THE REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

GUIDE
The Reflective Practice Guide supports all students for whom the process of
reflecting on developing knowledge and skills is crucial to successful
professional practice. It offers an accessible introduction to a wide range of
theories and models that can help you engage more effectively in critical
reflection. Illustrated throughout with examples and case studies drawn from a
range of interdisciplinary professional contexts, The Reflective Practice Guide
offers models of practice that can be applied in a variety of settings. Reflective
questions in each chapter help you apply ideas to your own professional context.
Drawing on literature from a range of disciplines, key aspects of reflection
explored include:
• becoming more self-aware • the role of writing in reflection • learning
from experience • learning from positives and negatives • emotions and
processing feelings • bringing assumptions to the surface • learning from
feedback
• reflecting in groups
• managing change.

The Reflective Practice Guide is an essential source of support, guidance and

inspiration for all students on education, nursing, social work and counselling
courses who want to think about practice at a deeper level, question approaches,
challenge assumptions and gain greater self-awareness.

Barbara Bassot is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Career and Personal
Development, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
First published 2016

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Publication Data

Bassot, Barbara.

The reflective practice guide : an interdisciplinary approach to critical reflection / Barbara Bassot.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Nursing. I. Title.

RT41.B293 2016

610.73–dc23

2015017531

ISBN: 978-1-138-78430-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-78431-4 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-76829-8 (ebk) Typeset in Interstate

by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK

by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
CONTENTS
List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction

1 What is reflective practice?

Introduction • Definitions • Why professionals need to reflect critically •
Preventing stagnation • Developing professional knowledge, skills and
attitudes • From unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence •
The four theoretical foundations of critical reflection • Tacit knowledge •
From technical rationality to reflection-in-action (Schön) • Making time to
reflect • A reflective space • The benefits of investing time in reflection •
Conclusion

2 Becoming more self-aware

Introduction • The metaphorical mirror • How do I learn best? • Honey and
Mumford’s learning styles • Strengths and allowable weaknesses •
Developing the Reflector style • SWOT/B and SWAIN analysis •
Motivation • Transactional Analysis drivers • Conclusion

3 The role of writing in reflection

Introduction • Why writing? • What is reflective writing? • How to start
writing reflectively • A structure for reflective writing • Using a reflective
diary or journal to aid professional growth • Is it all about writing? •
Conclusion

4 Experiential learning
Introduction • What do we mean by learning from experience? • The ERA
cycle • Kolb’s experiential learning cycle • Reflection-on-action • Driscoll’s
‘What?’ model • Learning as transformation • Do we always learn from
 experience? • Conclusion

5 Learning from positives and negatives: critical incidents

Introduction • What is a critical incident? • The problematic experience •
Learning from positive experiences • Conclusion

6 Engaging with emotions

Introduction • What are emotions? • Objectivity and subjectivity • Why is it
important to consider our emotions in relation to professional practice? •
The Almond Effect and the closing of the trapdoor • Why do we need to
process our feelings? • Gibbs’ reflective cycle • The work of Boud, Keogh
and Walker • How can we process our feelings effectively? • Conclusion

7 Bringing assumptions to the surface

Introduction • What are assumptions and how do they come about? • Why
professionals need to understand the assumptions they may be making •
How assumptions can be questioned • Argyris’ Ladder of Inference •
Double loop learning (Argyris and Schön) • Mezirow’s seven levels of
reflectivity that lead to ‘perspective transformation’ • A model for
challenging limiting assumptions • Conclusion

8 The role of feedback in professional development

Introduction • The need for feedback in professional development • The role
of critical friendship • The role of supervision • Johari Window • Eraut on
feedback • Some final words about mentoring • Conclusion

9 Reflecting in groups
Introduction • What is a group? • Types of group • The benefits of reflecting
in groups • Facilitating effective groups • A model for effective group
participation • Dangers and downsides • Sample exercises • Conclusion

10 Managing change
Introduction • Why having an understanding of change is important for
professional practitioners • Constant change and its effects • Adams, Hayes
and Hopson’s model • Bridges • The work of Kurt Lewin • Readiness for
change • Strategies for managing change • Back to assumptions •
Conclusion
11 Critically reflective practice as a way of being
Introduction • Critically reflective practice and reflexivity • Being open to
change • The work of Johns • Brookfield’s lenses • Managing stress •
Mindfulness • ‘Sharpening the saw’ • Conclusion

12 Review and looking forward

Introduction • Review and the Integrated Reflective Cycle • Senge’s
concept of personal mastery • Some final reflections • Conclusion

Index
FIGURES
1.1 The conscious competence learning model
1.2 Slipping back to unconscious competence
2.1 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
2.2 Goal theory
4.1 Kolb’s experiential learning cycle
4.2 Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and Honey and Mumford’s learning
styles
4.3 People who have a strong Activist learning style
4.4 People who have a strong Reflector learning style
4.5 People who have a strong Theorist learning style
4.6 People who have a strong Pragmatist learning style
4.7 Jarvis’ experiential learning cycle
5.1 Ghaye’s R model
6.1 The human brain
6.2 The human brain responding to a ‘trigger’
6.3 Gibbs’ reflective cycle
6.4 Boud et al.’s model for reflection
7.1 Argyris’ Ladder of Inference
7.2 Argyris’ Ladder of Inference and the recursive loops
7.3 Double loop learning
10.1 Lewin’s field theory
11.1 The stress curve
12.1 The Integrated Reflective Cycle
TABLES
2.1 Strengths and allowable weaknesses
3.1 Reflective writing
4.1 Learning from experience
7.1 Feelings we might have in relation to particular circumstances in our
professional practice
8.1 Feedback
8.2 Good and bad feedback
9.1 Key differences between facilitation and leadership
10.1 Theoretical models of change
10.2 Tschudi’s ABC model
PREFACE
For

