audio or videos. They are not limited by modality.
• Portfolio reflections should always be written with the author and purpose in mind.
• The three-step model of writing critical reflection is what, now what, and now what.
• Reflections should have an engaging opening sentence, a thesis statement, and an interesting closing sentence.

Ideas and Resources for Teachers

• Have students use the prompts from “Here are phrases you might use in your reflection” and complete every prompt.
• Ask students to print out their reflections and then in class have them use highlighters to color in what, so what, and now what in different colors.
• Go around the room and ask students to read only the first sentence from their reflection. Have them read only the last sentence. Challenge them to rewrite them to be engaging.
• Have students complete the artifact assignment and the artifact peer review.
• Have students write about a signature assignment.
• Have students do an in-class small-moment reflection about something that happened to them that week.

Additional Resources

Check out this Reflection Toolkit from the University of Edinburgh for ideas and resources.

For an overview of other reflection models, check out the University of Connecticut’s page on Reflection Models and the Global Digital Citizen Foundations Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Critical Thinking.

Consider the suggestions on how to have students reflect from an article on Developing Innovative Reflections from Faculty Development: Lessons Learned: 

 Reflection Exercises

Looking for some creative reflection prompts? Try out one of these ideas.

Letter to Your Future Self

Write a letter to your current self from your future self.

• What did you learn in college that was instrumental to your growth?
• What goals have you accomplished?
• What thing did you learn in college that you didn’t think was that important at the time but is important to you now?
• What obstacles did you overcome to get where you are?
• What core belief did you cling to?
• What do you want your current self to remember as it moves forward?

Write About Small Moments

The goal of a small moment reflection is to focus on something that was meaningful to you in the moment. For example, in a service learning experience, what is a small thing that you remember that taught you a big lesson? Why was this meaningful to you? When studying abroad, what was a small thing that someone did that made you think? What was a small moment where you realized something important about yourself?

Write Six Words

 Choose six independent words that describe an experience. Write your reflection telling why you chose those six words and what that says about the lesson that you learned.

Write About a Signature Assignment

A signature assignment is something that illustrates something that you learned in the course. This signature assignment can be connected to the objectives of the course, the objectives of your program of study, or the objectives of the institution.  For Roach and Alvey at the University of Michigan-Flint, it means

A signature assignment is a substantial project within a course that illustrates something quintessential about course content, embeds at least one general education learning outcome, asks students to synthesize and apply learning, gives students agency and choice in the application of their learning, and requires a significant and intentional  reflective component to help students identify and articulate relationships between course material, the curriculum, their community, and their sense of self.

One common feature of portfolios is the inclusion of signature assignments. Typically, this involves showing what you did in the class (what), why that mattered (so what), and how you will apply that or how it impacted you in some way (now what).

Serenna Hammons writes about her coursework. In the final part of her reflection, she writes the impact of what she learned:

The most important thing I learned in this course is that I matter. My lazy decisions have a negative impact on the environment, and I have the power to make a positive influence. There are so many things I can do and so many ways to get other people involved. Just my actions alone won’t be monumental, but if everyone made small changes, we can make a big difference. Educating yourself on these things and taking on responsibility is the best way to make a difference.

Tell Your Story Digitally

• Tell us the story of how you overcame an obstacle using pictures and videos.
• Create a visual journey of the highlights and insights from your collage journey using pictures and videos.

Write About Your Study Abroad with the Four P’s

Career Specialist Xavier Smith writes about using the 4 P’s of reflection: What are the cool people, places, perks, and projects that you were involved in? By focusing on these areas in your experience, you can provide context to all the cool things you indulged in while abroad. Listing these items is not enough; however, you need to be descriptive of those cool items by utilizing what, so what, and now what. This formula allows you to state what happened, describe its importance to your development, and describe how your new understanding will influence how you navigate the world. Taking this thorough approach in your portfolio will demonstrate your deep thought process and provide viewers with a broader scope or perspective of your experiences and what they mean to you and the larger world.

For a quick review, watch this video published by the McLaughlin Library at the University of Guelph:

Here are phrases you might use in your reflection.

From the Reflective Practice Toolkit, University of Cambridge LibGuide on Reflective Writing and Reflective Prompts by University of Cumbria

Bleicher, R. E., & Correia, M. G. (2011). Using a “Small Moments” writing strategy to help undergraduate students reflect on their service-learning experiences. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 15(4 ), 27-56.

Dewey, J. (1910). How We Think. D.C. Heath and Company.

https://www.schoolofeducators.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/EXPERIENCE-EDUCATION-JOHN-DEWEY.pdf

Eynon, B. & Gambino, L. (2017). High-impact ePortfolio practice. Stylus Publishing.

Gallagher, C., & Poklop, L. (2014). ePortfolios and Audience: Teaching a Critical Twenty-First Century Skill.  International Journal of ePortfolio ,  4 (1), 7–20.  http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP126.pdf

Gladd, J.  Write What Matters . Open license.

Global Digital Citizen Foundation.  Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Critical Thinking.

House, A. T. (2021). Reflection Paper. Student Success, University of Arkansas.

Illinois Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. Artifacts and Reflective Self-Expression. 

Lengelle, R., Meijers, F., Poell, R., & Post, M. (2014). Career writing: Creative, expressive and reflective approaches to narrative identity formation in students in higher education.  Journal of Vocational Behavior , 85(1), 75–84.   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2014.05.001

Parkes, K., Dredger, K., & Hicks, D. (2013). ePortfolio as a measure of reflective practice. International Journal of ePortfolio ,  3 (2), 99–115.  http://www.theijep.com/pdf/IJEP110.pdf

Reynolds, N. & Davis, N. (2014). Portfolio keeping: A guide for students. Bedford St. Martin.

Reynolds, C. & Patterson, J. (2014). Leveraging the ePortfolio for integrative learning. Stylus Publishing.

Roach, S. & Alvery, J. (2021). Fostering integrative learning and reflection through “signature assignments.” American Association of Colleges and Universities

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: A user’s guide. Palgrave Macmillan.

Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective Thinking. Teachers College Record, 104 (4), 842–866.

Ryan, M. (2011). Improving reflective writing in higher education: A social semiotic perspective,   Teaching in Higher Education,   16:1 ,   99-111, https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2010.507311

Spandel, V. (1997). Reflections on Portfolios. Handbook of Academic Learning,  Academic Press.

Speller, L. (2019). TIPS for Teaching with Technology: Using ePortfolios to Increase Critical Reflection in the Classroom. https://tips.uark.edu/tips-for-teaching-with-technology-using-eportfolios-to-increase-critical-reflection-in-the-classroom/

University of Cambridge LibGuide. Reflective practice toolkit. 

University of Connecticut Center for Teaching and Learning. Reflections  and Reflection Models and Sample Reflection Questions

University of Cumbria. Reflective Prompts

University of Edinburg. Reflection Toolkit 

Utrel, M. Swinford, R, Fallowfield, S. Angermeier, L (2022). Developing innovative reflections from faculty development: Lessons learned. AAEEBL Portfolio Review.

Walters, S & Jenning, J. ePortfolio Presentation. Teaching and Faculty Support Center

The example of the Driscoll cycle was developed by a student at The Robert Gillespie Science of Learning .

Portfolios Referenced

Martin Causan 

Laura Barnum

Serenna Hammons

Sydney Maples

Xavier Smith

Documenting Your Learning and Personal Growth: Critical Reflection Copyright © 2023 by Lynn Meade is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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We’re reviewing our resources this spring (May-August 2024). We will do our best to minimize disruption, but you might notice changes over the next few months as we correct errors & delete redundant resources. 

Critical Reflection

A Critical Reflection (also called a reflective essay) is a process of identifying, questioning, and assessing our deeply-held assumptions – about our knowledge, the way we perceive events and issues, our beliefs, feelings, and actions. When you reflect critically, you use course material (lectures, readings, discussions, etc.) to examine our biases, compare theories with current actions, search for causes and triggers, and identify problems at their core.   Critical reflection is   not   a reading assignment, a summary of an activity, or an emotional outlet.   Rather,   the goal is   to change your thinking about a subject, and thus change your behaviour.

Tip: Critical reflections are common in coursework across all disciplines, but they can take very different forms. Your instructor may ask you to develop a formal essay, produce weekly blog entries, or provide short paragraph answers to a set of questions. Read the assignment guidelines before you begin.

How to Critically Reflect

Writing a critical reflection happens in two phases.

• Analyze:   In the first phase, analyze the issue and your role by asking critical questions. Use free writing as a way to develop good ideas. Don’t worry about organized paragraphs or good grammar at this stage.
• Articulate:   In the second phase, use your analysis to develop a clear argument about what you learned. Organize your ideas so they are clear for your reader.

First phase: Analyze

A popular method for analyzing is the three stage model: What? So What? Now what?

In the  What?  stage, describe the issue, including your role, observations, and reactions. The   what?   stage helps you make initial observations about what you feel and think. At this point, there’s no need to look at your course notes or readings.

Use the questions below to guide your writing during this stage.

• What happened?
• What did you do?
• What did you expect?
• What was different?
• What was your reaction?
• What did you learn?

In the second  So What?   stage, try to understand on a deeper level why the issue is significant or relevant. Use information from your first stage, your course materials (readings, lectures, discussions) -- as well as previous experience and knowledge to help you think through the issue from a variety of perspectives.

Tip:  Since you’ll be using more course resources in this step, review your readings and course notes before you begin writing.

Below are three perspectives you can consider:

• Academic perspective: How did the experience enhance your understanding of a concept/theory/skill? Did the experience confirm your understanding or challenge it? Did you identify strengths or gaps in your knowledge?
• Personal perspective:   Why does the experience matter? What are the consequences? Were your previous expectations/assumptions confirmed or refuted? What surprised you and why?
• Systems perspective:   What were the sources of power and who benefited/who was harmed? What changes would you suggest? How does this experience help you understand the organization or system?

In the third   Now what?   stage, explore how the experience will shape your future thinking and behaviour.

Use the following questions to guide your thinking and writing:

• What are you going to do as a result of your experiences?
• What will you do differently?
• How will you apply what you learned?

Second phase: Articulate

After completing the analysis stage, you probably have a lot of writing, but it is not yet organized into a coherent story. You need to build an organized and clear argument about what you learned and how you changed. To do so,   develop a thesis statement , make an   outline ,   write , and   revise.

Develop a thesis statement

Develop a clear argument to help your reader understand what you learned. This argument should pull together different themes from your analysis into a main idea. You can see an example of a thesis statement in the sample reflection essay at the end of this resource.

