Reflective practice

We learn from our mistakes and from our achievements. Reflective practice means taking time to think about the way we have completed a project - what was successful and what we might have done differently. More generally, it can be extremely rewarding to analyse working practice and systems.

More than once I learned from my mistakes. First jobs show you that you don't always do things the way you're taught to on the course. Working with the public shows you that not everyone is interested in the theoretical niceties of the job. One of my first lessons was to find a way of satisfying the need for professional standards at the same time as satisfying the public's need for easy access. (Jan Hargreaves)

By reviewing a process after it has happened we can learn to reflect not only on the expected outcomes, those identifiable before the process, but also on the unexpected. This can be summarised as prospective and retrospective learning. In one, you look forward to what you expect to learn, and in the other you look back and see what you actually learnt. The ability to do this will grow with practice, and it is this process of learning to learn or indeed learning to relearn which is at the heart of CPD.

I started by being thrown into the deep end with no prior knowledge and having to learn by the seat of my pants and my mistakes. Back in 1964 when I started I was unaware of any courses or books on the subject…Am I still learning? Yes I am - by my own mistakes, putting right the mistakes of others, by sharing experiences between colleagues and by helping others to produce better working conditions and systems.(Keith Batchelor)

As reflective learning develops into a habit, so you become more critically aware of the way you work, plan, relate, decide, etc. whilst the process of completing a Learning Development Record will enable you to identify further development needs.

Last modified 16/01/2006