a number of years I have been privileged to teach a large number of students on

programmes designed to prepare people for a role in the helping professions. My
own professional area of career development and guidance is relatively small
compared to others, such as nursing, teaching and social work. As a result,
literature on reflective practice specifically related to my field was fairly sparse.
In my early days of teaching I found that I had to look to a number of other
academic disciplines and draw on their literature in order to ensure that my
students were not hindered in the development of their knowledge and skills in
this vital area. It became very clear to me that there was a wealth of rich material
that we could learn from.
The Reflective Practice Guide is the culmination of many years of teaching. I
wrote it in order to bring together a body of literature from a range of
professions and have also included some work of my own. While books written
for specific professions will always be very valuable, our knowledge will be
limited if we never look outside of our own particular academic boundaries. I
trust that this book will enrich your practice as you draw on the knowledge and
experience of professionals and academics from a variety of disciplines, and that
ultimately it will enable you to give your clients the support they need and
deserve.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my family, friends and colleagues for their invaluable
support whilst writing this book. In particular, I would like to thank Marc Bassot
for his careful proof reading and Martin Bassot for his excellent work on the
diagrams. I would also like to thank Mary Andall-Stanbury, Dawn Tickner, Jane
Westergaard and Karen Williams for their advice on the case studies. Finally, I
would like to thank all my current and former students, as without them I would
not have been inspired to write this book.
Figure 6.3 is reproduced with kind permission from the Oxford Centre for
Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University.
INTRODUCTION
The important role of reflective practice is well recognised in a wide range of
professional areas, including education, health, management and social care. If
you are a student on a professional undergraduate or postgraduate programme,
you will no doubt be asked to undertake a module (or more) on reflective
practice, where you will be expected to engage in the process of reflecting on
your developing knowledge and skills. As research has developed in this area,
many people have come to realise that reflecting on experience alone is not
enough. To take a genuinely reflective approach you need to be able to think
about your emerging practice at a deeper level, questioning your approach,
engaging with your feelings, questioning your assumptions and gaining greater
self awareness. This is commonly referred to as critically reflective practice.
There are many books written on the subject of reflective practice. Typically,
books are written within a particular academic discipline, e.g. education (in
particular teaching), health (in particular nursing), and social work. Your tutors
will undoubtedly recommend books written by those in their own discipline, and
you should certainly follow their recommendations. However, there is much to
be learned when the boundaries of academic disciplines are crossed. A recent
ESRC project, ‘Critical Reflection in the Professions’ examined how research
can enable reflective practice to be taken further forward. One of the main aims
of the project was to bring together academics from a number of different
disciplines to discuss how critical reflection can be researched and taught more
effectively, in particular across disciplines.
The aims of this book are twofold. First, it is the first book of its kind to take a
specifically interdisciplinary approach, drawing on literature from a wide range
of academic areas, including those mentioned above. Throughout the book, you
will be introduced to a wide range of theories and models that can help you to
engage in critical reflection on your studies and professional development. This
will enable you to read outside your own particular academic discipline. For
example, student teachers will be able to read extremely helpful approaches from
nursing and vice versa; this will be new material for many. In addition, many
professional practitioners now work in multi-professional contexts and an
understanding of reflective practice from fields outside your own will also be
very helpful.
Second, this is a practical book that will help you to engage in critical
reflection. In each chapter there are a number of examples and case studies
drawn from a range of professional contexts to illustrate how the models can be
applied in a variety of settings as well as your own. In addition, there are
reflective activities in each chapter to help you to apply the theories and models
to your own professional development.
Throughout the book the term ‘client’ is used to refer to the people who you
engage within your role as a professional practitioner. If this is not an
appropriate term for your particular context, please feel free to use an alternative,
such as patient or student.
The book has twelve chapters and takes you on a journey from reflective
practice to critically reflective practice. Reflective practice encourages us to
review our learning experiences in order to seek improvement – to make our
work even better. Critically reflective practice asks us to engage with our
emotional responses and to be prepared to challenge some of the assumptions we
might be making about people and situations. Here, it is important to recognise
that issues of power in professional relationships and within organisations are
often at work.
Chapter 1 begins with definitions of what reflective practice is and examines
the reasons why professionals need to reflect critically on their work and
practice. It considers the three key areas of professional knowledge, skills and
attitudes, followed by a discussion of the learning journey from unconscious
incompetence to unconscious competence. Brookfield’s (1995) four theoretical
foundations of reflective practice are examined, as are the importance and
dangers of tacit knowledge and reflection-in-action (Schön, 1983). The chapter
then explores critical reflection as a choice and the need for busy professionals
to make time to reflect in order to reap the benefits of investing time in it.
The focus of Chapter 2 is on self-awareness: a key aspect of beginning to
practice reflectively. Becoming more self aware is an ongoing process; and the
helpful concept of the metaphorical mirror through which practice can be
critically evaluated is introduced. The chapter then moves on to explore the vital
question ‘How do I learn best?’ and draws on Honey and Mumford’s (2000)
work on learning styles. The strengths and allowable weaknesses of the styles
are explored, in particular how to maximise strengths and minimise allowable
weaknesses. The chapter concludes with an exploration of the use of SWOT/B
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats/Barriers) and SWAIN
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Aspirations, Interests and Needs) analyses as tools for
personal and professional development. This is followed by a discussion of
theories of motivation and Transactional Analysis drivers.
Chapter 3 focuses on the role of writing in reflection; this often enables us to
reflecting at a deeper level. However, writing reflectively presents many
challenges and we often need help to know how to start. Some tools for
reflective writing are presented, in particular the benefits of using a reflective
diary or journal are explored.
The focus of Chapter 4 is on learning from experience and considers some
seminal work; Kolb’s (1984) learning cycle and Schön’s (1983) reflection-on-
action. It poses the question ‘Is this enough?’ and whether or not we always
learn from experience. Two models that are easy to apply (the ERA model -
Experience, Review, Action and Driscoll) are also explored. The concept of
transformative learning is introduced and the chapter concludes with why we do
not always learn from experience.
Chapter 5 asks us to consider which kinds of experiences we learn the most
from – positive ones or negative ones – and presents two contrasting models of
reflection. Many people advocate that we learn from critical incidents,
sometimes called problematic experiences (Osterman and Kottkamp, 2004),
whilst others argue that we need to focus on positive experiences (Ghaye, 2011).
By Chapter 6 we are at the half way point on our journey and begin to explore
critical reflection in more depth. Here, we explore the area of engaging with
emotions and feelings in professional practice and question whether or not
professionals can be truly objective. The chapter highlights why personal
feelings need to be processed and the perils of failing to do so. ‘The Almond
Effect’ is introduced and the work of Gibbs (1998) and Boud, Keogh and Walker
(1995) are highlighted.
Chapter 7 is all about bringing our assumptions to the surface so we can
understand them and the ways in which they influence our professional practice.
It considers what assumptions are, how they come about and how they can be
questioned. The work of Brookfield (1995), Argyris’ Ladder of Inference (1992)
and Argyris and Schön’s (1974) concept of double loop learning are considered
as tools to help us to challenge our assumptions.
Most of the book before this point is about reflection as an individual activity.
In Chapter 8 the focus is broadened to discuss the vital role of feedback in the
learning process and learning from others in the context of professional
development. Characteristics of good and poor feedback are explained and the
role of critical friendship is highlighted. A model for effective supervision and
the Johari Window as a feedback tool are explored.
Chapter 9 continues this theme with its emphasis on reflecting in groups, and
includes useful strategies and exercises for the group context. It also considers
how groups can be facilitated effectively.
Chapter 10 deals with a broad range of issues related to the management of
change and the challenge of constant and often rapid change in professional
practice. It highlights strategies for coping with change, whilst exploring some
theoretical approaches from business and management (in particular the work of
Lewin) that can help us understand change better and analyse our responses to it.
The focus of Chapter 11 is on critically reflective practice as a way of being.
This involves being open to change, dealing with issues of vulnerability and
taking a questioning approach to practice. The work of Johns is central to this
chapter and a consideration of professional practice as artistry. The chapter also
considers the possible benefits of ‘mindfulness’ strategies in helping
professional practitioners to manage stress.
The book concludes with Chapter 12, which seeks to bring together many of
the aspects of the book in an integrated model for reflection. It also considers
Senge’s concept of personal mastery and the importance of having a clear vision
for our practice in order to generate the creative tension we need to keep moving
forward. This emphasises the need to continue to learn throughout our
professional lives.
I hope that this book will enable you to develop your knowledge and
understanding of critically reflective practice and that it will help you in your
personal and professional development as you seek to support others in your
practice.
Barbara Bassot
1 What is reflective practice?

