Facilitating Group Reflective
Thinking Using a Shared Reflective
Journal
Dr Jen Colwell, Research Fellow,
University of Brighton
Research aims
•
to document the benefits and challenges
of using a shared reflective journal
•
to understand whether the use of a shared
reflective journal can support/facilitate
high-level reflective thinking leading to
changes in practice
What is reflective thinking
Reflective Teaching:
A form of mental processing which is applied to
gain a better understanding and is largely based
upon the reprocessing of the knowledge and
emotions we already possess.
(Moon, 2005)
Attitudes
Drawing upon the work of Dewey (1933) Pollard
(2008) suggests that three attitudes towards
teaching are required for reflection, those of:
– open mindedness
– responsibility
– wholeheartedness.
Open mindedness
An active desire to listen to more sides than one,
to give heed to facts from whatever source they
come, to give full attention to alternative
possibilities, to recognise the possibility of error
even in the beliefs which are dearest to us.
(Dewey, 1933, p 29)
(Intellectual) Responsibility
Moral, ethical and political issues must be raised
and considered so that professional and
personal judgements can be made about what is
worthwhile.
(Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1991)
Wholeheartedness
There is no greater enemy of effective thinking than
divided interest.
(Dewey, 1933, p 30)
Dewey knew that merely to think without ever having to
express what one thought is an incomplete act. He
recognized that having to express oneself to others, so
that others truly understand one’s ideas, reveals both the
strengths and the holes in one’s thinking.
(Rodgers, 2002)
Reflective Teaching - individuals
• many students/practitioner required/encouraged
to keep reflective journals to support their
learning
• Hatton and Smith (1995) provide examples of
different levels of complexity reached in reflective
writing:
–
–
–
–
descriptive writing
descriptive reflection
dialogic reflection
critical reflection
Descriptive writing
This is a description of events or literature
reports. There is no discussion beyond
description. This writing is considered not to
show evidence of reflection.
Descriptive reflection
There is basically a description of events, but the
account shows some evidence of deeper
consideration in relatively descriptive language.
There is no real evidence of the notion of
alternative viewpoints in use.
Dialogic reflection
This writing suggests that there is a 'stepping
back' from the events and actions which leads to
a different level of discourse. There is a sense of
'mulling about', discourse with self and an
exploration of the role of self in events and
actions. There is consideration of the qualities of
judgements and of possible alternatives for
explaining and hypothesising. The reflection is
analytical or integrative, linking factors and
perspectives.
Critical reflection
This form of reflection, in addition to dialogic
reflection, shows evidence that the learner is
aware that the same actions and events may be
seen in different contexts with different
explanations associated with the contexts.
Reflective Teaching - group
Interventions and practices have been reported
as being more successful when a whole staff
team approach had been taken and where staff
shared similar attitudes and gave a consistent
message (e.g. Baines et al., 2009; Banerjee,
2010; Sylva et al, 2005).
Reflective team models
• used within counselling services with students
(e.g. Andersen, 1991; Eubank, 2001)
• Anderson and Rambo (1988) developed a model
of team reflection based on the premise that not
knowing what to do for a client is often a
consequence of being ‘stuck’ in one perspective
on it
• used to bring in different perspectives leading to
an enhancement of their professional expertise
Research context
• 1 pre-school, South East England
• children from a mix of socio-economic
backgrounds, aged 2-5years
• 10 staff, worked together over long period
• all qualified level 3 + with 2 EYPs
• Ofsted - Outstanding
Research process
• exploratory case study, 3 phases.
1. whole staff group meeting/interview
2. practitioner team kept a shared reflective
journal and audio recorded their staff
meetings for one year
3. analysis of the journal and audio recordings
(and follow up interviews with the staff)
Guidance
As a group we had lots of discussions and
thoughts…one phrase [we came up with] was
unanimous. It basically said that we should be
ready to change our practice (even if it worked
for years) if the situation requires it. We then
need to put this into practice.
