By Iain Wilson
Introduction
I have been lecturing at NTU for six years and for the majority of this time I have been involved in or led employability-focused modules which include written reflections as assessments. I would consider myself to be (and always have been) a reflective individual, taking time to weigh up options before making decisions to help me to have confidence in the decision that I am making. However, this said, I was new to reflection as a written assessment when I first joined the Work-Based Psychology Practice module team (the first employability-focused module I was involved in). To be honest, I did not get reflection as an assessment at the time because I saw it as something difficult to grade as it was so subjective and was so different to the academic writing, I was so familiar with. Five years on, I am now undertaking a sabbatical focused on developing teaching, learning and assessment resources to support written reflections because I now see the value of this under-rated skill. Spoiler alert: reflection is an incredible skill which is often overlooked because it is seen as subjective, ambiguous and ‘fluffy’, which it can be if done incorrectly, but it doesn’t have to be…
Why is reflection seen as ‘fluffy’?
You may already have experiences of ‘reflection’ from your education so far, or other areas of your life. Depending on the beliefs and comfort of your facilitator, your experiences may differ. However, I am sure that many of you have been told “to reflect” without much guidance on how to go about this process in a structured and rigorous way. You may have been told to think about past experiences and asked what did you learn from that, but did you focus on how to apply that learning in the future? This focus on the past, without the application to the future can make us question the value and purpose of these activities. In addition, you may have been told that “there is no wrong answer” or “there is no correct way to go about reflecting” and “to work out the best way for you”. Whilst these statements are mostly true, they can be unhelpful because they feed into the subjective nature that reflection focuses upon, but suggests that there is a lack of rigor in the process. These ideas create a perception that reflection is a ‘fluffy’ process and may not be the best use of your time. However, I do not agree with this approach and I am going to tell you why.
If it is not ‘fluffy’, what is it!?
Reflection is a really important skill to develop, particularly thinking about how you may wish to apply your learning in different situations and contexts. You can speed up your ability to apply your knowledge, skills and attitudes in different contexts (Perkins and Salomon, 1991) by increasing your awareness of your learning through reflection. Using your reflective skills regularly, can also help you build your self-confidence, self-esteem and self-efficacy, which will make you more effective at transferring your knowledge into employment settings (Dacre Pool and Sewell, 2007).
Below are four characteristics of reflection, highlighting the importance of how to approach this practice in a meaningful and effective way. With each characteristic, I will also outline what reflection is not, to exemplify the strengths of reflective practice and emphasise the value of written reflection assessments. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, but these characteristics are the ones that I have prioritised based upon my experience.
1a) Reflection is about the future:
The most important part of reflection is that it is about how you plan to apply your learning in your future practices. Whatever model of reflection you use, there is a section thinking about the actions you will take based on your learning, for example the “What next?” stage in Rolfe, Freshwater and Jasper’s 2001 model. This gives you an opportunity to think about the skills and knowledge that you may wish to use in similar experiences.
1b) So reflection is not just about the past:
Reflection is often mistaken with reminiscing. Reminiscing is thinking about the past with a focus on the memory and recalling this, without any judgement or evaluation.
2a) Reflection is a systematic process
Whether you use a reflective model or an unstructured method of reflecting, think about the aim or goal of the exercise is. What is it that you are trying to learn from your experience? How can you draw robust conclusions to answering this question? The answer is to be systematic in the way you approach it. For this to happen, you need to understand your experience in detail; try and capture as much of the context as you can. This could include, but is not limited to what your role was; what the roles of others were; any aspects which may have influenced the experience, such as political/organisational policies; any cultural interpretations of the experience; etc. Once you have understood the experience, you need to question it. What does the evidence tell? Are there alternative interpretations? Have you applied any theory? Was this effective? How do you know? Is there any other theory which can offer a plausible argument? This will help you draw appropriate conclusions about what you have learned from the experience. Once you have conclusions, you then need to plan ahead and make arguments as to why your actions will be successful. Think about the evidence and theory that you can use to explain why your actions will enable you to develop and have a successful experience in the future. All of this takes practice, and you may need guidance to do this effectively. Discussions with your facilitator or peers, e.g. critical friends model (Costa & Kallick, 1993), will help you to bee more familiar and confident with this process. This is because they can offer you a different perspective and question, in a respectful manner, your conclusions and evidence.
2b) Reflection cannot just be ‘done’:
It is often assumed that everyone can reflect and learn positive gains from looking at their past experiences. However, it is a skill that needs to be explicitly taught and practiced.