‘Without reflection, we go blindly on our own way, creating more unintended consequences, and
failing to achieve anything useful.’

(Margaret J. Wheatley, 2002)

Introduction
In this first chapter we will begin by examining some definitions of the term
reflective practice and consider some of the reasons why professionals need to
think critically about their work. We will examine the four theoretical
foundations of critical reflection and explore the concepts of reflection-in-action
and tacit knowledge. We will discuss issues of time management and the
importance of making time to reflect. The chapter concludes with a focus on the
many benefits of reflection.

Definitions
If you were to look in a standard dictionary for a definition of the word
‘reflection’, you would find at least two groups of words. The first refers to
mirror images and the second to the act of deep thinking. In many respects this
gives us very helpful clues in relation to what reflective practice is and what it
involves. It can be likened to looking into a mirror to see our practice and
ourselves more clearly and so give some serious thought or consideration to
what we see.
So what is reflective practice? Lucas (1991) offers a useful definition when he
argues that it involves a systematic enquiry to improve and deepen our
understanding of practice. The use of the word systematic here implies far more
than thinking about things, for example, whilst you are driving home. It suggests
that it needs to be done in an organised way and to be undertaken in depth, in
order to gain the maximum benefit from it.
 Many people have their own ideas of what reflective practice is and how they
would define it. For example, I have heard people say things like ‘I know what
reflective practice is. I reflect every day as I am driving home from work’. Of
course, it is not for me to comment on the quality of someone’s driving, but
suffice it to say that deep reflection is not likely to happen while you are behind
the wheel of a car! It is helpful to think about what reflection is not as well as
what it is, and Thompson and Thompson (2008) offer some useful pointers in
relation to this. For example, it is not just pausing for thought from time to time,
or something just for students who can then forget about it when they start work.
It is not something that you only do alone, as reflecting with others can be very
helpful too (see Chapter 9). It is not a replacement for theory, but involves
drawing on theory to enhance your understanding of practice; reflection, then, is
a key means of applying theory to professional practice. Thompson and
Thompson are clear to point out that all practice involves the application of
theory and that we all need to beware of ‘the fallacy of theoryless practice’
(Thompson, 2000: 32).

Why professionals need to reflect critically

The definitions above show that the reflective process is a complex one. When
reading published literature, certain key terms are not always defined clearly;
indeed, the terms reflection, reflexivity and reflectivity are sometimes used
interchangeably, which can be confusing. The aim of this book is to take you on
a journey from reflective practice (which focuses on learning from experience in
order to improve practice), to critically reflective practice with its focus on
paying attention to your emotional responses and being prepared to challenge
your assumptions and the things you take for granted in everyday working life.
This involves examining our personal values and issues of power in the context
of working relationships, which leads to a careful consideration of reflexivity.
Critical reflection is vital in professional practice for the following reasons.

Providing a space for deep thinking

If you are an emerging professional you are entering a world where the pace of
life is fast and you can feel significant pressure to make decisions quickly. At
times you may feel that time spent thinking something through is a luxury that
you cannot afford, as distinct from time invested. However, taking time to
analyse situations (what happened and why) can prevent mistakes occurring in
the future and can help to build your confidence as you feel more secure in your
ideas about your practice.

Evaluating and developing practice

Being a professional involves the need for you to review your practice in an
ongoing way in order to keep your knowledge up to date and to continue to
develop your professional skills. Professional practice is constantly changing and
never static. Thankfully this means it is never boring!

Preventing stagnation
As you gain experience it is important to ensure that your practice does not
stagnate, but remains vibrant and focused on the needs of the client. In a
relatively short space of time it is easy to ‘get stuck in a rut’, doing things in a
particular way because you have always done them that way. Johns (2004: 5)
sums this up very well when he states that reflective practice is ‘the antidote to
complacency, habit and blindness’.

Striving for excellence

It is essential that all practitioners are competent and can carry out their role in
an effective way. However, the word competent could imply that the
professional practitioner is only ‘good enough’. Many in professional practice
wish to strive for excellence and reflective practice offers one key way in which
this can be achieved.

Making practice creative

Creativity is one important aspect of excellence, and practising reflectively
means that new ideas can be generated. Reflection stimulates creative thought
processes by taking a questioning approach. This encourages you to ‘think
outside the box’ in order to be innovative.
Self-awareness
A vital part of the reflective process is that you gain a clear understanding of the
attitudes and values you bring to your practice. As human beings, we are not
‘blank sheets’; we all have experiences (positive and negative) of life that we
take with us to work. Being aware of our attitudes and values means either that
we are better able to stand back from our own views, in order to put the needs of
clients first, or we are more aware of issues of personal involvement and the
need to refer a client on to someone who is better placed to support them. This
level of self-awareness means being prepared to engage with our feelings and
emotions.

Being slow to make assumptions

Each day the human brain has to process millions of messages in order to
function. To do this effectively, the brain learns to group similar things together.
Thankfully this means we do not have to think through every minor detail of our
lives every day. The effect of this is that we all make assumptions about things
and people on a regular basis. In addition, irrespective of where we live, we are
all part of societies and cultures where certain things and particular people are
valued more than others. Reflective practice helps us to question our
assumptions and prevents us from accepting things at face value. It encourages a
deeper examination of issues, which is vital when seeking to promote equality
and social justice for clients.

Providing an aid for supervision

During the reflective process it is inevitable that, at times, you will become
aware of issues that need to be discussed in the confidential and supportive
environment of supervision. This could include things that surprise and
challenge you (‘I didn’t realise I thought like that’) and things that remind you of
previous negative experiences in your own life (‘that reminds me of . . .’). This
can be uncomfortable, but time and space for such discussions can help to
prevent ‘burn out’. If you do not have access to supervision, a discussion with a
trusted, experienced colleague can also be extremely helpful.

Providing a means for constructing professional knowledge

Students often marvel at the knowledge of experienced practitioners when they
observe them whilst on work placements. These practitioners often cannot
explain how they know things, and demonstrate Schön’s (1983: 49) ‘tacit
knowing-in-action’. This professional knowledge includes a high level of self-
knowledge and can be constructed through the process of reflective practice.