Tip: For more help on developing thesis statements, see our   Thesis statements  resource

Make an outline

Once you have a clear thesis statement for your essay, build an outline. Below is a straightforward method to organize your essay.

• Background/Context of reflection
• Thesis statement
• Introduce theme A
• Writer's past position/thinking
• Moment of learning/change
• Writer's current/new position
• Introduce theme B
• Introduce theme C
• Summarize learning
• Discuss significance of learning for self and others
• Discuss future actions/behaviour

Write and revise

Time to get writing! Work from your outline and give yourself enough time for a first draft and revisions.

Even though you are writing about your personal experience and learning, your audience may still be an academic one. Consult the assignment guidelines or ask your instructor to find out whether your writing should be formal or informal.

Sample Critical Reflection

Below are sample annotated paragraphs from one student’s critical reflection for a course on society and privilege.

Introduction

Background/context of reflection : I became aware of privileged positions in society only in recent years. I was lucky enough, privileged enough, to be ignorant of such phenomena, but for some, privilege is a daily lesson of how they do not fit into mainstream culture. In the past, I defined oppression as only that which is obvious and intentional. I never realized the part I played. However, during a class field study to investigate privileged positions in everyday environments, I learned otherwise.   Thesis:   Without meaning to, I caused harm by participating in a system where I gained from others’ subtle oppression. In one of these spaces, the local mall, everything from advertisements to food to products, to the locations of doorways, bathrooms and other public necessities, made clear my privilege as a white, heterosexual male.

Body paragraph

Topic sentence : Peggy McIntosh describes privilege as an invisible knapsack of tools and advantages. This description crystalized for me when I shopped for a greeting card at the stationary store. There, as a white, heterosexual male, I felt comfortable and empowered to roam about the store as I pleased. I freely asked the clerk about a mother’s day card.   Writer’s past position:   Previously, I never considered that a store did anything but sell products. However, when I asked the sales clerk for same sex greeting cards, she paused for a few seconds and gave me a look that made me feel instantly uncomfortable. Some customers stopped to look at me. I felt a heat move over my face. I felt, for a moment, wrong for being in that store.  I quickly clarified that I was only doing a report for school, implying that I was not in fact homosexual.   Writer’s current position:   The clerk’s demeanor changed. I was free to check, she said.  It was the only time during the field study that I had felt the need to explain what I was doing to anyone. I could get out of the situation with a simple clarification. But what if I really was a member of the homosexual community? The looks and the silence taught me that I should be feared.  I realized that, along with its products, the store was selling an image of normal. But my “normality” was another person’s “abnormality.”  After I walked out of the store I felt guilty for having denied being homosexual.

Summary of learning:   At the mall I realized how much we indirectly shame nonprivileged groups, even in seemingly welcoming spaces. That shame is supported every time I or any other privileged individual fails to question our advantage. And it leads to a different kind of shame carried by privileged individuals, too.   Value for self and others:   All of this, as Brown (2003) documents, is exacerbated by silence. Thus, the next step for me is to not only question privilege internally, but to publicly question covert bias and oppression. If I do, I may very well be shamed for speaking out. But my actions might just encourage other people to speak up as well.

Sample paragraphs adapted from James C. Olsen's Teaching Portfolio from Georgetown University .

• Professional development
• Taking responsibility for professional development

Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice

Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works - a process of self-observation and self-evaluation.

By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in our teaching.

Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional development which begins in our classroom.

• Why it is important
• Teacher diary
• Peer observation
• Recording lessons
• Student feedback

Why it is important Many teachers already think about their teaching and talk to colleagues about it too. You might think or tell someone that "My lesson went well" or "My students didn't seem to understand" or "My students were so badly behaved today."

However, without more time spent focussing on or discussing what has happened, we may tend to jump to conclusions about why things are happening. We may only notice reactions of the louder students. Reflective teaching therefore implies a more systematic process of collecting, recording and analysing our thoughts and observations, as well as those of our students, and then going on to making changes.

• If a lesson went well we can describe it and think about why it was successful.
• If the students didn't understand a language point we introduced we need to think about what we did and why it may have been unclear.
• If students are misbehaving - what were they doing, when and why?

Beginning the process of reflection You may begin a process of reflection in response to a particular problem that has arisen with one or your classes, or simply as a way of finding out more about your teaching. You may decide to focus on a particular class of students, or to look at a feature of your teaching - for example how you deal with incidents of misbehaviour or how you can encourage your students to speak more English in class.

The first step is to gather information about what happens in the class. Here are some different ways of doing this.

Teacher diary  This is the easiest way to begin a process of reflection since it is purely personal. After each lesson you write in a notebook about what happened. You may also describe your own reactions and feelings and those you observed on the part of the students. You are likely to begin to pose questions about what you have observed. Diary writing does require a certain discipline in taking the time to do it on a regular basis. 

Here are some suggestions for areas to focus on to help you start your diary. 

Download diary suggestions 51k

Peer observation Invite a colleague to come into your class to collect information about your lesson. This may be with a simple observation task or through note taking. This will relate back to the area you have identified to reflect upon. For example, you might ask your colleague to focus on which students contribute most in the lesson, what different patterns of interaction occur or how you deal with errors.

Recording lessons Video or audio recordings of lessons can provide very useful information for reflection. You may do things in class you are not aware of or there may be things happening in the class that as the teacher you do not normally see.

• How much do you talk?
• What about?
• Are instructions and explanations clear?
• How much time do you allocate to student talk?
• How do you respond to student talk?
• Where do you stand?
• Who do you speak to?
• How do you come across to the students?

Student feedback You can also ask your students what they think about what goes on in the classroom. Their opinions and perceptions can add a different and valuable perspective. This can be done with simple questionnaires or learning diaries for example.

What to do next Once you have some information recorded about what goes on in your classroom, what do you do?

• Think You may have noticed patterns occurring in your teaching through your observation. You may also have noticed things that you were previously unaware of. You may have been surprised by some of your students' feedback. You may already have ideas for changes to implement.
• If you have colleagues who also wish to develop their teaching using reflection as a tool, you can meet to discuss issues. Discussion can be based around scenarios from your own classes.
• Using a list of statements about teaching beliefs (for example, pairwork is a valuable activity in the language class or lexis is more important than grammar) you can discuss which ones you agree or disagree with, and which ones are reflected in your own teaching giving evidence from your self-observation.
• Read You may decide that you need to find out more about a certain area. There are plenty of websites for teachers of English now where you can find useful teaching ideas, or more academic articles. There are also magazines for teachers where you can find articles on a wide range of topics. Or if you have access to a library or bookshop, there are plenty of books for English language teachers.
• Ask Pose questions to websites or magazines to get ideas from other teachers. Or if you have a local teachers' association or other opportunities for in-service training, ask for a session on an area that interests you.

Conclusion Reflective teaching is a cyclical process, because once you start to implement changes, then the reflective and evaluative cycle begins again.

• What are you doing?
• Why are you doing it?
• How effective is it?
• How are the students responding?
• How can you do it better?

As a result of your reflection you may decide to do something in a different way, or you may just decide that what you are doing is the best way. And that is what professional development is all about.

Julie Tice, Teacher, Trainer, Writer, British Council Lisbon

This article was first published in 2004

Well organized

Greetings, The steps explained in reflective teaching are quite practical, no matter how many years educators put into their experience, properly guided ideas will definitely enhance how to engage our students, at the end of the day, what matters is how the learning took place in the classroom. and reflect on how i inspired my students to deliver the content, the reflective teaching practice not only helps to get back and analyze, but helps the educator to be more organized, thank you for the wonderful article.

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Wonderful advice

Thank you very much for these suggestions. They are wonderful.

online journal

Reflecting teaching.

Dear Editor, This is a very useful article for English teachers and trainers. Teaching diary is a must for all teachers and trainers.

JVL NARASIMHA RAO

Reflecting on your teaching

Dear Julie,

An excellent article.  Nothing can be more important then self reflection, i.e. looking inwardly to find out what you did, how you did it and how and what you need to do to make it better.  Unfortunately we seldome reflect on ourselves. 

I would like to introduce few simple questions every teacher should ask after completing a lesson:

1. Can I state one thing thet the students took back with them after my lesson?

2. Can I state one thing that I wanted to do but was not able to it becasue of insufficient time?

3. Can I state one thing that I should not have done in this lesson?

4. Can I state one thing that I think I did well?

Answers to these questions will enable the teacher to do better in the future.

Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

See our publications, research and insight

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Original research article, reflection as teachers: our critical developments.

• 1 Teacher Education and Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
• 2 Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA, United States
• 3 Teacher Education, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United States

This study utilized Self-Study of Practice methodology to examine stories of our teacher development to explore the role of reflection in helping us grapple with challenging experiences in our teaching. Through emergent coding and collaborative analysis, we examine how reflection critically impacts the trajectory of practicing teachers. Our stories and subsequent discussion reveal recurring themes that suggest practices, attitudes, and skills reflective teachers implement to improve their understanding of the teacher-self and influence positive student outcomes.

Conceptual framework

Teaching is a demanding career that requires a constant juggling act, making resiliency and adaptability critical to teacher survival ( Day and Qing, 2009 ). Reflection plays a critical role in aiding teachers to manage these demands. This self-study uncovers the reflection process of three in-service educators who navigate challenges and new developments to their teaching experience in meaningful, thoughtful, and introspective ways as a possible reflective path for other teachers to follow.

Critical reflection and reflective practice

The notion of reflection as having a critical role in teacher improvement can be traced back to Schön (1983) , as his phrase “reflective practitioner” became popularized in teacher education. For the purposes of this study, we follow the example of Russell (2018) in understanding reflective engagement as falling into one of two distinct categories: critical reflection and reflective practice.

Critical reflection is best understood as critical thinking applied to personal experiences. This occurs when practitioners step back from a problem or experience and reflectively ask probing questions to make meaning from specified events. When educators engage in critical reflection, they bridge the gap between theory and practice as they introspectively question, reflect on what they have learned, and implement changes into their practice ( Russell, 2018 ). By engaging in critical reflectivity, practitioners can become more culturally inclusive ( Carrington and Selva, 2010 ; Durden and Truscott, 2013 ; Butville et al., 2021 ), confident in their classroom management and content delivery ( Slade et al., 2019 ), and experience fewer feelings of burnout ( Taylor et al., 2021 ).