How the Journal was used - Reporting
Everyone (staff and children) were finding lunch
times very difficult. New children- for a variety of
reasons = were struggling to sit for ¾ of an hour
(some couldn’t sit at all). We discussed this at a
staff meeting and decided that ¾ of an hour was
too long for lunch for this age any way – are we
supporting our needs or the children’s? It was
decided to try ½ hour lunches, with the children who
like to take their time being able to stay with the
group up who is clearing up.
How the journal was used - outlet
• ‘5/10 The waste bin in the garden often didn’t get
emptied, it became a bit unpleasant and we threw it
out. Rather than buy a new one I fixed a bin liner to the
fence, perhaps we could throw it out every day and
replace the next day?’
• ‘7/10 I enclosed this in our Reflective Journal as I felt
that when small tasks don’t always get done, it’s easy
to blame each other (irritations can stem from small
things). I simply removed the source as it was obviously
not needed, however I did this without including the
team – how do people feel about this?’
How the journal was used –to talk
Gemma ‘After our meeting with Sara from the Traveller Education Service I
began thinking about my reasons for wanting to visit the site and the homes
of my contact family. I needed to make sure that it was for the right reasons
and not wanting to just satisfy my curiosity. Why am I thinking of doing this –
but haven’t offered it to my other contact children…It would be good to visit
the site and build our understanding of their way of life and to gather some
positive images (photos) to share with the traveller children (and all of the
other children) at nursery…’
Craig ‘…the inclusive practice we are working at is equalities and anti-bias
work and to do that effectively we need to be honest (with ourselves and
others) and informed – and so isn’t curiosity and ok drive in itself?...’
Sally ‘I agree with the equity point. I also thought along the same lines of
pastoral reasons for a visit. I wondered what the families would feel about
being visited too…’
Beth ‘my immediate reaction was one of personal interest
(curiosity) – is that right? I have worked in places where home
visits have been part of the initial settling in period…if we are
going to incorporate it as part of our settling policy –fine, but
otherwise I would feel uncomfortable- curious but
uncomfortable?!’
Craig ‘Home visits were often impractical in the past…is it time
to look again at this?...visiting a traveller site would be hugely
beneficial in terms of building partnerships and gaining
knowledge…that is free from our assumptions/preconceptions’
EVE ‘I think it would be a good idea to visit the traveller site in
terms of building partnership and also to show our support
and interest…
How the journal was used - decisions
‘On discussion of the idea of moving the staff room, extra
work space, grown-up area into the home room – we
decided to use this book for our discussions and
reflections to try and reach a decision by study day,
instead of spending a lot of time on it then.’
‘More questions than answers let’s keep talking and
sharing ideas’
‘Thanks Sally you have got us thinking!!, we will get there
in the end we always do!!!’
Benefits
• supported the practitioners to engage in detailed
long term discussions
• as they began to annotate the contributions of
others, answering questions, they also required
explanation, queried assumptions, challenged
preconceptions, offered alterative views
• they were able to read and see how decisions
evolved and developed
• they have continued to use the journal
Changing practice
When a group of children started nursery –
challenging our tried and tested procedures and
making us have a rethink. I think, initially, the
majority of us looked at ways of helping the
children to fit in to what we already did.
However it began to occur to us that maybe it
was actually our practice that needed to
change.
Challenges
• had to speak publically about the issue before
they had developed their ideas so trust
respect absolutely key
• worried I was assessing them
• issues over time to contribute and keep up-todate
High-level reflective thinking?
• Dialogic and critical reflection: ‘Traveller
Community’ discussion.
• however:
– took time
– developed when the journal had a specific
purpose
– the staff team were led by the graduates and their
experience
Next steps
• further analysis of the journal and the audio
recordings of staff meetings
• considering use of journals with larger staff teams
• working further on the model for use
Thank you, questions and comments very
welcome!