3a) Reflection is an active process:
At some point during your studies, you will receive or will have received feedback on assessments. A common practice is to look at the grade first, then reading through the comments, followed finally by filing the assessment feedback away and not engaging with it again. This passive approach does not allow for reflection to occur effectively. Cutts, Carbone, and van Haaster (2004) discuss the need to engage with feedback in an active way, not just reading the comments but re-assessing the core concepts of that feedback. Through this, the learner is able to identify where they may have had misconceptions and develop and advance their learning. This demonstrates that in order to learn from experiences, you have to actively engage with it. Recalling an experience passively would be similar to reading that feedback alone. It is essential that you engage with your recollection by asking questions; checking your understanding; seeking alternative explanations; finding evidence and theory which helps you make sense of your interpretations and arguments. This active engagement will enable you to understand your own role, but also the context of your learning experience and enable you to plan for future application of your knowledge and skills.
3b) Using a model of reflection does not automatically make it critical:
Models such as Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988) can be really helpful for structuring a written reflection, but going through the motions of completing each stage does not automatically make it a reflection. This can be confusing, as there is an “Evaluation” and “Analysis” stage built into Gibbs’ Model (as well as others), however, the quality of the writing and more importantly, the thought behind that writing is what determines the quality of a reflection.
4a) Reflection is an ongoing process:
You may have noticed that most models of reflection are cyclic, highlighting the conclusions and actions from the reflective process should feed into the next experience, starting the process again. It is therefore essential that reflection is treated as an ongoing process. It is possible to engage in learning regardless of how knowledgeable or experienced you become, this is known as lifelong learning. It is also important to note that learning does not occur from individual experiences in isolation, and can occur in work, academic and normal life settings (lifewide learning). Reflecting on a range of experiences in different contexts will help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your competencies. Cole and Donald (2022) talk about the importance of reflecting upon lifelong and lifewide learning to develop more holistically, build resilience and self-efficacy as well as apply learning into the world long-term.
4b) Reflection is not just for an assessment:
Reflection is sometimes seen (and in some cases taught) as a tick-box exercise, which is required in order to adhere to University strategies and policies, such as Employability. I hear questions such as “what do I need to do to pass the assessment?”, which suggests (to me at least) that reflection is being seen as a task to complete, as opposed to a skill being developed. Reflection does not happen in isolation at scheduled times of the year.
Closing thoughts
Hopefully you can see from this article that reflection is not a ‘fluffy’ process which can ‘just be done’ without any practice or guidance. It is a skill which requires exercising and approaching in a systematic way. When done correctly, self-reflection can underpin professional development, through building your self-esteem, self-confidence and self-efficacy, which you can apply into the workplace (Dacre Pool and Sewell, 2007).
The key thing that you can do to develop this skill is practice. It may be that you start simply – think of a book or film or series that you have enjoyed recently. Why did you enjoy it? What specifically brought you joy? Was it all good? Would you read/watch it again? Would you recommend it to a friend or family member? For each of these questions, also ask why or why not? This is an exercise that a wise colleague shared with me that he uses to get his students used to reflecting. Once you are more familiar, you may want to reflect on other aspects of your development. Feedback from already completed (or your first) assessments would be a good starting point to think how you can develop your skills and maintain your high standards, as well as build upon these.
The more you practice, the more natural and ‘easier’ it becomes. You will therefore develop a habit of how to continuously progress and move forward without thinking “when do I need to reflect next?”. In short, reflection is highly under-rated as it underpins all aspects of development and should be added to your skills toolbox as soon as possible!
About the author
Dr Iain Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology within NTU Psychology. He specialises in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning within Psychology, with particular interests in employability learning and written reflective assessments. Iain is currently working on a sabbatical, in the 2022-23 academic year, which is evaluating a new model for assessing reflective writing, as well as developing resources to support the teaching, learning and assessment of reflection.
References
Costa & Kallick, 1993: Through the Lens of a Critical Friend. Educational Leadership
Cutts, Q., Carbone, A., & van Haaster, K. (2004, November). Using an electronic voting system to promote active reflection on coursework feedback. In Proceedings of Intl. Conf. on Computers in Education, Melbourne, Australia.
Dacre Pool, L., & Sewell, P. (2007). The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education+ Training.
Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford Brooks University, Oxford.
Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., & Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection for nursing and the helping professions a user’s guide.
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Psychology at Nottingham Trent University 