While critical reflectivity is a habit that can be continual, most authors argue that engagement in reflective practice is triggered by “unexpected and unpredictable moments of surprise and uncertainty that demand our attention and invite us to reframe our implicit assumptions about practice in search of a new, more promising course of action” ( Russell, 2018 , p. 13). In other words, reflective practice often rises from disjunction caused by a new experience that conflicts with currently held beliefs, experiences, and understandings ( Jarvis, 1987 ). This kind of reflection, also called reflection in practice ( Schön, 1983 ), invites an individual to reframe their understanding and inspires experimentation.

Identity, emotion, and change

Teacher identity and beliefs play central roles in both critical reflection and reflective practice, because both form the teacher’s framework of understanding from which reflection is held, viewed, and questioned. Recognition from others is a critical ingredient for identity formation ( Bullough, 2005 ), and identities are constantly evolving and regulated by emotions ( van der Want et al., 2018 ). Ergo, unexpected moments that challenge one’s identities tend to demand reflection. When a teacher’s identity standard and a classroom situation do not align, one of the two must be adjusted in order to restore balance ( Aronson, 1992 ; van der Want et al., 2018 ).

What comes from these episodes of identity-versus-experience dissonance is lasting, meaningful teacher change ( Richardson, 1990 ). Reflection, whether individually driven or school sponsored, becomes a key ingredient in facilitating teachers’ making lasting changes, because it provides teachers with the choice to either take up or reject the implications of a challenging experience ( Gregoire, 2003 ). When practitioners are appropriately educated about reflective practices and given meaningful opportunities to engage in intentional and critical reflection, lasting changes are made in their teaching, and teachers become more effective educators as well as more capable problem solvers ( Butville et al., 2021 ; Taylor et al., 2021 ). This paper provides an in-depth examination of the reflective practices of three experienced teachers as they engage in self-study of their teaching practices to uncover how both critical reflection and reflection in practice play into their growth as teachers.

Materials and methods

In this self-study, we explored how reflection during challenging experiences lead to action as a teacher, as well as the learning and growth associated with reflection. From this reflective practice, we collected qualitative data by considering personal experiences in our own teaching careers. Self-generated texts were chosen as they offer “a critical lens through which teacher educators can problematize their practice,” ( Tidwell et al., 2009 , xiii). These self-generated texts allowed us to present our experiences as teachers, but examine them more closely as researchers to determine how the process of reflection influenced our practice. Each researcher recorded three to four critical experiences responding to the following prompt: How has using reflection helped you to grapple with challenging experiences that led to your action as a teacher?

After recording the critical experiences and sharing them with one another, each researcher engaged in independent emergent coding to identify themes found within. This step was essential to surpass the simple process of reflection and “make them public, thus leading to another series of processes that need to reside outside of the individual” ( Loughran and Northfield, 2005 , p. 15). As there were no stipulations on how to accomplish the coding, each researcher approached it slightly differently, whether it be highlighting the document and marking findings in the margins, grouping repeated ideas, or fitting the ideas into a process model.

After coding, we met to share the initial data with the other researchers. Collaboration among trusted peers emerges time and again as an essential feature of self-study of teaching practice ( Loughran and Northfield, 2005 ; Samaras, 2011 ), and was accomplished in this study over Zoom calls. During the initial call, we discussed some of the major findings, as well as clarified and gave further context to the events we had recorded. In addition, we discussed our coding methods and found common findings among different coding techniques. A verbal discussion with our “critical friends” was essential to our process as “engagement with them and their ideas forces the researcher to think more deeply about the research study” ( Pinnegar and Hamilton, 2009 ). The themes discussed and connections made provided valuable data to use later on in the findings portion of the study.

After having our initial discussion and beginning to write about our findings, we determined another discussion would be appropriate. In this discussion, we focused on the difference between critical reflection and reflection in action. In preparation for this discussion, we went through a second round of coding, this time using a priori coding, evaluating our written narratives for the ways in which we saw these two types of reflection manifest in our experiences, as well as the results we observed.

While each researcher followed the same coding process, there remained a breadth of explorable differences between their interpretations, as shown in Figure 1 and Tables 1 – 3 . However, the most interesting findings emerged from the discussion of the similarities, differences, and connections the researchers made together.

Figure 1. A model of reflection.

Table 1. Researcher E.

Table 2. Researcher C.

Table 3. Researcher R.

First, we noted that attention to internal and external factors of success may have impacted our burnout level as teachers. We found we did not face the same level of burnout in comparison to some of our colleagues and we wondered if our focus on students and reflection served as a buffer against burnout.

C: I wonder how much of that comes from having a relationship with students, a really positive relationship. …Maybe teachers that get more burned out are those that focus more on having an expectation of students rather than expectations of themselves.

R: External factors rather than internal ones.

High quality teacher-student relationships increase the level of enjoyment teacher’s feel in the classroom while simultaneously decreasing their frequency of negative emotional responses ( Taxer et al., 2019 ). We viewed these high-quality teacher-student relationships arising from an internal desire, rather than an external expectation.

Researcher R emphasized in her critical experiences that both her teacher identity and her literary identity came into question as she taught. Researcher C noted, “Each of our identities tied to other areas as well… and the teacher change comes into the idea that it… influences our entire lives.” Bullough (2005) addressed this critical convergence of teacher identity with every other area of a person’s life, saying, “Who we are as teachers emerges from who we are as humans” (p. 238). In our reflection we also found the opposite to be true, that who we are as humans emerges from who we are as teachers.

In Researcher E’s preparation for online learning, reflection was used as a means of elucidating the wisdom and experience of teachers to plan for challenges in advance. Schubert (1991) studied this idea of teacher lore, or the “knowledge, ideas, perspectives, and understandings of teachers” (p. 207). By positioning teachers as experts, teacher lore researchers delve into the dimensions of teacher’s insights and realities (see Colby, 2020 ). This teacher lore may be revealed through formal training, team meetings, casual conversations, and peering into other teacher’s classrooms.

Finally, we discussed the possibility of using these reflective practices in teacher education programs as a means of preparing teachers to deal with personal and professional difficulties. We noted that some teacher education programs promote teaching students how to find and read research as a possible means of solving the problems teachers encounter in the field. While this may be effective, particularly later on in the careers of teachers, it might also be overwhelming in the face of the responsibilities teachers already face.

Implications

A number of implications arose from the work.

1. Teacher education programs may consider the usefulness of teacher lore accessed through reflection, and incorporate these processes into teacher education programs or field placements. A time to discuss and draw upon lore and research during a class that incorporated both pre-service and in-service teachers may be valuable.

2. Relationships fostered reflection in this study, and it is possible that broadening and advancing the web of teacher relationships can be of benefit to many professionals.

3. As teacher-student relationships ruptured due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we noted that teacher emotions remain deeply affected and may be contributing to the teacher exodus. By reemphasizing the emotional and human aspect of teaching through active and critical reflection, many teachers may be bolstered to remain in the teaching profession.

4. Preparing teachers to engage in both critical and active reflection during a teacher education program may be beneficial. By reflecting on their own experiences with reflection at a school–particularly in mandatory new teacher training programs–the researchers noted when they felt reflection served a purpose they welcomed engagement, a finding supported by Korthagen and Nuijten (2022) .

5. Stolle et al. (2018) described critical friends as “someone supporting/coaching the transformation of another’s teaching, or someone supporting the trustworthiness of research methods” (p. 148). The opportunity to become critical friends through writing this self-study project helped each researcher consider their space, the spaces of others, and how these boundaries and openings in their spaces helped new knowledge develop. By helping teachers find and employ these critical friends, insights and opportunities emerge among individuals and groups ( Olan and Edge, 2018 ).

6. By engaging as critical friends, we embraced our power as teachers. By enacting small, positive changes or opportunities into our particular sphere of influence, we as teachers have the power to change ourselves, our students, the school or district in which we work, and eventually have an impact on systemic change. Encouraging teachers to recognize and embrace their power as teachers may be a beneficial use of both critical friends and teacher education programs.

This self-study of teaching practice was built through a process of reflection and thoughtful discussion. By writing our stories about when change occurred in our teacher lives through reflection, we realized the import and impact reflection can make individually and collectively on the teaching profession. Engaging as critical friends led to a realization of empowerment that strengthened our individual teacher identities and our desire to make positive impacts in the microcosms of our lives. Teaching in a classroom may be compared to living in a dollhouse, a place where actions may seem canned or too small to impact the larger world. But it is in these very actions of smallness, that these dollhouse universes became places of meaning making and change, spaces where relationships and bonds formed that left a lasting impact far past the plastic packaging so often seen by those unfamiliar with education.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author contributions

CC wrote the findings, analysis, and conclusion sections while also organizing and tracking all activity related to the manuscript. EH completed the introduction, conceptual framework, and editing of the references. RC wrote the methodology section and edited the manuscript for grammar and contextual errors. All authors contributed data and participated in the discussion as well as any revisions of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Slade, M. L., Burnham, T. J., Catalana, S. M., and Waters, T. (2019). The impact of reflective practice on teacher candidates’ learning. Int. J. Sch. Teach. Learn. 13, 1–8. doi: 10.20429/ijsotl.2019.130215

Stolle, E. P., Frambaugh-Kritzer, C., Freese, A., and Perrson, A. (2018). “What makes a critical friend?: Our journey in understanding this complicated term,” in Pushing boundaries and crossing borders: Self-study as a means for researching pedagogy , eds D. Garbett and A. Ovens (New Zealand: The University of Auckland), 147–154.

Taxer, J. L., Becker-Kurz, B., and Frenzel, A. C. (2019). Do quality teacher-student relationships protect teachers from emotional exhaustion? The mediating role of enjoyment and anger. Soc. Psychol. Educ. 22, 209–226. doi: 10.1007/s11218-018-9468-4

Taylor, L. P., Newberry, M., and Clark, S. K. (2021). Patterns and progression of emotional experiences and regulation in the classroom. Teach. Teach. Educ. 93:103081. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2020.103081

Tidwell, D. L., Heston, M. L., and Fitzgerald, L. M. (2009). Research methods for the self-study of practice , Vol. 9. Berlin: Springer, xiii–xxii.

van der Want, A. C., den Brok, P., Beijaard, D., Brekelmans, M., Claessens, L. C. A., and Pennings, H. J. M. (2018). Changes over time in teachers’ interpersonal role identity. Res. Papers Educ. 33, 354–374. doi: 10.1080/02671522.2017.1302501

Keywords : reflection, qualitative study, self-study of teaching, practice, critical friends group

Citation: Cole C, Hinchcliff E and Carling R (2022) Reflection as teachers: Our critical developments. Front. Educ. 7:1037280. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.1037280

Received: 05 September 2022; Accepted: 04 October 2022; Published: 02 November 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Cole, Hinchcliff and Carling. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Chelsea Cole, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

The Role of Reflection in Teacher and Teacher Educator Development

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• Early childhood education

Critical Reflection

A presentation from the 2022 ECEC Roadshow on critical reflection and how it should drive your practice.