Case study 1.1

Sally has just started a course in physiotherapy and her tutors have
encouraged her to reflect on her learning. She feels that everything is very
new and, although she has always wanted to be a physiotherapist, she now
feels that she has so much to learn that it is all a bit overwhelming.
Speaking to some second year students, she can see that they felt the same
way as her when they first started, but rather than just letting things build
up she decides she wants to try and identify some time and space for
reflection as she believes this will help her in her studies. Initially, Sally
decides to set aside 20 minutes per week (two slots of 10 minutes) for
reflection. Each week she carries out a different task that she sets for
herself; sometimes she reads through her notes in the coffee shop and on
other occasions she visits the library to browse through the books on the
shelves. She finds that she enjoys the calming atmosphere of the library and
starts to spend more time there. In the basement there are some rooms that
no one seems to know about and she decides to go there regularly.

Developing professional knowledge, skills and

attitudes
All professionals show aspects of their professional knowledge, skills and
attitudes in their daily practice. When seeking to develop as a professional
practitioner, it is important to understand the differences between these three
areas in order to become fully rounded.

Knowledge
This comes in many shapes and sizes and is usually specific to a particular
profession. It will be important for you to build your professional knowledge
continuously in order to keep pace with the changes happening around you.
Often professional knowledge can be categorised as follows.

• Theoretical – explanations of practice usually published by academics and

practitioners. A theory is simply one person’s (or a group’s) explanation of
what they see in practice, or, as Brookfield (2006: 3) states, ‘A theory is
nothing more (or less) than a set of explanatory understandings that help us
make sense of some aspect of the world’. However, such theory should be
tested or explored in some way through research, otherwise it simply remains
someone’s idea or assertion.
• Procedural – knowledge of processes, procedures and systems that structure
and guide professional practice.
• Evidence based – using evidence from previous research to find out ‘what
works’.
• Tacit – things we know but cannot always explain in words.

Knowledge can be seen as the building blocks of professional practice. As

professionals, people come to us for particular things because we have specific
knowledge. For example, if I have a bad back, I would go and see my doctor. If I
have a bad back because I have had an injury at work, I might also go and see a
solicitor to make a claim for compensation. If you imagine your particular
professional knowledge as the kind of solid wooden building blocks that very
young children play with, it is easy to see that a beautifully constructed tower
can easily fall apart by a careless younger brother or sister knocking it over. In
the same way, our professional knowledge can easily crumple without reflection;
indeed, reflection is the glue that holds the building blocks of our professional
knowledge together.

Skills
Professionals use a broad range of skills in their practice; some are specific to
their profession and some are more general. Here are some of the more general
ones that all professionals need to develop.

• Communication – these include interpersonal skills (e.g. listening, asking

open questions, rapport building) and written skills often carried out using
ICT (e.g. writing case notes, reports).
• ICT (information communication technology) skills – these include updating
databases, communicating by email, sending text messages and using the
internet for research.
• Self-management and time management – many professionals work with a
certain level of autonomy and need to be able to manage their own work by
prioritising tasks and managing their time effectively.

In addition, there will be specific skills that you will need to develop that are
vital for your own particular profession.

Attitudes
The word attitude is used to describe our ways of thinking about things, which in
turn influences the way we do things. It goes without saying that professional
practitioners need to foster positive attitudes, but what does this mean? Here are
some words that describe a practitioner with positive attitudes towards their
professional practice.

• Approachable.
• Patient.
• Calm.
• Supportive towards colleagues and clients.
• A good communicator.
• Well organised.
• On time.
• Hard working.
• Follows things through and does what they say they are going to do.
• Slow to make assumptions.
• Non judgemental.
• Committed to anti-discriminatory practice.
• Quick to respond and act.
• Reflective.

Your ongoing development in the areas above will demand a high level of self
awareness and openness to feedback from others in order to ensure that you can
identify your strengths and those areas that you need to continue to work on.
Reflective activity 1.1
Imagine you overhear some of your colleagues having a conversation about
you. What would you hope they would be saying in relation to your
knowledge, skills and attitudes?

From unconscious incompetence to unconscious

competence
A competent professional has well developed knowledge, skills and attitudes.
One well known and useful model (sometimes referred to as the conscious
competence learning model, the conscious competence matrix or the conscious
competence ladder) describes the journey that people make when learning
something new from ‘Unconscious Incompetence to Unconscious Competence’.
The origins of the model are unknown and it has the following four steps.

1 Unconscious incompetence – this is where most learners start. They are

unaware of their lack of knowledge and skill and, put simply, they do not
know what they do not know.
2 Conscious incompetence – as the learner progresses they become much more
aware of their limitations and start to recognise what they do not know and
cannot do.
3 Conscious competence – as the learner continues to move forward, they
become more knowledgeable and skilled and begin to apply their learning.
Typically, the learner does this in a deliberate step by step way.
4 Unconscious competence – by this point the learner can perform well in their
work without much conscious thought, as their knowledge, skills and
attitudes become embedded in their practice.

The model is depicted in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 The conscious competence learning model

Whilst the model is very helpful and resonates with many people’s learning
experiences, the idea of professional practice at the fourth level without much
conscious thought requires a note of caution. Such practice could easily run the
risk of drifting back to the base of the model as we ‘rest on our laurels’ and bad
habits set in. There can be a fine line between unconscious competence and
unconscious incompetence and we need to be careful not to slip to the base of
the model unconsciously, as shown in Figure 1.2 below.

Figure 1.2 Slipping back to unconscious incompetence

 Case study 1.2
Ben is training to be a primary school teacher and has just started his first
placement. He respects and admires his mentor in school, and he feels
lucky to have such good support, but finds it difficult to understand how
and why she does certain things in her practice. He can see that she is a
very skilful teacher, but often she cannot explain why she is doing what she
is doing. She seems to put this down to intuition and sometimes even luck
and often says to Ben things like ‘I don’t know why I did that’ and ‘I know,
that was lucky, wasn’t it?’ Ben finds this frustrating, as he wants to learn
how to become as good a teacher as he can. Instead of asking her how she
knew which approach to take, he decides to ask her how she learned to
approach a situation in a particular way. This helps Ben’s mentor to realise
how she has built her knowledge and skills over a period of time, which she
is then happy to share with him.

The four theoretical foundations of critical reflection

When evaluating the relevance of critical reflection, it is important to understand
its theoretical origins. Brookfield (2011) argues that there are four theoretical
foundations that have informed critical reflection, which are as follows.

Analytic Philosophy – as human beings we have the capacity to be logical, to distance ourselves from
the way things are usually done and to exert some conscious control over our thoughts and actions.
This is often described as reasoning – seeing the different sides of an argument and reaching sound
conclusions.

