Reflective practice is the repetitive cycle of learning and gaining experiences from oneself through reflection on one’s strengths, weaknesses and successes (Cambridge Assessment International Education, n.d.). It has been long recorded that research into reflective practice is thorough and beneficial and therefore many schools around the world implement reflection in the classroom for both teachers and students (Diasti & Kuswandono, 2020). For teachers, however, it can promote professional development as an educator. It can evaluate teaching quality and guide development as a whole.
Many researchers have found that reflection is also great for both pre-service and in-service teachers (Diasti & Kuswandono, 2020). Pre-service teachers were found to professionally improve through reflective practice by utilising learning theories and research-led tactics to link to classroom scenarios and back up their teaching strategies. They were positive and willing to participate in reflection and felt more confident going forward. In-service teachers were found to professionally improve as reflection helped them identify where classroom problems were and helped find solutions. This is a great representation of how teachers can use reflective practice to improve their development as an educator and also improve classroom environment.
Upon learning about reflective practice in one of my digital technology units, I felt very familiar with the concept. I remember first being introduced to reflection with SMART goals in primary school. At first, I really didn’t like it because it was forced and a bit boring. Eventually I found myself getting used to reflecting on my learning and work and found that it really helped me achieve goals and excel in school. Now that I’m in university it has started feeling a bit repetitive and I’m not enjoying them as much. In fact some researchers say that too much reflection isn’t good as it loses its value because it becomes a graded task rather than a learning tool (Meirdick, 2012). However after learning about Gibb’s Reflective Cycle (1998) in my said university class, I found the process of reflection shows how repetition is actually one of the aspects that makes it beneficial. Gibb’s cycle represents a much more active and engaging role in reflection which I believe is advantageous to a teacher who is constantly confronted with new learning profiles and experiences.
To reduce the ineffectiveness of reflective practice, as a future teacher I might choose to have an open and honest discussion with my students to ask whether they find reflections valuable. If there are too many subjects requiring written reflections in a testing scenario, I could simply change my approach to instead trying to have one-on-one conversations with students to colloquially reflect on their performances and feelings towards the material learnt in class. I believe changing the setting of a reflection could really help reduce boredom and negative feelings towards reflections.
To conclude, reflective practice is really important in general but especially in a school setting. The research has provided astounding results that show improvement after the implementation of reflection for both teachers and students. Going forward I will appreciate and take reflective practice seriously and will definitely be using it as a teacher in the future.
References
Cambridge International Education Teaching and Learning Team. (n.d.). Getting started with Reflective Practice. Cambridge Assessment International Education. https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswrp/index.html.
Diasti, K. S., & Kuswandono, P. (2020). “Thriving through Reflecting”: Current Perspective on Teacher Professional Development Research in Asia Context. Journal of English Teaching, 6(2), 220–231. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.33541/jet.v6i3.1981
Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford Further Education Unit https://hhs.hud.ac.uk/lqsu/Sessionsforall/supp/Gibbs%201988%20reflective%20cycle.pdf