- Great. Thanks very much for that, Kate. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the New South Wales Department of Education's webinar on critical reflection. My name's Belinda Wakeford and I'm one of the state operations managers in our quality assurance and regulatory services, which sits within the early childhood education. You may also know us as the reg authority. As we begin this morning, we have a video we'd like to share with some children acknowledging country.

- We place our hands on the ground to acknowledge Aboriginal land. We place our hands in the sky that covers Aboriginal land. We place our hands on our heart to care for Aboriginal land. We promise.

- Great. Thank you. Thanks for that, Kate, and I'd like to acknowledge that I'm meeting you today from the beautiful Dharawal land on the south coast and I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the various lands on which you're all joining us from today and pay my respects to elders past and present. I extend that respect to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants and colleagues that are joining us today. So to get us started, a few housekeeping bits. As Kate mentioned, your microphone and video and chat functions have been disabled for the webinar today. During the registration process, you were invited to send through some of your questions, and we had a huge response to this and received well over 300 questions from the group, which is fantastic. For that reason, we deliberately made a decision to close off the Q&A function just for today. What we have done though is use some of those common themes from your questions to inform what we've included in today's session, and we'll talk directly to a few of those popular questions towards the end. Please do note though, the Q&A function will remain in place for the remaining Roadshows. We acknowledge some of you would like to know how do we document to get exceeding. I have that question frequently when during A&R, and we've been asked directly, what do the department want to see? What are the officers looking for? And I just want to start by saying the purpose of critical reflection is to support your continuous improvement journey to enhance your service quality and practice, leading to improved outcomes for children, and that's what we're going to be focusing on today. This is not about us as a reg authority. It's about you and your service. If by the end of this morning's session we haven't been able to address your question, there will be further opportunities for you to connect with our team, and we'll share details about how to make contact later in the session. For any questions that you might have relating to your service operation, you can also contact our information and inquiries team who are able to support you. I'm just going to get lovely Kate to pop the details into the chat for you now. We're also going to be using a few interactive features during today's session, including Menti. Hopefully you're familiar with that if you've been to some of the other Roadshows this week. So can I please ask you to have your phone or another device to scan and have that ready? The code will pop on the screen so that you can interact with us, and finally, as you would've been informed when you came in, this session is being recorded and you'll be provided with information about how you can revisit the session once our Roadshows have completed. So today, we will look at reflection versus critical reflection, and our focus is to understand the difference between reflective practice and critical reflection in order to support your continuous improvement journey. So what is critical reflection, when is reflection more of an evaluation, and how does critical reflection drive your practice and quality improvement journey? This morning, we'll hear from Alison, who's one of our experienced authorized officers, as well as a service leader from the sector who has kindly joined us this morning to share with you their critical reflection journey, and we're hoping after today's session that you'll walk away with a deeper understanding of critical reflection, and importantly, how this might drive your quality practices. We know critical reflection is part of the National Quality Standard. If we look within Quality Area 1, Element 1.3.2 speaks directly to critical reflection of children's learning and development. Critical reflection is also one of the three themes that services need to demonstrate at the standard level to be rated exceeding the NQS. Some of the participants online with us today submitted questions around what's the difference between critical reflection in relation to 1.3.2 at the element level and critical reflection as one of the exceeding themes, and we weren't surprised to see this question come through commonly, as we know that this causes, broadly, some confusion across the sector. We acknowledge it can be confusing with the same terminology that's used for both. So I guess to look at what the difference is, I think I need to start by noting what's the same, and that is they both require critical reflection which involves closely examining all aspects of events and experiences from different perspectives. Critical reflection outlined in Element 1.3.2 is about how educators critically reflect specifically on children's learning and development, both as individuals and in groups, to drive the program and their practice. Some examples of how we focus on children's learning and development is through reflection in action, such as altering experiences where they're not, our children not engaging, or adapting the program to include all children, rather than adapting a child's routine or requirements to fit the program. We may also document critical reflection of the program and our practices by analysing our teaching strategies to determine if they're supporting our learning goals that we've created for individual children, or analysing if group experiences and learning goals are being achieved. So as you can see, critical reflection in this capacity has a focus on how children's learning is being evaluated and analysed and what changes are made to support their learning and development within the program. Exceeding theme two, practices informed by critical reflection, involves a deep level of regular and ongoing analysis, questioning, and thinking that goes beyond evaluation and review. Critical reflection informs practice when the continuous reflection of all educators individually and together informs decision making and drives continuous quality improvement. It's about the how and the why we do what we do and it's a universal theme that can be applied across all standards of the NQS, and it's not specific to children's learning and development per se. I'm now going to introduce you to Alison Hendry. Alison is one of our amazing authorised officers in the continuous improvement team, and Alison came to the department with extensive industry experience. She has a clear passion for critical reflection and quality improvement practices that are informed by theoretical and philosophical research in this area. Welcome, Alison. Thanks for joining me this morning.

- Okay. Hi, everyone. Great to see so many of you participants are online with us this morning. Before we deep dive into critical reflection and what that actually means, I'd like to hear from you all. I'd like to hear, what do you think critical reflection involves? So we're all going to use Menti now, if you could. Could you tell me in a few words what you think is involved in critical reflection? You can use the QR code on your screen or go to menti.com and enter the code that is on the top of your screen there. Then type in a few words, and I'll give you a few minutes. We'd love to see your thoughts and it is anonymous, so please feel free to join in. Great. I can see some of our words coming in and they are fabulous. A lot of people are saying analysing, which is exactly right. Thinking. Oh, I think a lot of you are really on the right track there. Look at all these responses. Fabulous. Thank you so much, everybody, for providing these responses. That's great. I can see that analysing is clearly something that's at the heart of what a lot of people believe is involved in critical reflection. Fabulous. Okay. So now we're at a point where we're going to look at what is the difference between reflection and critical reflection. What we want to understand is what is reflection and when does reflection transform into that critical reflection space. So theorists tell us that reflection is deliberate. It's conscious. It's a way of making sense of what we've been doing, and realistically, it's a way that we learn from the experience. John Dewey, who I have affectionately named the grandfather of critical reflection in education, most famously said, "We don't learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience." So if reflection is about meaning making, then what's critical reflection? Again, theorists tell us that critical reflection is the relationship between theory and practice or theory and experience. ACECQA reminds us that critical reflection really is multifaceted. It's multilayered. So it's no wonder we all, at times, find it hard to break this down and have a really good understanding of what's involved and then how we engage in the process. This is not easy. So if you find critical reflection smooth sailing, you might not be examining deeply enough. Critical reflection involves critical thinking and multiple perspectives. There's purpose in it and it's used to support enhancements or change or refining practice. Critical reflection is the link between thinking and doing, and my favourite part of these theorists' quotes is that "critical reflection can truly be transformative." This is where we see it come alive. Maybe potentially Freire sums it up best when he notes that "Critical reflection on practice is a requirement of the relationship between theory and practice. Otherwise theory simply becomes 'blah, blah, blah,' and practice is pure activism," but I'm sure you all want to know what the grandfather of critical reflection will tell us. Well, he tells us that critical reflection requires active, persistent and careful consideration of the conclusions that we draw and the knowledge base that we've relied upon to come to those conclusions. So if we now know what reflection is and what critical reflection is, let's see what it looks like when we put them side by side and try to identify what is the difference. We know that reflection is a very practical, in a very practical everyday sense is looking back on an experience to learn from it. Therefore, we know that reflection is a means of building knowledge. However, we know that there's a change to reflection to make it critical. The Australian Institute of Radiography has actually given us a very simple way of looking at when that change from reflection to critical reflection occurs. We know that critical reflection is a process of analysing, considering and questioning experiences within a broad context. Critical reflection can therefore be broken down into a continuous cycle involving the process of practice, reflection, viewing these two elements through a lens of theory, and then reflection or analysis on what we've discovered in that process. From a pictorial view, this ongoing and continuous cycle looks like this. If we start at practice, this is all about the things that we are mostly doing on a daily basis. We're noticing. We're observing what we're feeling. We're thinking about what we're doing. It's really about evaluating. For example, did the environment set up support the learning outcomes? Were the children engaged? Did the new routine work for the morning session, or are families able to understand and access the rostering structure? The next step is also probably something that many of us are doing in terms of that reflection step. We're recording. We're examining. We're confronting the situation we're experiencing and challenging why we're doing what we're doing. We may be writing in a journal or discussing at team meetings why something isn't working and collectively decide to make a change. For example, does the environment allow for children's agency? Collectively, we decide that it doesn't, as children are unable to access resources independently, so we decide to add an open bookshelf so that they can house resources that children can independently obtain. The element that needs to be added to this cycle in order for this to become critical reflection is theoretical influences. The reason why it's important that theory or philosophical influences become part of this ongoing continuous cycle of critical reflection is because these perspectives will underpin the why of what we're doing. It will guide the change. It informs the practice or informs the shaping of a new practice through research or exploring theoretical perspectives. We might read various articles or guiding documentation, such as recognised publications or other sources sharing best practice. We might meet and talk with some subject matter experts or attend professional workshops to learn more about the area that we're critically reflecting on. When we put together our original practice or evaluation and reflection with theory, we're able then to make an informed analysis. This informed analysis is another form of reflection whereby we could rewrite or re-evaluate or critique or challenge those original beliefs that we held or the original way that we did things in order to close the loop and inform our ongoing practice. Realistically, the process of critical reflection needs to take the first two steps of practice and reflection and review those through a framework of theory or philosophical influences in order to analyse critically what we're doing now and what we might do in the future. As I said, the magic happens when we close the loop and use our critical reflection or analysis based on theory to inform, improve or change our practice. As such, the outcome of our critical reflection, or simply the results, might include an uplift of practice or a creation of a new practice, creation of a new policy, a change to the environment, or a refining or affirmation of current practices. It's only when we close this loop that the process of critical reflection has been completed. These outcomes are important and they are examples that demonstrate how your service practice has been informed by critical reflection, which aligns to the exceeding theme two under the NQS. I would just like to give you some additional examples from published research and also recognised bodies who have tried to clarify the difference between reflection and critical reflection. So Dr. Jan Fook, who is an internationally renowned scholar widely recognised for her work on critical social work, practice research and critical reflection, tells us that the difference between reflection and critical reflection lies in that analysis step that we've been talking about, as this brings together the theory with our original reflection, and together, there is likely to be some transformative change, change in our behaviour or change in our practice. Effectively, this is an informed change of practice. Similarly, ACECQA reminds us that critical reflection occurs when educators consider, question, analyse, research, utilize recognised guiding documentation, and re-evaluate planning and decision making that informs practice and process. ACECQA also reminds us that the concept or culture of ongoing self-assessment and continuous improvement, as we've just viewed on the previous slides, the continuous nature of the cycle of critical reflection, all of which ultimately aims to lead to improved outcomes for children, families, educators and service leaders.

