Reflecting on reflective practice - Finlay (2008).
The following questions, along with other links will guide my response to the article stated.
- What is/are the points in the article that captivate your attention? In which way?
- What reflective model(s) do you find most suitable to use? Explain why?
What are the points in the article that captivated my attention?
Reflective practice - It's not easy!
One of the first points that Finlay makes is that reflective practices is not easy to put into practice, Finlay states that it is-"both complex and situated and that it cannot work if applied mechanically or simplistically" Finlay (2008, p 2)The fact that the mechanical and procedural aspects of reflection is highlighted throughout the review, makes it clear that critical reflection cannot occur within the context of education without careful facilitation. Finlay repeatedly mentions that professionals, practitioners and educators are busy and find reflective practice time consuming Finlay (2008, p.1).
Reflective Practice the dark side-
Another aspect which captivated my attention was the fact that there is a dark side to reflective practice that I had not thought about. Student teachers are often encouraged to create a Symth reflection (Smyth, J. 1989), whilst on practicums, especially when something goes wrong which as stated by Schon (1983) is a "reflection on practice". The reason it could go wrong is when the reflection is not facilitated positively and constructively as stated by Quinn who suggests:
"that the inappropriate use of reflective models may actually devalue practitioners’ professional work instead of promoting it" Quinn, F.M (1988/200)Lastly the idea that really stands out in Finlay's article is that as an educator I must be continuing on the journey to constantly be in a cycle as I can be conducting reflection before action takes place, reflection within an action and reflection after action takes place.
Where are the NZ links?
The article lacked any links to current forms of reflective practice within the context of New Zealand which is understandable as it was written for an American Open University. Finlay (2008, p.2) asserts early in the article that most professionals and practitioners have an external requirement to have reflective practice inherent in the profession and similarly we also have such requirement in New Zealand. I believe that in New Zealand there are also strong links made to reflective practice within the Graduating Teacher standards and Registered Teacher criteria 5 which states-"systematically and critically engage with evidence to reflect on and refine their practice" Teachers Council (2014)It is very important for educators to reflect on their practice and further engage in our own learning pathways. It is pertinent to life long learning and also modelling to our students the metacognitive skills that they may need to be a successful learner.
“The most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking.” Barrack Obama in conversation with British Conservative leader David Cameron, 2008 in presentations by Evaluation Associates
Which reflective model/s do I find most suitable to use?
Smyth's Reflection model (Smyth, 1989)
Within my teaching career and practicum's, I have completed a large number of Smyth reflections. The model is very simple and technocratic as stated by Finlay (2008) and often reflected on the action or incident. During practicums that I have led as an Associate teacher, it has been clearly stated in the brief that the Graduating teacher standards (Teachers Council, 2014) must be evidenced during the practicum. Standard five in particular makes mention of the need to reflect critically on pedagogy and helps new teaching students aware of how to unpack actions or an incident.
Teaching as Inquiry model (Ministry of Education, 2007)
In the article Finlay (2008) describes that Jay and Johnson's (2002) model has a
typology of reflective questions involving three intertwined dimensions: descriptive, comparative
and critical reflection. This model is the most suitable to current practices inherent in the "Teaching as Inquiry model" of reflective practice within my school's context. Jay and Johnson have
a typology of reflective practice for teacher education and similarly stated by the New Zealand Curriculum Teaching as Inquiry model-"Inquiry into the teaching–learning relationship can be visualised as a cyclical process that goes on moment by moment (as teaching takes place), day by day, and over the longer term. In this process, the teacher asks:What is important (and therefore worth spending time on), given where my students are at?, What strategies (evidence-based) are most likely to help my students learn this?, What happened as a result of the teaching, and what are the implications for future teaching?" Ministry of Education (2007)
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| Ministry of Education (2007) |
The Teaching as Inquiry model is also holistic in its application being that Finlay (2008) infers that critical reflection needs to be shared with colleagues and developed upon rather than introspective and isolated. T
his model is very clear and its aims to help educators become more critically reflective as the NZC states-"Reflective learners assimilate new learning, relate it to what they already know, adapt it for their own purposes, and translate thought into action. Over time, they develop their creativity, their ability to think critically about information and ideas, and their metacognitive ability (that is, their ability to think about their own thinking). Effective Pedagogy, NZ Curriculum p. 34
Links to Active Reflection model (Absolum, 2006)
Getting started with Reflection: Display reflective questions in the room and have a second set of questions available at your teaching station (reflection time 5-10 mins in individual,pairs, group conferences)
What were you learning and why? How did the learning go? What were the tricky bits and why?What new learning can we celebrate? What helped the learning to happen?Who needs more help and what needs to be re-taught? Summarized from - Clarity in the Classroom, Absolum (2006) presentation by Evaluation Associates facilitator.
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| Example of Active Reflection tools in presentation by Evaluation Associates |
Absolum, M. (2006). Clarity in the classroom. Hodder Education, Auckland New Zealand.
Finlay, L. (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002) Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher
education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85. In Finlay, L. (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL.
Ministry of Education. (2007) Kia ora - NZ Curriculum Online. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/.
Quinn, F.M. (1988/2000) Reflection and reflective practice. In C.Davies, L.Finlay and A. Bullman (eds.) Changing practice in health and social care. London: Sage. (Original work published in 1988 and reproduced in 2000). In Finlay, L. (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL.
Schon, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books. In Finlay, L. (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL.
Smyth, J. (1989) A critical pedagogy of classroom practice. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 21(6), 483-502. In Finlay, L. (2008) Reflecting on reflective practice. PBPL.
Smyth, J. (1989). Developing and sustaining critical reflection in teacher education. Journal of teacher education, 40(2), 2-9.
Teachers Council. (2014) Graduating Teacher Standards | The New Zealand. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from https://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/content/graduating-teacher-standards.
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