Natural Sciences – this is our capacity to look at a phenomenon and to try to explain it. For example,
we have a hypothesis that we test by experiment, and through this process our hypothesis is either
confirmed or refuted.

Critical Theory – power dynamics are present in all situations and critical theory helps us to
understand how these manifest themselves. It helps us to recognise hegemony – this is when we are
deceived, even manipulated, into accepting the dominant ideology as being in everyone’s best interest,
even when this serves to work against certain groups of people, usually those without power and
therefore on the margins of society.

Pragmatism – this involves having a strong need to be open to constant experimentation, to explore
 new and better ways of doing things. This results in discovery and change.

Reflective activity 1.2

Think about the four theoretical foundations and write some notes on the
evidence you can see in your own profession for each of these. Are some
more dominant than others?

Tacit knowledge
As mentioned on page 4, students often marvel at the knowledge of experienced
practitioners when they observe them whilst on work placements. Very
experienced practitioners often cannot explain how they know things and
demonstrate Schön’s (1983: 49) ‘tacit knowing-in-action’, sometimes referred to
as tacit knowledge. When asking such professionals why they did certain things
in certain ways, many will reply ‘I don’t know – I just did it that way’ or ‘It just
seemed right at the time’. This can lead to common misunderstandings about
tacit knowledge. It would be easy to assume that the practitioner’s response is
based on intuition. However, being able to reach such conclusions quickly,
almost on the spur of the moment, will undoubtedly have been learned through
many past experiences. For example, none of us can say that we have always
known how to be a good nurse, teacher or social worker. We have learned it.
This is an important point because if this is not the case, then anyone could do
what we do without any training, which undermines our knowledge and skills as
professional practitioners. Just because we cannot always explain why we do
things in words does not mean they are intuitive or simple. Some professions
(for example career guidance and teaching) have suffered as a result of those
with power thinking that given a simple set of instructions, anyone can do the
work. This is simply not the case and, as professionals, we all need to beware of
the danger of minimising the nature of our tacit knowledge.

From technical rationality to reflection-in-action

(Schön)
In his seminal publication The Reflective Practitioner, Schön (1983) discusses
the concept of reflection-in-action in some depth. All of us spend time thinking –
it is so much part of our everyday lives that sometimes we do not even realise we
are doing it. Reflection-in-action is the kind of thinking we all do as we are
working, studying and living generally, and as human beings we all have a
capacity to think as we are doing other things. When writing about reflection-in-
action, Schön (1983: 54) describes it as ‘thinking on your feet’.
This type of reflection is very important for people who work with people, or
as Schön would say, people in the minor professions. Such people cannot rely on
the laws of science (what he calls technical rationality) to give them logical
solutions to everyday problems. Because people are unique, there is no single
response or action that will suit every situation. When working with clients it
will often be necessary to try a number of different strategies to enable them to
engage with the process. By reflecting-in-action, you will be able to assess the
strategies you are using as you go along, deciding whether or not your approach
is working with that particular individual or group. If not, you can change your
approach and in many (but not all) cases find something that will work, or will at
least work more effectively.
Reflection-in-action, like all reflection, is a skill that develops with practice.
At first it is very difficult to concentrate on listening to the client, applying a
theoretical model or approach, being sure to follow important procedures and
thinking about what you are doing at the same time. Thankfully, practice makes
perfect (well, better anyway!)
There are clear parallels here with learning to drive. At first it seems
impossible to remember everything (mirror, signal, manoeuvre, etc.) But in time,
and with good constructive feedback, things begin to fall into place. The day of
the test arrives, and things go well. Congratulations! Of course, we know that
now bad habits can set in, and this points to the dangers of relying on reflection-
in-action only. This also serves as a reminder of ‘the fallacy of theoryless
practice’ (Thompson, 2000: 32) when we might be fooled into thinking that we
could do this all along.

Making time to reflect

As mentioned in the list of attitudes, being organised is vital for professional
practice, and effective time management is an important skill that all
professionals need to continue to work on. In my experience, time management
is rather like fishing by hand – one day I think I’ve got it and the next it slips
away from me! If there were one simple model that would guarantee that I could
always manage my time well, then someone would have thought of it, published
it and made millions, and hopefully that person would have been me!
Meanwhile, visit any bookshop or browse on the internet and you will find lots
of different books on time management. If you find one that helps you, use it,
but don’t become a slave to it, as it may not work for you forever.
One important theme in time management literature is recognising the
difference between the important and the urgent. Being able to differentiate
between these two concepts will undoubtedly be a key factor in achieving
success in your professional life. Here are definitions of the two terms.
Urgent – things that demand our immediate attention and at least give us the impression that they need
to be done now.

Important – things that help us to achieve our long-term goals.

Covey (2004) presents a useful model to help us to make this important

distinction. This is represented by a square with four quadrants, which can be
described as follows.
Quadrant 1 (top left) – things that are both important and urgent. These are things that demand our
immediate attention. They need to be done now and are often key elements of our job.

Quadrant 2 (top right) – things that are important, but not urgent. Things in this quadrant tend to be
more long term and do not need to be done now. However, they are very important to us and are often
linked to things that we want to achieve as professionals.

Quadrant 3 (bottom left) – things that are urgent but not important. It is easy to be deceived into
thinking that everything that appears urgent is urgent, but this is often not the case. Sometimes things
appear urgent because they are important to other people, particularly managers.

Quadrant 4 (bottom right) – things that are neither important nor urgent. We could say that such things
should not be part of professional life, but we can easily slip into them when we feel ‘swamped’, tired
and overloaded.

Many professionals spend a lot of time (if not too much time) in Quadrant 1.
Covey is clear about the consequences of this, which include a range of
symptoms caused by high levels of stress, feeling that you are constantly ‘fire
fighting’ and managing crises; here the risk of ‘burn out’ is high.
Spending lots of time in Quadrant 3 is also something to beware of, as here
you run the risk of being a ‘slave’ to the priority of others – in other words,
focusing on things that are important for others but not for you. Your manager or
those who are making demands on your time say ‘jump’ and you respond with
‘How high?’ Again, the risks here are high as you begin to see your own goals
and plans disappear and become pointless, as you rarely achieve them. Your
focus is on the short term and you begin to feel worthless and even victimised as
your work spirals out of control.
Quadrant 4 is full of procrastination, often called ‘the thief of time’. Here,
time is stolen from us because we drift and put things off that we know we
should be doing, and sometimes even things that we want to do. We do this for a
range of reasons that are often personal to us and these can include:

• Fear of failure, or even fear of success.

• Not knowing where to start.
• Being so overwhelmed by the volume of work that we are experiencing that
we cannot see a way forward.
• Boredom and lethargy.