- Oh, thanks very much, Alison. That was really great. I think that summarises that really well, and really key for me is that connection of theoretical influences, or simply put, who and what's guiding our practice on our reflection or evaluations and then challenging these. So that's great. Thank you very much for that insight, Alison. I'm now going to introduce Bernice Mathie-Morris, who is the director of early learning at Bomaderry Community Preschool. Good morning, Bernice, and thank you for joining us. It's really lovely to have you today.

- Morning. It's lovely to be present and to be able to have the chance to share some of our practices that we engage with at Bomaderry Community Preschool. Before I start, I'd like to acknowledge that I'm meeting with you today on the lands of the Dharawal people on the beautiful south coast of New South Wales. So yes, I'd just like to start by saying at Bomaderry Community Preschool, we love to engage in critical reflection. I think that comes back to, and reflection, it comes back to our love of learning. So we always say that it's important to involve children and impassion children to have that love of learning, but as adults too, it's really, really important. So that practice of reflection and critical reflection for adults is something that continues to drive us and to want us to learn more, which then helps us, as in a practice, to drive that critical reflection and also those outcomes and that best practice. So at Bomaderry Community Preschool, we reflect every day, but we do choose, you can't possibly choose everything that you reflect on to critically reflect on. As Alison has said, and Belinda, there is so many things in that process, so you can't engage deeply with every single little thing that you want to reflect on but choose something that you think will have the greatest engagement with your staff, but also something that's going to create those quality outcomes for your children and your families and your whole centre. So we too have a great connection, I guess, with John Dewey and his work. So we always say we just don't learn from doing, from that experience. We learn from reflecting deeply on those experiences that we engage with every single day. So today, I'm just going to share with you two questions that we have recently used to deeply critically reflect on and to walk you through the steps of how we have done that, and every centre, every program will look very different. This is just something that we find works for us and it guides us through in a very, well, I guess, a very organized space to get to the outcomes that we want to get to. So if we could have the next slide, so two of the questions that we've recently engaged with in with critical reflection was, why is it important to understand the conceptual mathematics development as educators and teachers in the early years program, and how do aesthetics and relationships within an early education program impact on the cognitive, relational functioning of educators, children and families? So we also, we always start with practice. What does that look like for us in our service? So that is educators noticing, so noticing what's going on with the children, the families, our environments, our interactions with each other. The feelings. How is everyone feeling? That is a really big part, so making sure we're taking note of that as well. How are the children feeling? How are the families feeling? As educators, what are we feeling? How do we approach that? Then questions, lots of questions. We always encourage everybody to question each other, and it's not seen as a negative in our service. It's a positive. So I will often walk through our rooms and be with the children and the other educators and say, "Tell me more about this," and we really encourage that with all educators to be able to do that. Our wonderings, share our wonderings, and they are really valid in this process as well, and we also ask educators to reflect on their own teaching strategies, the resources and the environment. Conversations that we have are really important in the process as well, and then our intentional and spontaneous programming. So there's so much that goes into our days that helps us inform and to be able to critically reflect as we move through. So you wonder what, you say, "Well, how do we document all of this?" And you can't possibly be able to document every single thing, but we do, the next step for us is that reflection step. So we have something called a reflective document and it is a Google Doc that we just use and everyone can have access to that, and we all have different colours and everyone writes in that and we make comments on each other. So that's where we document our noticing, our feelings, our questions, our wonderings. We also then bring them to a team meeting and then to our whole team meeting and discuss every single one of those. Everyone has a voice, and then we also use, obviously, those conversations with families and children, and we document that in there. So it's not a formal document. It's just something that we add to. We might think of something and just quickly write, type it in there, and the beauty of a Google Doc is that everyone can see that and have access to it. So we're constantly thinking about that. I encourage also in that reflection process is evaluations and critiquing on our planning and our documentation as well. So anything that we're thinking about within that reflection evaluation, we pop into that Google Doc as well. Educator meetings is a great time to have great, robust conversations around what we have written, what we have thought, and what we have been discussing in that critical reflection document, and robust conversation sometimes can be really challenging. I will acknowledge that this process is not an easy process, but if you look at it as a point of being able to move forward and I always get so inspired because I know I'm going to learn more. So that's why it is something that's very passionate for me and for our team. Can we have the next slide, please? Thank you. So then, as Alison and Belinda have talked about before, we move on to that next step of theory. This is where a lot of people go, "Oh, this is a little bit too hard. This is really challenging," but it's not. It's inspiring, and as Alison and Belinda has said before, there's so many things within this theory section that we can tap into and learn so much from. So we use lots of different readings, academic journals, sector publications, Department of Education, Bedrock, Pedagogy+, Rattler, textbooks. We have a lot of university students that come to us, so we also tap into lots of resources like that. So what we often do is, as educational leader, we will choose something and it might be three or four documents and we share that with the whole team and they reflect on that and then bring that to a staff meeting. Another great way is to connect with your colleagues at conferences, at webinars, in-house presentations, from sector leaders, other colleagues that have a passion in a space. So it could be as simple as when we talked about aesthetics in our space, we got someone to come in and talk to us about the importance of that. Engaging within our community. Not all of us live close to a university, but the use of webinars and connection through the internet has created a whole other world for us. So we engage as much as we possibly can with universities in projects. So we did a mass project with Wollongong University. So put yourself out there. Make connection with those universities, and they're always doing beautiful projects and really engaging projects that I think your teams will learn so much from, and then once we've taken that, all of that theory, then we link it to our reflections, previous reflections, and our wonder, that first stage of reflection and practice. Then we put it all together. So that analysis, how do we do that? So we come together, as I said, at that team meeting and we discuss the most important questions . What did we learn and what did we get from all of those readings, from those engagements with other professionals? Is there anything that we need to change? If so, how and how are we going to do that? Is there any policies that need to change as a space in there as well? Environment changes. Is there anything that links to our environment that we need to change? And then we make some decisions around what we're going to do to move forward as a result of that whole reflection process and our practice and then engaging with theory, because often when we engage with that theory, there's so many things that come up that we have not been, we did not know, and so many people have very different opinions and thoughts. I think the most important thing with that is to make sure that you're reading some great, reputable documents that are something that you can rely on. So that's another just important little tip. So then we make those decisions, and some of the easy ways to document that in terms of having that, I guess, that documentation so that you can share that with the department when it comes to assessment and rating, we always record on audio, on iPods, and we keep that critical reflection document. We always save all the readings that we've done and just annotate them. It doesn't have to be any formal documentation, but just annotate. Keep all your staff meeting records, all of those types of things and all of that is just then available. It becomes part of your everyday practice and then it's available for anyone to see when they come in and you can share that with them. I would say it doesn't, sometimes it takes a long time. It doesn't mean you have to critically reflect in two weeks. Sometimes it might be months, so enjoy the journey. That's what I would say. Enjoy the journey of critical reflection, because it is something, once you really start getting into it, you become very passionate about it. It challenges you, but you get to the space where you just keep wanting to go because you keep learning so much more. So thank you. I hope that I have been able to shed a little bit of light on how that critical reflection can become an integral part of your journey and that it can be something that you can easily achieve.

- That's wonderful, Bernice. Thank you so much for sharing with us really great examples of how your service engages with critical reflection, and I'm sure that many of our colleagues joining us online have found this really beneficial. I think it's really interesting to see in your practice and reflection subject areas some of the practical things that your educators, some of the educators online would be able to recognise and relate to. So you've mentioned about observations and evaluations and looking at your teaching strategies and interactions, but also the use of the collaborative documentation used to support your critical reflection. It sounds like that Google Doc work is working really well for your team.

- It certainly does. It's something that was a little bit of a adjustment for some people that had never used a Google Doc before, but it's very easy to use. It's just very versatile, so everyone can have access to it. Everyone can see in current time as people write in it and it's not a critical thing that we go, oh, that, you don't have to worry about spelling and grammar. It's just writing it. So it just takes that pressure off everybody.

- Beautiful, I love it, and you made really clear how theory is recognized as an important part of the process together what the end result or action, and I really loved hearing about your overall approach. I can see the excitement and passion that you've shown us would be inspiring for your team. I literally think I could listen to you all day, Bernice. So thanks so much for joining us. That was really, really informative.

- Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to share.

- Lovely. Okay, so we've covered a lot of things this morning. We're just going to move on now. It's time to get a bit of a pulse check to see what we now know about the difference between reflection and critical reflection. If I can just have the next slide, please. Thank you. So you won't need, oh, I'm going to give you three scenarios. So I'll share these with you and I'm going to ask you to use the poll that's on your screen. It'll just appear. You won't need to use your device for this one. I'm going to give you the scenarios and ask you to identify and think about each example to tell us whether you feel that it's an example of reflection or critical reflection. So we'll have that pop up. The poll will just appear on the screen. Thanks so much to the lovely support team who are doing an amazing job in the background there today for me, So the first scenario is during Assessment and Rating, a service shares their daily critical reflection sheet, which includes evaluations of the daily program, such as routine times and placement of furniture and layout of experiences. The sheet is also used to inform where experiences may be set out the next day, where additional supervision may be needed, or what the experiences are that are not being utilised. So I'm just going to get that poll up for you. So if you can use that to let us know whether you think this is an example of reflection or critical reflection. Great. Thanks so much. Just give everyone a moment to have a little look at that. Gosh, we've had a good, big group on today, which is great to see. Okay. How did we go with this one, Alison?

