Theoretical perspectives on reflection in professional development

[brefil30]

Kolb’s theory benefits student’s, educators and employers to help them be effective learners and be proactive with their day to day tasks. Kolb’s theory is split into 4 stages. Concrete experience is an experience that you have experiences and are able to remember and think back to what happened. In early years you see this when you learn things on the job and have new experience which you can learn from. The next step would have been a reflective observation this is where you reflect on the experience you have just encountered. This in early years will been seen when you think about the experience you have just had and reflect on what you can do differently what you did well in the situation and how you can mov forward and learn from it. This then leads on to the next stage which is abstract conceptualisation which is how you would change it and make these new ideas happen. Active experimentation is doing which you have reflected on and making the changes putting these into place.
I have found by doing these steps that I have reflected on a lot of my practice and I have therefore been able to identify where I need to work on and what I need to do regularly to feel I am performing my best in the setting.
Donald Schon came up with two types of reflection: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Reflection in action allows you to look at how tings are going whilst they are still happening and then change and adapt things accordingly. Reflection on action is when after the experience has finished, we the look back on it and see what we could change for next time. In early years the reflection in action is used a lot and we can benefit from as we can look at the activity how the children are responding and then change it accordingly. However, reflection on action can be used when looking at your own development as you can look at things in the wider picture and see things from a different perspective which will help identify you areas of improvement.
I have used this theoretical perspective both in my course work duration and will continue using them as I found that they are helpful and enable me to identify and change things quickly and appropriately.
Therefore I feel as though this reflection is important in my practice and my professional development as new experience happen weekly in the setting and it is good to reflect on these so I can then identify If I need further training or support in this area to give the children staff and families the best support and care possible.

[Lee-Anne80]

Hi everyone,

I'm also studying for my Cache Level 3 Early Years Workforce (Early Years Educator), and as part of my last unit I need to research theoretical perspectives on reflection. I'd like to share what I have found.

From my research I have found that two theories have been particularly significant in understanding the reflective process. These are Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle.

Kolb’s Learning Cycle:
David Kolb, an American educational theorist, developed the experiential learning cycle, which is widely used today for reflection. His theory suggests that in order to learn effectively, four processes must happen. These are:
1. Concrete experience – This is doing or having an experience that creates a learning experience. In an Early Years setting, this could be carrying out an activity with the children for the first time.
2. Reflective observation – This is where the practitioner would review and reflect on the experience. This could be that the practitioner thinks about the aspects of the task that worked well and the those that were not as successful.
3. Abstract conceptualisation – This is where conclusions are made and the individual learns from the experience. This could be where the practitioner decides on what changes need to be made to the activity for it to work better next time.
4. Active experimentation – This is the stage where the practitioner would apply what they have learned from the experience and put it into practice. This would be trying the task again, but with the changes that had been thought about in the previous stage.

The Kolb’s process is a cycle, because once we have tried out new ideas, we may need to reflect on them again. Many models of reflective practice have been based on Kolb’s Learning Cycle. By practitioners using this process, we are can think about our practice and the elements that need more developing, by reflecting on what we do and then implementing the changes we make to improve, before beginning the cycle again.

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle:
Graham Gibbs developed his ‘Reflective Cycle’ in 1988, which was adapted from Kolb’s work. Gibbs’ approach gave more structure to the process of learning from experiences. His cycle has six stages. These are:
1. Description – The practitioner first describes the experience to identify what happened. This could be describing a task that was carried out with the children in the setting.
2. Feelings – At this stage, the practitioner identifies and assess how they feel about the experience. This is important, to understand how the emotions that were felt about the experience influenced them.
3. Evaluation – After looking at and assessing their feelings, the practitioner evaluates the experience, considering what the positive and the negatives were and what could have been done differently.
4. Analysis – So that the practitioner understands what happened during the experience and why, they analyse it, trying to make sense of what happened by looking at the reasons why.
5. Conclusion – At this stage, conclusions are made about the experience and through their learning, the practitioner then decides what they will do with that learning in the future.
6. Action plan – This is the stage where the individual would put into practice the points of action decided at the previous stage.

The conclusion stage of Gibbs’ cycle could identify that further training is needed and this would be put into the action plan stage, which links to professional development.

From looking at both of these cycles, it seems the reflection sheets I would fill in after each task I carried out in my settings throughout my studies, is based more so on Kolb's learning cycle. This cycle, I feel is the most straightforward to use and lends itself well to an Early Years Practitioner's reflection cycle.

Sources:
Tassoni, P. (2021) Cache Level 3 Early Years Educator for the Work-based Learner. Didcot: Hachette
Simply Psychology (2 February 2024) Kolb’s Learning Styles And Experiential Learning Cycle by Saul Mcleod, PhD. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
The University of Edinburgh. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. Available at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/refl...flective-cycle