Iidentifying the principles
guiding the teaching and
assessment of reflection
Dr Tom Laws
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Origins of reflection
Seminal work: Donald Schön(1983, 1987)
• Alerted professional educators to the
inadequacies pure science (technical
rationality)
– Systematic problem solving
• Supposition that a problem is identified
• The ends are fixed and clear (pure science)
Origins of reflection
Schon’s comments on actual practice.
Inherently – ‘messy, indeterminate situations’
characterised by …
• uncertainty,
• instability,
• uniqueness and …
• value conflict.
Reflection – The theory
Premise
All understanding combines explicit and tacit
components ….”frames of reference within
which or against objects of experience can be
interpreted”
Ergo… reflection requires an understanding of
which body of knowledge is being used to
interpret experiences.
Reflection – The theory
Premise #2
Talking to yourself is ….
the first sign of sanity
Reflection – The theory
Reflective practice (RP) Schon’s pedagogical
model…
• Reflection – in – action
(surprise and puzzlement)
• Reflection – on – action
(a cognitive post-mortem)
Reflection – The theory
Limitations to Schon’s theory
• incomplete
• Little advice on how to operationalise the
teaching and assessment of reflection
• Protected practice is important but often …
students discover the espoused theory does
not equip them for real world practice
(Greenwood, 1992)
Why choose a reflective model?
Drivers in nursing
Historical relationship between gender
development of the professions
• Science and medicine (masculine)
• Nursing and the holistic art (feminine)
• Teacher education (feminine) also has a
heavy emphasis of RP.
Reflection: a requirement
Project 2000 UK
“Self-assessment is an important feature of
outcomes-based education. For example,
students may keep reflective diaries to describe
and analyse their experiences of the process of
learning”… (UKCC, 1999, p35 & 38).
Reflection: a requirement
Reflective practice is a statutory requirement
for continuation of registration; the Conduct
Statement 10 identifies that ‘Nurses practise
nursing reflectively and ethically’ (ANMC,
2008).
Reflection: a requirement
Substitute goods (Approaches to learning)
• Critical thinking (systematic reviews)
• Inquiry based learning (IBL)
• Problem based learning
• Evidence based practice
• Free thought!
Preparation of teachers
Nurse educators are not homogenous
• Few with educational qualifications …
– diversity of interpretation of what reflective
learning is (Adams, 2011).
• Many on short contracts
– Tensions between those attempting to apply
theory to practice and those in practice (Adams,
2011).
Preparation of teachers
Reports on faculty development mention RP
interventions provided to nurse educators but …
“there is a paucity of research demonstrating
their effectiveness.” (Steinert et al., 2006:497)
Preparation of teachers
Braine (2009) study of new lecturers knowledge
and affinity to reflective practice in teaching
concluded …
“…new lecturers need more preparation in the
highly complex skill of reflection in order to
facilitate the reflective learning process in their
students”.
Preparation of teachers
Bulman et al’s thesis (2012) exploring social
construction of reflection noted …
• “The only contemporary study identified that
specifically explored nurse teachers'
perceptions of reflection was O'Connor et al.
(2003)”.
The challenge
• Academics face the challenge of preparing
students for a professional practice role that
is underpinned by reflective processes.
• Do we assess the process of RP or the
outcome – is it feasible to do both?
• Is there an evidence base to a RP model?
EBP - Education
Providing meta-evidence is difficult because
• Educational processes evolve rapidly
• lifespan of educational models varying
according on the zeal and interpretations of
their proponents, across disciplines and
countries (Reed et al., 2005; Maudsley et al.,
1999).
EBP in teaching
There is … “only limited evidence to support
reflective journaling as an appropriate tool to
promote reflection for the purpose of learning
from practice for practice in undergraduate
nursing education.”(Epp, 2008:1379).
Student preparation
Student Journals Dyment & O'Connell (2011) Assessing the
quality of reflection: A review of the research
“instructors fail to provide adequate training to
their students to help them journal in effective
ways” (Dyment & O'Connell, 2011: 236)
Assessing reflection
Limitations
• Assessors lack achievable inter-rater reliability
(Dyment and O’Connell (2012 )
• Ethical Issue: privacy-of-thought (Connell, 2012 )
• Knowing of assessment evokes emotions that
perverts the quality of reflection (Cre`me,
2005).
Assessing reflection
• Without a substantive theory the sufficiency
of self-monitoring activities is questionable
(Eva, 2008:19).
• self-assessment accuracy seems frequently
unreliable (David et al., 2006)
Assessing reflection
Bulman et al’s (2012) Student and teacher
perspectives: meaning of reflection (doctoral
study)
…” the danger is that students write what they
think the marker will want to read”
“students were very aware of the need to write
an Reflective Learning contract (RLC) that would
pass the assessment”
Authentic assessments IBL
• It is incumbent upon academics to chart the
students’ development in accord with
professional competencies and standards and
then conduct authentic assessments for
related learning activities (Pilcher& Bedford,
2012).
• Does RP occur widely and is it part of every
day practice?
End users
Hopkinson, study (2010). An inquiry into nurses'
reflecting in the ward
Reflection-in-action is a complex concept that
has proved difficult to implement, assess and
evaluate in every day practice
End users
Reflection, an everyday part of practice?
RP is undermined by micro politics; unconscious
games, paradoxes and contradictions.
“we do it all the time, the paradox of the busy
syndrome, the waiting game, whinging creating
an emotional orgy, feeling unsupported by
managers and talking behind your back”.
(Hopkinson, 2010)
End users
The hierarchical structures contribute to the
invalidation of the concept of genuine
reflection.
“The ward structure portrays reflection as an
abnormal method of practice and knowledge
development”. (Mantsoukas and Jasper,
2004:295).
End users
Benefits vs cost
RP is portrayed as being positive and
empowering to the individual and the
profession.
Analysis of RP discourse is seen as …
• a tool of surveillance (thought police).
• not emotionally cost-neutral
• a governing tool (Fejes, 2008).
RP: Difficult to sell
My point is ..
Few studies trace how reflection contribute to
important changes and it is therefore often
difficult to highlight the value of reflection to
students who are keyed to expect evidence
based practice (Duke and Appleton, 2008;
Forneris & Peden-McAlpine, 2007;
Mantzoukas & Jasper,2008).
Student engagement
Power relations for students mean ..
• Reflection mainly on positives
• Reflection is rarely on personal negatives
• Write what they believe others want to hear
• Universities are remotely interested in
students (OUA)
Evidence based teaching
Chan’s (2013) conclusions for Critical thinking
• the definition and concept of critical change
over time making it necessary for educators to
clarify their perspective towards CT
• The same revision needs to occur for
Reflective practice
• If nursing is a science and an art how can you
assess the subjectivity of the art?
Questions please!