- Okay. So Belinda, this is an example which highlights evaluated reflection, where the daily happenings are noticed and observed. While the program is evaluated and used to guide future learning opportunities, placement of both resources and supervision and engagement of children, it does not include any theory-based analysis that's being used to change, shape or uplift practice. Something to think about, if you're using a form or document with the term critical reflection in the title, it doesn't necessarily ensure that critical reflection is occurring. This scenario is a scenario demonstrating reflection.

- Excellent, thank you, and we'll move on to our second poll question. Wonderful. Thank you. So during an Assessment and Rating visit, an authorised officer asks to see evidence that supports a stated key practice, that is, that indicates that critical reflection has been completed on changing the service programming template. So the ed leader at the service explained that the educators decided the programming template was no longer working for them and they've chosen to move to using an online programming application. The authorised officer asked what process was undertaken in changing that template, and the ed leader advised that one of the educators who'd been on a prac placement saw the online programming application and that service was awarded exceeding in Quality Area 1, so the team decided to change over to the application as well. I'm just going to get the poll to pop up for you. If you could let us know, do you think this is an example of reflection or has it moved to critical reflection? And that will just pop up for you in a moment. Wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. Where are we at? Excellent. Our poll's being quite tricky and putting all three up at once this morning, and that's okay, showing our flexibility and adaptability.

- That's right.

- So how did we go with this one, Alison? Where are we landing with this?

- There's some good results here, and I've got to say, I think people are starting to, are understanding what is involved with reflection and critical reflection. However, scenario number two or poll question two highlights reflection where a change of practice has occurred, although that change of practice appears to come purely from an operational decision and it's not driven by any theory-based reflection or discussion on practice and there's no evidence of any analysis occurring. So whilst a change did occur in practice, it wasn't driven through that theory and analysis, so this is an example of reflection.

- Excellent. Thank you, Alison, and our last one, I think some of you might have already completed this one, but I'm going to go through it anyway for those playing along in order. During the Assessment and Rating visit, a service explained that they're on a journey to embed inclusive practice, which was instigated when a child enrolled with mobility restrictions. So the educators hired and trialled specialised equipment that the child would need to assess their accessibility and barriers and identify barriers to learning. They met with the child's family and their specialists to develop strategies for inclusion, and the educators attended a workshop and consulted current research to expand their knowledge on inclusive practice, and they reviewed and updated the inclusive practice policy. Through the journey, a broader understanding of inclusive practice developed and a case study was completed on how the service and families understood inclusive practice and how this is demonstrated at their service daily. The case study was reviewed at quarterly interview intervals to ensure it's relevant, robust, and ongoing changes of practice were analysed. So I'll just get the last poll up there, final question for you. What are we all thinking? Looks like we're nailing it there, Alison.

- I completely agree. That's some really clear results there from the audience, from who's listening in. That's great. Yeah.

- Okay, great. So what are your thoughts on this, Alison, reflection or critical reflection?

- Well, first of all, I'm going to say excellent job for everybody. Thank you for participating in the polls, and this is our last scenario question. A lot of you actually answered that correctly. So scenario three is an example of critical reflection. This example highlights critical reflection through the approach of practice reflection, theory reflection and analysis. This critical reflection also has the component of being ongoing, with a review of the change of process practice undertaken, a review of policy and procedure, furthering educators' understanding, and supporting the inclusion of every child. Your critical reflections may not all be this long or they might not all look like this, but it's about what is relevant and reflects the practices in your service. You may notice this scenario refers to a case study which was relevant to this particular scenario. That's not always the case as each critical reflection will be unique to the topic.

- Great, thanks, Alison, and for those of you who may be still a little unsure, I think you'll find this next part of the session will be really helpful. We're now going to address some of those really popular questions I mentioned earlier that came through with your registrations, and I absolutely know that we're not going to be able to get to all of them due to the sheer volume that we received. However, as mentioned earlier, you can reach out to our team following today's session to talk about your own service and experience, and I will get their details popped up in the chat for you in a moment. So Alison, are you ready for me to run through some of our top three popular questions?

- Yes, I'm ready. Let's go. Thanks, Belinda.

- So multiple services have asked, where do we start and how long does it take to complete the critical reflection process?

- Yes, this is a great question actually and one we get often. So critical reflection will often start organically or it may require a conscious decision to identify opportunities. It may derive from highlighting something in your practice or your reflections. It may be something you choose to complete in response to a critical incident or to address feedback provided. Most commonly, critical reflection is undertaken by services to inform better practice or to uplift practice or to make a change to the environment. Additionally, services may choose to complete critical reflection to align their practices against the National Quality Framework. As we discussed earlier, critical reflection often starts in the noticing or observing of a practice or a situation. It may be about paying attention to what you're feeling and what you're doing. Often it's evaluative and this may lead to deeper questioning about the practice or situation. This is often how the critical reflection process starts in a service. Because critical reflection is unique to each service and each service context, how long it takes will be dependent on the processes the service undertakes. So some critical reflections may take less time than others as everyone's aligned to the outcomes of the critical reflection and in the analysis and a change or an enhancement in practice is adopted and understood quickly. Other critical reflections may take on a life of their own and require a case study or research paper to document the depth of the analysis and reflection. Again, it will be unique to your service and what your critical reflection involves. In terms of how long this takes to complete, it's important to remember that critical reflection is a continuous cycle. So in that sense, have a natural endpoint.

- Excellent, thanks, Alison, and one of the other frequently asked questions was, how do we get people involved and on board to support that critical reflection journey?

- Yes, so, one way is that we need to create a safe and positive work culture that allows for educators to be able to be honest and open and vulnerable when unpacking reflections on practice or feedback. Unless you have this underlying culture of safety, you'll find it's difficult to get to an authentic place where true critical reflection occurs. We need to be really clear and be able to communicate easily to each other what are the benefits of the process. Think about how you get the buy-in and what's in it for the educators. Ultimately, you'll see an uplift in your own practice and you'll be part of the fabric that underpins the practices that demonstrate quality at your service. Now, we're all different and you need to find what sparks the interest in your educators in the same way you reflect on what sparks the interest in your children. Acknowledge that your team will all have different learning and communication styles and how we gel these together to support an inclusive process. For some, this will be quite structured, but for other educators, it may be more informal. Services may find the process of critical reflection runs smoother when there's someone who takes responsibility within your service or organisation to ensure that the service community is working through this critical reflection cycle. As service leaders, it's important that we role model behaviours we want to see reflected. When I was at a service recently, they talked to me about how critical reflection has underpinned the journey of transformative change that they've been on for the last few years. This service shared with me that the initial seed of the transformation occurred through honest and open reflection on where each educator's strengths lie. Through this reflection, different educators started to discover a passion or a curiosity about different areas of the service delivery. These educators were then provided space and time to lead the critical reflection and were supported through the process of critical reflection because it was new to them. The process was broken down into small parts initially with supported individual reflections taking place, and these individual reflections then were used to influence that broader and more collaborative critical reflection that was instigated across the service, and ultimately, this led to a more empowered workforce that facilitated themselves this transformative change. I think I'd also like to say it's important that we are deliberate and purposeful and it's essential to provide time for our teams to connect with each other and with this process.

- Absolutely, I completely agree, and it's really difficult beause we are time for, but I like that you call out that it's really important to plan for that and to provide time for our teams to connect with each other in this process. So one last question that we'll have time for, and I think this will be one that people want to hear about, is how should we document critical reflection?

- Okay, so Belinda, you'll know this. This is actually one of our most asked questions, and truthfully, we can't give you a template or an example sheet on how to document your service's critical reflections. The honest answer is how you document will be unique to your service. In addition to how unique the critical reflection subject or topic potentially is, some services will start at the beginning stages of critical reflection in staff meetings or room meetings and therefore start the journey. The start of that journey may documented in meeting minutes, the agenda or summary notes. There may be evidence of the theoretical or philosophical documentation that's being used to further unpack the evaluative practice and reflection. However, this is more often than not going to be an online document or a professional development session or a conversation that's been held with a subject matter expert, and it may only be documented in the analysis notes of the critical reflection summary. Finally, the critical reflection's initial findings and changes or enhancements that have been identified may be noted in a summary document, and you heard about that earlier, but that works for Bernice and her service having a summary document. That summary document can be used as a reference point to come back to later and reassess if further changes or enhancements are needed. This reference document can then be used to support a continuous cycle of critical reflection. I'd also like to acknowledge that parts of the critical reflection process may be through conversation, and many educators ask, "How do we provide evidence that this has actually occurred?" Well, firstly, I acknowledge that may well be the case, and often is, however, this may be part of the initial reflection or evaluative practice stage of critical reflection and that critical reflection process. These conversations will lead to something and have further depth involved to them to allow for an informed change or enhancement. The conversations then become the spark that may well be noted simply in the summary of the critical reflection that's used as the reference point and may recorded as the initial seed that started that particular critical reflection journey. In regards to different methods of actually recording critical reflection, some of the ways you might consider documenting your critical reflection is in journals or mapped out and documented in services' online applications, maybe in services' unique template forms with specific probing questions to guide the reflection. Maybe it's in important improvement planning documents or even potentially through a whiteboard mind map that's been photographed to reflect back on later. There is no one way to document your journey. These are just some suggested variations. Be creative. Get others involved to ensure it's relevant to your service context. If you network with other services, have a chat and see what they use and what they find helpful. As Bernice said, enjoy the journey. What I would say is your critical reflection journey is your own. It's really important to document it in a way that's meaningful and useful to you. Ensure it's user friendly, accessible, and understood by those who are involved and those who'll be guided by it.

- Fantastic, Alison. That's great, and I think, you know, we can't give you a magic template that's going to solve it, but I love the examples that you have provided, and we heard from Bernice what works well for them for that service, and I think, as you said, be creative. Have a chat to others. Find out what works well for you and your educators at your service. So thank you for that. I think you've given those online some food for thought here, Alison.

- Thanks, Belinda.