Perhaps it is difficult to imagine professionals in Quadrant 4 as it is contrary to

many of the professional attitudes we looked at earlier in this chapter. However,
it is important not to be deceived by things that appear as legitimate work tasks,
which can conspire against us if we are not careful. For example, the feeling that
we need constantly to check emails to be sure we are up to date and not letting
others down. Checking messages that do not apply directly to our work can
waste many hours, for example when colleagues have clicked the ‘reply all’
button – something that we ourselves can avoid and only use when absolutely
necessary to protect our colleagues.
Covey advocates spending a significant amount of time in Quadrant 2 where
our own goals and priorities are in focus. Here, we are clear about what we hope
to achieve in the longer term: such tasks and projects do not need to be done
now, but they will help us to achieve our long-term goals. Much of this clarity
comes from reflection and spending time thinking through what you hope to
achieve will be important, particularly when it comes to managing large pieces
of work. Remember too that taking time to reflect is a choice. However, if we
spend too much time thinking about our long term goals, over time these will
shift into Quadrant 1 as time runs out on us. What was previously ‘not urgent’
then becomes so as deadlines loom. Or worse, we fail to achieve them as we
minimise their worth and they ‘fall off the end’.

Reflective activity 1.3

Now think about your work or course and identify two things that you
would place in each quadrant. Remember, to achieve your long-term goals
your focus needs to be in Quadrant 2. How can you achieve this?

Case study 1.3

Rajesh is a student social worker who is beginning to feel that he needs to
be more organised in his approach to his studies. On his Access course at
college, most things were organised for him by his tutors and he could
always go to them for support whenever things became difficult. He has
moved away from home and knows that he needs to be an independent
learner if he is going to succeed on his course. He decides to attend a time
management course offered by the university’s study support centre and
can see that there are a lot of people like him, which is comforting. In
addition he devises some strategies that he feels will help him; in particular,
making sure that all his regular commitments (lectures, seminars and
tutorials) are prioritised and itemised in his diary. This helps him to look at
the rest of the time he has for reading and volunteering. In addition, Rajesh
decides to ask for a peer mentor – a student in the year above him who can
give him some support when he feels he needs it.

Avoiding distractions
When life is very busy it is all too easy to be distracted, and, before we even
realise, we have wasted precious time on activities that might appear urgent, or
that we have deceived ourselves into thinking could be important. If we are not
careful, we have then lost our time for reflection. Here are some ideas for
protecting our time.

• Get into the habit of blocking out a short amount of time in your diary – this
 need not be a big amount. You will be surprised how much you can achieve
in 15 minutes per week.
• Do not let things interfere with your plans and see the time you have blocked
out as time for your personal and professional development.
• Turn your phone off or turn it to silent if you do not feel you can turn it off.
Only answer it if you know the call is genuinely urgent.
• Turn off your email. Most people can wait 15 minutes for a reply, and if not
they will call you.
• Do not be afraid to ask people for a few minutes. Most people will
understand if you are busy doing something important.

A reflective space
As well as making time to reflect, many people find having a reflective space is
also important. This can help if, like many practitioners, you find it difficult to
‘switch off’ from work and activity. A space that you have identified as
somewhere offering you the opportunity to focus on your development can be
extremely helpful. Here are some examples of reflective spaces.

• A room at home where you can relax and not be distracted.

• A quiet spot in the library.
• A corner in your local coffee shop.
• A bench in your local park.
• A walk through the town or countryside.
• The quiet coach on a train.

It is important to understand that this space will be different for different people
and the key is finding what suits you best; this is a key theme that will occur
many times in this book. Of course, not everyone needs or indeed wants quiet in
order to reflect; some of us do our best thinking with life’s regular hustle and
bustle around us. If that is you, do not be tempted to conform, but do what suits
you best.

Case study 1.4

 Emma, who has just started a degree in counselling coaching and
mentoring, understands that she needs to take a reflective approach to her
studies and her future work with clients. Emma decided to do the course
because she gets on so well with people. At school, many people loved to
talk to her because she is such a good listener and Emma liked the fact that
people used to single her out as a good person to share their troubles with.
Emma is living in a busy hall of residence and is already finding that
people knock on her door when they need someone to talk to. This is fine,
but it often means that Emma’s room is a place for sharing, not somewhere
where she can have any time to herself. She knows that she needs to find
some space away from her room where she will be able to reflect on her
development. After trying several different places, she finds a space in the
corner of one of the busy coffee shops where she can blend in with the
people around her. She also knows that the time will come where she will
need to be kind but assertive in order to protect her time for reflection.

The benefits of investing time in reflection

There are many benefits from investing time in reflection and the case study
below illustrates some of these.

Case study 1.5

Jackie is a second year nursing student and is in the early part of a
placement on an adult general surgery ward. She is finding the workload
very demanding as the ward is very busy and she is still often unsure about
procedures. She is also aware that often things have to be dealt with quickly
and efficiently in order to ensure that theatre timetables are adhered to and
surgeons are not kept waiting. Jackie often feels nervous about the
possibility of making mistakes and knows that when she feels anxious she
is more likely to make errors. Jackie decides to set aside 15 minutes after
each shift to reflect on what she has learned and to discuss this with her
mentor.
It is very easy in professional practice to become overwhelmed by the amount of
things to learn and by a fear of making mistakes. Regular times for reflection
helped Jackie in both of these areas of difficulty. She found being a student
nurse and fitting into a busy ward to be a demanding and intense experience.
Spending time reflecting meant that she could go over some of the procedures in
her head and on paper; this helped her to build her confidence and, as a result,
she was less likely to panic.
There are many more benefits of investing time in reflection, which will
become evident as this book progresses. It is always worth noting that any time
spent in reflection is time invested not wasted.

Conclusion
In this chapter we have examined some definitions of reflective practice and the
reasons why professionals need to think critically about their work. We have
looked at the four theoretical foundations of critical reflection and have explored
the concepts of reflection-in-action and tacit knowledge. Throughout, the
emphasis has been that critical reflection is a choice and that professionals need
to make time to reflect in order to reap the many benefits from it. In the next
chapter we move on to look at the whole area of self-awareness in relation to
professional practice.

References
Brookfield, S.D. (2006) The Power of Critical Theory for Adult Learning and
Teaching, Maidenhead: Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education.
Brookfield, S.D. (2011) ‘Critical Reflection’ paper presented at ESRC Critical
Reflection in the Professions: the Research Way Forward seminar,
Birmingham, June 2011.
Covey, S. (2004) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, London: Pocket
Books.
Johns, C. (2004) Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, 2nd edn, Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
Lucas, P. (1991) ‘Reflection, new practices and the need for flexibility in
supervising student teachers’. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 15
(2), 84–93.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Thompson, N. (2000) Theory and Practice in Human Services, Maidenhead:
Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education.
Thompson, S. and Thompson, N. (2008) The Critically Reflective Practitioner,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wheatley, M.J. (2002) It’s an interconnected world. Available from
www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/interconnected.html. Accessed 7 May
2015.
2 Becoming more self-aware

‘Those of us who attempt to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening our own
self-understanding . . . will have nothing to give others.’

(Thomas Merton, 1971)

Introduction
In the previous chapter we established that reflective practice involves
examining ourselves to see our practice more clearly and giving some serious
consideration to what we see. This will ensure that our practice grows and
develops and that we do not stagnate. Becoming more self-aware is a crucial part
of practising reflectively and this chapter introduces you to the concept of the
metaphorical mirror: a vital tool for reflection in both senses of the word. We
will explore the different kinds of mirrors that we use in our everyday lives to
see what these can teach us about different aspects of reflective practice. We will
then move on to consider how we learn best; learning and reflection go ‘hand in
hand’ and it is difficult to imagine one without the other. It is important to
remember that reflection is a skill, so it is something we can develop and
improve upon. We will examine Honey and Mumford’s (2000) learning styles
and consider the strengths and weaknesses in the four styles and apply this to our
own learning. The chapter continues with SWOT/B (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats/Barriers) and SWAIN (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Aspirations, Interests and Needs) exercises to help you to analyse your current
position. The final sections examine issues of motivation and the role of drivers
in helping us to understand more about what we do and why.

The metaphorical mirror

In my own professional practice with students I have often likened reflective
practice to looking in a metaphorical mirror. Over time your practice will
develop through a process of thinking and examining yourself and your actions.
This will increase and deepen your levels of critical evaluation, helping you to
gain greater self-awareness.
Looking in a variety of mirrors is an everyday occurrence for most people; we
look in a mirror and then decide whether or not to take action on what we see. In
this section we consider a range of different types of mirrors and the insights
these can give us in relation to developing professional practice. Here are some
examples of the kinds of mirrors we use regularly and the particular insights they
give us into reflective practice.

• The bathroom mirror – most of us get up in the morning and, before long,
look in some kind of mirror, often the bathroom mirror. Of course, we do not
always like what we see! We then make a choice – we can decide to do
nothing, or to take some action to make ourselves more presentable to the
outside world! This simple example teaches us two important lessons in
relation to reflective practice. First, when we start to reflect we may not
always like what we see about ourselves and our practice. Taking action
following reflection always involves choice; we can accept what we see as
‘good enough’, take no action and continue as we were. Or we can take
action in order to improve and develop ourselves.
• The full length mirror – we use this kind of mirror when we want to see a
full picture of ourselves, for example when trying on an outfit for a special
occasion. Here we look at ourselves as a whole to see how the component
parts of our outfit go together, for example whether our shoes match the rest.
At times we need to examine our practice in this way, taking a holistic
approach to situations, looking at the whole as well as the parts within it.
• The 360° mirror – these mirrors enable us to see from all angles, thereby
giving us views of ourselves that we do not usually see. This reminds us that
reflective practice is not merely a solitary activity and that the views of
others are important when seeking to gain a full picture of ourselves.
• The driver’s mirror – this is a vital tool that people use every time they get
into the driving seat of a car. Using this mirror means we can see what is
behind us and assess whether or not it is safe to move ahead; we learn to use
it frequently when driving. Moving forward (for example to overtake) is
dangerous without looking back first. This mirror reminds us that reflective
practice involves looking back on experiences we have had, so that we know
how to move forward.
• Wing mirrors – these also enable us to see what is behind us when driving.
Some wing mirrors are convex in shape to give a wider view, others have a
 small magnifying mirror in one corner: both help us to see what is out of
view just over our shoulder. This is a reminder that feedback from others
plays a vital part in helping us to identify what we cannot see ourselves.
• The magnifying mirror – this is indispensable in situations where we need to
look at our faces closely, for example when shaving, applying make-up or
learning to use contact lenses. It helps us when we need to see things in fine
detail. At certain times we need to examine our practice in this way,
particularly if we are learning something new or if our decisions are
challenged. There is also much to be gained from a close examination of an
incident (often referred to as a critical incident), so that mistakes and pitfalls
can be avoided in the future.
• Funfair mirrors – these mirrors distort what we see; obviously we do not
look in these regularly. However, like the fun fair mirror, some practitioners
and students can have a distorted view of their practice. Some may always
feel that what they did was fine because they did their best in the
circumstances within the resources available to them; others can be very hard
on themselves, always thinking that they could have done much better; this is
sometimes referred to as the ‘inner critic’ (Williams and Penman, 2011). In
both cases it is likely that there is some kind of distortion at work in the
process. This again points to the vital role of feedback from others and
discussion in order to get a more accurate picture of the situation.
• Shop windows – clearly these are not mirrors per se, but are places where we
can see our reflection. Usually we look in these as we are walking along, and
they remind us of Schön’s (1983) concept of reflection-in-action and our
ability to think while doing other things.

It is important to remember that all types of mirrors can quickly become

‘steamed up’ or dirty and need to be wiped down so they continue to fulfil their
purpose. In the same way, we need to polish our metaphorical mirror regularly
by checking what we see through our own individual thoughts and by being
open to receiving feedback from others whom we trust. Otherwise we can easily
be deceived into thinking that ‘we look all right really’ when our view of
ourselves might be cloudy or even distorted.

How do I learn best?

Learning is a vital part of professional practice; this is not restricted to students
in training and, as a result, many professional bodies have Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) requirements to ensure that practitioners are
keeping up to date and are continuing to develop their skills. Osterman and
Kottkamp (2004: 24) make the important link between learning and reflection
when they state that ‘While experience is the basis for learning, learning cannot
take place without reflection’. It is important to understand how we learn best as
individuals so that we can maximise our learning. In this regard, recognising
your learning styles can offer important insights into your ongoing development.

Honey and Mumford’s learning styles

Several writers have focused on the concept of learning styles and the approach
selected here is that of Honey and Mumford (2000) because of their interest in
how people learn in organisational settings: in other words, how people learn at
work. It is important to understand that Honey and Mumford see these styles as
learning habits, so these are not things we are born with, but approaches that as
individuals we have found to be effective through our experiences of learning
over the years. Based on the work of Kolb (1984), they identified the following
four different styles.