- Okay, so let's move on. If we look at some of the words we've used today, active, analysis, research, thinking, examining, ongoing, cycle, you can see that there's not one way of describing or engaging with critical reflection. We can't give you a template, as we've just mentioned. It's not that simple. It is relevant to the individual context of your service, and we recognise, as Alison mentioned earlier, it's not an easy process, so take heart. You're not alone if you're finding critical reflection challenging, and as Alison mentioned earlier, if you are finding it easy, then perhaps you're not digging deep enough. This is not about ticking a box and I acknowledge we certainly have not answered the common question I get often is, how do I get exceeding? What this is about is supporting continuous improvement and identifying areas or opportunities for change and inform change in your service program and practice to ultimately improve the outcomes for children. We do though hope today has given you some insights in the differences between reflection, that may be more evaluative in nature, and critical reflection, and also given you some information about the continuous cycle of critical reflection and how each of these aspects of the process are important to consider and use to inform your practice. I'd like to thank you all for joining us today and for all of the questions that you provided and sent in. As I mentioned, if you'd like to make contact with our team, the details are in the chat. The information inquiries team is also available to talk to you about anything to do with your service operation, and following today's session, you will receive a link to a short survey and I'd really encourage everyone to complete this. The feedback that you share with us really does help us to provide purposeful and relevant Roadshow sessions in the future. In our last slide, as we're going, as people are leaving the session today, I'm just going to leave this up so you can see the sources of the references we've used in today's presentation and some suggested further reading. So thank you all again for joining us. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Thank you.

• Frameworks and standards
• Learning and development

Business Unit:

• NSW ECEC Regulatory Authority

• Schools & departments

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

One of the most famous cyclical models of reflection leading you through six stages exploring an experience: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give structure to learning from experiences.  It offers a framework for examining experiences, and given its cyclic nature lends itself particularly well to repeated experiences, allowing you to learn and plan from things that either went well or didn’t go well. It covers 6 stages:

• Description of the experience
• Feelings and thoughts about the experience
• Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad
• Analysis to make sense of the situation
• Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently
• Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate.

Below is further information on:

• The model – each stage is given a fuller description, guiding questions to ask yourself and an example of how this might look in a reflection
• Different depths of reflection – an example of reflecting more briefly using this model

This is just one model of reflection. Test it out and see how it works for you. If you find that only a few of the questions are helpful for you, focus on those. However, by thinking about each stage you are more likely to engage critically with your learning experience.

This model is a good way to work through an experience. This can be either a stand-alone experience or a situation you go through frequently, for example meetings with a team you have to collaborate with. Gibbs originally advocated its use in repeated situations, but the stages and principles apply equally well for single experiences too. If done with a stand-alone experience, the action plan may become more general and look at how you can apply your conclusions in the future.

For each of the stages of the model a number of helpful questions are outlined below. You don’t have to answer all of them but they can guide you about what sort of things make sense to include in that stage. You might have other prompts that work better for you.

Description

Here you have a chance to describe the situation in detail. The main points to include here concern what happened. Your feelings and conclusions will come later.

Helpful questions:

• What happened?
• When and where did it happen?
• Who was present?
• What did you and the other people do?
• What was the outcome of the situation?
• Why were you there?
• What did you want to happen?

Example of 'Description'

Here you can explore any feelings or thoughts that you had during the experience and how they may have impacted the experience.

• What were you feeling during the situation?
• What were you feeling before and after the situation?
• What do you think other people were feeling about the situation?
• What do you think other people feel about the situation now?
• What were you thinking during the situation?
• What do you think about the situation now?

Example of 'Feelings'

Here you have a chance to evaluate what worked and what didn’t work in the situation. Try to be as objective and honest as possible. To get the most out of your reflection focus on both the positive and the negative aspects of the situation, even if it was primarily one or the other.

• What was good and bad about the experience?
• What went well?
• What didn’t go so well?
• What did you and other people contribute to the situation (positively or negatively)?

Example of 'Evaluation'

The analysis step is where you have a chance to make sense of what happened. Up until now you have focused on details around what happened in the situation. Now you have a chance to extract meaning from it. You want to target the different aspects that went well or poorly and ask yourself why. If you are looking to include academic literature, this is the natural place to include it.

• Why did things go well?
• Why didn’t it go well?
• What sense can I make of the situation?
• What knowledge – my own or others (for example academic literature) can help me understand the situation?

Example of 'Analysis'

Conclusions.

In this section you can make conclusions about what happened. This is where you summarise your learning and highlight what changes to your actions could improve the outcome in the future. It should be a natural response to the previous sections.

• What did I learn from this situation?
• How could this have been a more positive situation for everyone involved?
• What skills do I need to develop for me to handle a situation like this better?
• What else could I have done?

Example of a 'Conclusion'

Action plan.

At this step you plan for what you would do differently in a similar or related situation in the future. It can also be extremely helpful to think about how you will help yourself to act differently – such that you don’t only plan what you will do differently, but also how you will make sure it happens. Sometimes just the realisation is enough, but other times reminders might be helpful.

• If I had to do the same thing again, what would I do differently?
• How will I develop the required skills I need?
• How can I make sure that I can act differently next time?

Example of 'Action Plan'

Different depths of reflection.

Depending on the context you are doing the reflection in, you might want use different levels of details. Here is the same scenario, which was used in the example above, however it is presented much more briefly.

Adapted from

Gibbs G (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.

The Empowered Educator

Inspiring ideas, training and resources for early learning.

Simple Critical Reflection for Educators

by The Empowered Educator 11 Comments

When you mention critical reflection to early childhood educators you are likely to be met with a deer in the headlights stare and someone immediately asking if it is too early for happy hour at the bar! A slight exaggeration obviously but it is something that many educators tell me they find difficult so don't feel like you are the only one thinking of an exit strategy when someone asks to see your critical reflections!

I've shared some tips before on weekly reflections along with the reflection we do when we observe children, analyse their learning and identify how to further extend that learning if we decide it is necessary.

But the new buzzword in early childhood seems to suddenly be critical reflection and this is where educators are getting confused and not sure of the difference between everyday reflective practice and the now common term -  critical reflection. So I thought it was a good time to break it down into some simple steps and I'm also giving you an action plan you can download to make sure you can get started!

Critical reflection is an important part of many professions and workers and therefore not just a requirement of early childhood educators but in this blog I'm going to be focusing on how the concept relates to us as educators and how it can improve our work and the outcomes for children in our care. You might still want a wine or two to work your way through this one though 😉

You can also grab my free critical reflection guide below if you'd like a little extra help...

Let's get started breaking it down ….

What Critical Reflection?

Critical reflection means regularly identifying and exploring our own thoughts, feelings, and experiences and then making a decision about how they fit in with the ideas, concepts, and theories that you are aware of, learning more about or others have been discussing and sharing.

The idea is that you are not only exploring your own thoughts, events and experiences that have occurred, but you are also examining them from different perspectives and considering whether this might in fact change your approach or own perspective. It is a way to consistently evaluate your actions and approaches to early learning and an early childhood educator role. Critical reflection is a common practice in many professions to help workers improve, change or reexamine current practice, perspectives, thinking and skills. It is something I have had to do in my work as an educator over the years but also in my family services and project manager roles. The basic premise is the same so it's not just something that the early years learning framework made up just to give educators like you more paperwork to do (there were other ways they achieved this 😉 ).

Reflection shouldn’t (or doesn't need to!) be about always looking for something you or others might have done wrong though– think about it as being prepared to identify your current values and biases and at least consider and explore a colleagues view that might differ to your own. Discuss with others about how their view influences their own practice in this area and perhaps how you could try a different way of doing something to see what happens.  When you are looking more closely at the viewpoints of others your aim is to engage in constructive debate and discussion that allows everyone to see some different perspectives – not to try and change someone’s mind by belittling their views, actions or emotions or put your own point across aggressively without being open to the possibility of some change.

Why is Critical Reflection important?

To put it simply – because it helps you as a professional early years educator to make changes and improvements to your practice, knowledge, interactions, actions and learning environments.

Critical reflection can highlight for you areas you might like to learn more about, understand better or find different ways to approach that practice. You might use some of the information to add goals and changes that you need to make to your quality improvement plan.

You can also use critical reflection regularly to analyse and identify children’s learning and development (as individuals and in groups)to better inform your ongoing planning.

We must always try and keep in mind that our reflections and discussions should ultimately lead to the best possible outcomes for the children in our care. Don't get hung up on just what it means for you – try and keep an eye on the bigger picture and why you are reflecting in the first place!

How is it different to my general daily or weekly reflections?

I like to think of critical reflection as going one or two steps further on from your regular weekly reflective practice that you do when you look back on how last week's program went or make quick notes about an activity or child.

The aim of critical reflection is actually to use it as an ongoing tool to build on your current practice and ask important questions not only of those actions, environment and activities – but also of why you choose to do those things that way that you do, how theories and perspectives might have informed your approach, how your actions might have impacted on others and what others viewpoints on this approach or action might be.

How often do Educators have to ‘critically reflect?

As critical reflection is an ongoing process there are no set rules for how often you should set aside time to document your reflections.

To get started taking regular action though you might like to consider 1 or 2 of the questions from my list further down below and then add your answers and thoughts to the end of each week’s planning. I’ve made this easier for my Empowered Educator Academy Ed's by adding a critical reflection prompt section to complete in the done for you  planners and program templates.

It can take a little time to learn the skill of critical reflection so by adding a few notes at the end of each weekly program it should help you get in the habit of exploring and learning more about how to use this practice effectively as everyday practice without it becoming time consuming or overwhelming. Some of the questions also help you to involve other people in your reflections and therefore expand and challenge your own thinking.

How can I get started with ongoing critical reflection?

If you are still a little confused about the process of critical reflection or struggling to begin, try setting aside some time to think about how you might answer 1 or 2  of the following questions at the end of a week before you begin next week's planning. Think about how your answers to these questions and the discussions surrounding those answers might regularly encourage further learning, help you to gain clarity and inform your future decisions about the children’s learning.

When you have identified your answers to a couple of the questions below you could then use them to begin drawing up an action plan you can revisit and update regularly . This creates a simple yet visible system of ongoing critical reflection without it taking a lot of your time each week!

Not sure how to get started on an action plan or even what to reflect on? I've got a FREE step by step guide for you and you can grab one below…

Critical reflection certainly doesn't need to be complicated or become something that takes a lot of time but isn't helpful to you or the children. We just need to keep it simple but do a little bit often! No matter what you might have read online in the groups and forums….it's not easy for everyone to begin doing straight away and learning to initiate and accept critical reflection is a skill that needs to be continually practiced – just like assertive communication skills .

It's not something you are meant to just ‘get' overnight or find easy straight away -so instead of pressuring yourself to reflect on absolutely everything to make sure you are doing it ‘correctly', break up ongoing critical reflection into smaller more manageable steps and begin with one question at the end of your week, add it to your action plan and then take it from there.

You might decide to put more effort into exploring just one area you identify from your answers for now and then ask some more specific questions regarding this practice as the year progresses.

Questions to prompt deeper critical reflection.

• How did my own experiences and knowledge influence my understanding and actions of a particular activity or interaction this week?
• How did I take into account the needs, perspectives and opinions of parents and their children in this situation?
• Did my personal values and possible biases enter impact on my experiences this week?
• How do my fellow educators, leader or view this situation or action?
• What do I need to find out more about?
• What other theories might provide me with a different viewpoint on this subject?
• In what way are my choices determined by the expectation of my early learning service or leader?
• What does this action/environment/observation tell me about?
• How can I acknowledge, respect and value children’s diverse identities?
• How could my team members/coordinator/leader/friend help me in this area?
• Were there broader social and/political or emotional issues that influenced my actions?
• Did my usual assumptions mislead my practice somehow? What assumptions can I challenge next time?
• What knowledge did I use to reflect upon observations this week?
• Why do I think that?
• What did I learn about this?
• How would I do it differently or better next time?
• How might the outcome of that activity/experience been different if I ……..
• What do you think? Why is that? How does it work for you? Why do you think your approach works more effectively than mine?
• What can I do next or differently to further extend the children’s (or my own!) learning?

These questions from the Australian Early Years Learning Framework are also very helpful to begin and guide reflection (although obviously more in depth):

• Who is disadvantaged when I work in this way? Who is advantaged?
• What are my understandings of each child?
• What theories, philosophies and understandings shape and assist my work ?
• What aspects of my work are not helped by the theories and guidance that I usually draw on to make sense of what I do?
• What questions do I have about my work?
• What am I challenged by? What am I curious about? What am I confronted by?
• Are there other theories or knowledge that could help me to understand better what I have observed or experienced? What are they?

(DEEWR,2009:13)

Choose one of the simple questions below to get started right now and conquer that critical reflection fear!

• What are you confident is working well in your day to day practice?
• What have you identified isn’t working well for you?
• What might you consider changing?
• How could you find out more about something to make it work better?
• In what areas would you like to grow more as an educator?

I know it can be confronting and we already have so much paperwork to do that this can just seem like a waste of valuable time but without regular critical reflection processes in any profession it can be difficult to grow, to learn new things, to explore different theories and perspectives and to engage in assertive yet constructive  discussions with our colleagues.

Please keep in mind that it can be a very fine line between a conversation that discusses different perspectives and methods to shaming someone for their own viewpoint or continually arguing that your way is the only right way. One of the goals of reflective practice is certainly to help us improve and make changes but it doesn't always mean you have to change what you are already doing – you are simply collecting the information you need to make a decision about what you need as you move forward in your role. Perhaps you will find that you are feeling confident  and on track with that particular practice, process or direction and can now move on to explore others areas as you ask more reflective questions of yourself and others around you.

Remember that you can start small by choosing a question or specific practice each week that you would like to explore further and add your thoughts to the reflection section of your weekly planner then at the end of the month use a simple critical reflection action plan to put some goals, action steps and time-frames in place. This not only shows evidence that you are engaging regularly in reflective practice it ideally will help you to increase your knowledge base, skills and above all provide better learning outcomes and experiences for the children’s learning journey.

Want to download a free reflective learning action guide to help you start recording your reflective practice and identifying some simple action steps you can take to improve or change your everyday practices?

Go ahead and tell me where to send one for you below…

Although you of course don't always need to write your reflections down (who has that sort of time?) I find it helps sometimes to see our thoughts, day to day practices and questions down on paper or on a screen in front of us to help guide us as to whether we need or want to take further action – don't overwhelm yourself though by trying to reflect on everything all of the time !!

I hope you have found this guide to simplifying and understanding critical reflection helpful!

Jodie Clarke is an early childhood professional supporting educators who want and need to stay passionate about the work they do! She has 30 years hands-on experience in the early childhood and human services sectors across many different roles.

Jodie is mum to 3 in Australia and has already helped thousands of educators with their work through her popular blog posts, activity ideas, online training and e-books.

21/08/2018 at 9:45 am

Really liked the article and definitely extended my knoweldge and experience in this field. Please kepp sending me more information. Thanks

24/09/2018 at 1:22 am

I really liked your article, I would like to extend my knowledge in terms of documentation and reflection. Thankyou

13/01/2019 at 11:46 am

I really enjoyed your article and would like to extend on and strengthen my knowledge on reflections and documentation. Thank you

13/01/2019 at 5:28 pm

Such an informative article. I want to read more from you.

09/02/2019 at 11:38 pm

Thank-you for this great article. centre has just purchased an on-line software package that parents are able to logon to this app and see what their child has been doing through out the day. This new software package includes areas where we must critical reflect. This article will help me de-mystify the different reflections that we are required to write.

01/05/2019 at 12:01 pm

Thanks so much for sharing this. Great simple explanation. I will use this guide for my uni essay.

17/09/2019 at 3:04 pm

Thanks you , what a great article. Lots of helpful info. Thanks for sharing.

11/11/2019 at 12:19 pm

Love your article.Its clear of what we need to do.Thank you.

28/08/2020 at 7:54 pm

Thank you so much for this Jodie, l really enjoyed reading it and gave me something to think about and use.

23/01/2021 at 12:33 pm

Hi Jodie, Thank so much for the knowledge article.

26/10/2021 at 1:38 pm

Would love to more info on on line learning

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• Deakin University
• Learning and Teaching

Critical reflection for assessments and practice

• Critical reflection writing

Critical reflection for assessments and practice: Critical reflection writing

• Reflective practice
• Critical reflection
• How to reflect
• Recount and reflect

Critically reflective language and writing

"Our language is the reflection of ourselves..."

Mahatma Ghandi -  Cries of Never  (1916)

Our language is part of our identity. How we speak or write or paint or move when communicating shapes our sense of self and our presence in this world.  Critical reflection uses particular language and writing styles.

What is reflective writing? 

Critical reflection uses particular language and writing styles, often linked to your study area. For example, critical reflection in Health disciplines is linked to evidence-based practice and therefore uses a combination of clinical language and first-hand clinician perspective. In contrast, critical reflective writing for a dance student may have technical terms and creative language. Regardless of area, reflective writing at uni needs you to link your reflection to theories. This means that there is a formal tone to reflective writing assessments.    

What does critical reflective writing include?

Critical reflective writing is not just a summary or description of an event or something that you have observed. Description is needed for context in a critical reflection but the core of good reflective writing is exploring the significance of events (the ‘why’ and ‘how’) by providing analysis and insights into your thinking.  

In critical reflective writing you need to:

This helps you to develop new insights and perspectives which can inform your future practice. 

Language of reflective writing

The language used in reflective writing allows you to discuss your personal experiences, feelings and ideas. It’s fine to refer to yourself and use “I”, “my” and “me”. 

You can also use action verbs when writing about your feelings and opinions, for example, “I felt…”, “I think…”, “I realise…”. 

Remember you also need to include theory to support what you are saying. Take a look at the  language of reflective writing  for more support in this area. 

What? So What? Now What? Model 

Just as there are models to help you critically reflect on your actions, thoughts and feelings, there are also models to help you write critical reflections. 

The 'What? So What? Now What?' model guides your own reflections and learning from events that are significant for you. It gives you prompts to help you identify and discuss the different components of critical reflective writing. 

Click on the plus symbols (+)  below to see what is discussed in each section. 

What? So What? Now What? template

To help you put this model into practice for your own context, download the template provided below to use for assessments. 

• What? So What? Now What? template

Essay versus critical reflection essay

At uni a common form of critical reflection writing is the critical reflection essay. For a quick recap on the major differences, look at this table.

Try to express your reactions, feelings, attitudes and views in an open and honest way. Avoid writing what you think others ‘want to hear’.

Remember that a critical reflection should describe, analyse and evaluate? Use this checklist to shape up a draft critical reflection based on a recent experience. Don’t forget to use the SWOT model to help prompt your writing

• A brief description of the event or context
• What you noticed
• What you were thinking and feeling
• Why this learning is significant to you
• What you have learnt from this experience
• How this will inform future practice.
• << Previous: How to reflect
• Next: Recount and reflect >>
• Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024 4:53 PM
• URL: https://deakin.libguides.com/critical-reflection-guide

Reflection and Reflective Writing - Skills Guide

• Reflective Assignments

Reflecting on Your Experiences

• Reflecting on Your Skills
• Reflecting on Feedback
• YouTube Playlist This link opens in a new window
• Audio Playlist
• Further Reading
• Downloadable Resources

What is reflecting on my experiences?

Reflecting on your experiences is looking back on your past experiences in a way that helps you to learn from them.  Unlike reflective writing for an assignment, this can be a personal reflection does not need to be shared with anyone else.

If you are struggling with reflective writing for an academic assignment, you may find it useful to begin with a personal reflection and then adapt it to fit your assignment.

Why might I reflect on my experiences?

Personal reflection can be a great way to get to know yourself better, and to improve the way you work.  You might want to reflect on your studies - a recent project, a completed assignment, or on feedback that you received.  You might also want to reflect on things outside of your studies.

How do I reflect on my experiences?

Because this reflection is personal and private, you don't need to worry writing to a certain model or style.  You can experiment to find the way that works best for you.  Of course, if you find it helpful to do so you can still use one of the reflective models.

In general, reflection consists of three stages.  The first stage is a descriptive stage where you describe the experience on which you are reflecting.  The second is a critical thinking stage, where you ask yourself key questions about the experience to further your understanding or explore your emotions.  The final stage is a future focused stage where you consider what you might do next time you are in a similar situation.

During each stage, it can be helpful to consider questions beginning with What, Where, When, Who, Why and How.  You can find suggested questions for each stage below.  In the ' Downloadable Resources ' section of this guide there is also a personal reflection activity, a blank reflective worksheet and a blank reflective action plan that you can download and complete to help you develop your skills.

Questions for Reflection

These documents contain possible questions to get you started as you reflect on your experiences .  You won't need to answer them all, and you could ask yourself other questions not listed here.

Each document is available as both a PDF and a Word document.

• Questions for Descriptive Stage
• Questions for Critical Thinking Stage
• Questions for Future Focused Stage

Reflecting on Your Studies

Reflecting on your studies livestream - 30 mins.

Alex and Tim discuss reflecting on your projects, studies and assignments.  This video was recorded live as part of our Library Livestreams.

Methods of Reflecting on Your Assignment

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• Last Updated: Aug 23, 2023 3:51 PM
• URL: https://libguides.derby.ac.uk/reflectivewriting