• Activist

Activists are doers and like to be involved in new experiences. They tend to
take an unbiased approach and are focused on the present. They are open-
minded, tend not to be sceptical, and have lots of enthusiasm. They enjoy
getting on with the task in hand and can achieve a lot in a relatively short
space of time. They often act first and think things through later and can
become bored quickly, particularly in relation to the implementation of
longer-term projects.
• Reflector

Reflectors are thoughtful people who like to stand back and observe people
and situations from a variety of angles. They enjoy collecting data before
reaching any conclusions. This means they tend to be cautious and can be
slow to make decisions. They can often suffer from procrastination. In
meetings they will often be quiet, but when they do speak their arguments
will usually be well thought through. They take into account ‘the bigger
picture’, including past experiences as well as the views of others.
• Theorist

Theorists are analytical people who enjoy integrating their observations into
complex and logically sound theories. They think problems through in step-
by-step ways and are interested in systems and processes. They tend to be
perfectionists who like order and prefer schemes that are rational. They are
objective and can be detached, rejecting ideas that do not fit with their tried
and tested approaches. They can get ‘bogged down’ in detail and can feel
uncomfortable with taking a more subjective approach if it is needed.
• Pragmatist

Pragmatists like to try out ideas to see if they work in practice. They like to
experiment and find new ways of doing things to see if they will be more
effective. They are practical, ‘down to earth’ people who see a problem as a
challenge they would like to solve. They enjoy planning but can become
cynical and reject ideas that have been tried in the past and been seen to fail.
They can be impatient with long discussions and want to act quickly and
confidently to move things forward.

Most people have a tendency to have a preference for more than one style. In my
experience of using the Learning Styles Questionnaire with students, many of
those who have strengths in the Activist style also score highly on the Pragmatist
style. The same tends to apply to those with strong Reflector and Theorist styles.
However, this is not always the case.

Reflective activity 2.1

Having read the descriptions above, which style or styles do you feel
describes you best and why? Now think about which are least like you and
why.

Strengths and allowable weaknesses

It is clear from the descriptions above that there are many strengths associated
with each of the four learning styles. However, when any of the styles are
‘overdone’ they can easily become a weakness, often termed an allowable
weakness. Table 2.1 illustrates this.

Table 2.1 Strengths and allowable weaknesses

Reflective activity 2.2

Look back on what you wrote in the previous activity. Which strengths and
 allowable weaknesses do you feel apply to you and which do not? Can you
think of any others that have not been included?

Case study 2.1

Amit is training to be a secondary school teacher in science. When he
examines his learning styles he recognises straight away that he has a
strong Theorist style, shown by his love of solutions and models that give
him a correct answer. However, learning to teach is a very different
experience for Amit, and whilst on placement he soon realises that where
the science he loves gives him a correct answer, the students he is working
with seem to learn in different ways. He tries lots of different approaches
when explaining key concepts but only some students seem to grasp what
he is trying to put across. Amit begins to understand that he needs to spend
time reflecting on how his students learn in order to select the most
appropriate teaching methods, particularly for those students who are not
responding well to his current approach. He also realises that his own
students exhibit a range of different learning styles and, following a
discussion with his mentor, he decides to discuss this with them in tutorial
time.

It is important to emphasise that the notion of strengths and allowable

weaknesses in relation to learning styles should not serve to categorise people.
So, for example, because I am a Reflector, this does not mean that I am generally
slow – rather that if I overdo it, I will have a tendency to be slow. If I am a
Theorist, this does not mean that I will always overanalyse situations, but that I
might have a tendency to do so. Knowing our learning styles means that we can
focus on our strengths and avoid or minimise our allowable weaknesses.
Two particular viewpoints dominate when considering Honey and Mumford’s
learning styles.
First, if I know my styles, I can select experiences that best suit my style and
deselect those that do not. The danger with this approach is that it could restrict
my learning and, of course, I will not always be in a position to make this
selection. At times I may have to step outside the ‘comfort zone’ of my preferred
style or styles.
Second, if I want to maximise my learning, understanding my allowable
weaknesses and my least preferred styles gives me clear pointers regarding
things to work on in my professional development. If I have strengths in all the
styles this means I am likely to be a strong, all round learner, open to developing
in all areas of my professional practice.

Developing the reflector style

If you are a student on a programme of professional education or a professional
practitioner, it will be important to develop your Reflector style. If you feel that
you do not have strengths in this particular area, here are some examples of
things you can do to help you become more reflective.

• If you tend to rush into situations, practice ‘holding yourself back’. You can
do this by making sure that you wait for others to respond first before giving
your views. If you need to, you can ‘buy yourself some more time’ by saying
something like ‘I’m tempted to respond straight away, but know I should
take a bit of time to think about this to stop me rushing into things’.
• Practice observing people in meetings. Notice how different people behave,
how much they contribute to discussions and what they have to say. Review
this and also think about your own contributions.
• Practice listening in meetings and in conversations – again, try not to be the
first person to respond, particularly to requests.
• Practice looking at things from different perspectives. Write down how you
see a situation and then how others involved might see it.
• Spend a regular short amount of time (e.g. 15 minutes) writing about your
experiences (see Chapter 3). Read what you have written each week or
month to see how you are making progress.
• Find a ‘critical friend’ (see Chapter 8) and share how you are getting on.

Case study 2.2

Gabrielle is a trainee paramedic who is progressing quite well on her

course. During her time on placement she recognises that she has a
 tendency to want to act swiftly (an important quality for a paramedic), but
has recently found on a couple of occasions that this has led to some tricky
consequences, having rushed into saying things to a patient too quickly to
try and put them at ease. Her mentor has pointed out the need for her to
slow down and to be calm and thoughtful in her approach. Gabrielle has
recognised that she has a strong Activist style and that she loves to take
action quickly to help people. However, she realises that this is where
mistakes can happen and is keen to slow herself down to ensure that her
mistakes are kept to a minimum. Gabrielle decides to take some conscious
steps to listen to the patient more carefully and to observe how her mentor
approaches situations. She remembers that she still has a lot to learn and
that a calm paramedic is likely to be a good paramedic.

SWOT/B and SWAIN analysis

Becoming more self-aware often means being prepared to engage in a level of
self-analysis. Here are two tools that can help you to achieve this.

SWOT/B analysis
A SWOT analysis is a tool often used in business to critically evaluate a range of
aspects related to a piece of work or project. It can also be used individually to
help you to analyse yourself as you seek to understand your current position and
how you could move forward in your professional development. In this context,
strengths and weaknesses are internal and opportunities and threats are external.
Some writers replace Threats with Barriers, hence SWOT becomes SWOB.
Barriers to learning can be internal (for example, lack of confidence or self-
belief) or external (for example, a noisy hall of residence or student flat). You
can use the tool effectively by posing the following questions.

Strengths
What am I good at and where do my talents lie?

What do I find easy?

What do I enjoy?

Where do I have expertise?

How have I excelled in the past and which of my achievements am I most proud
of?

Weaknesses
Where am I most likely to have difficulties and why?

What do I dislike?

What do I struggle with?

What would I like to do better?

What do I put off doing?

Opportunities
What opportunities are there for my development?

What could I do to gain more skills?

What could I do to become more confident in my weakest areas?

Who can I ask for support?

Who can I find to act as my mentor?

Threats/Barriers
What will hinder my development?

What obstacles do I face in my development?

What or who might discourage me?

How can I prevent this happening?

What strategies can I put in place to try to ensure my success?

Following the completion of a SWOT/B analysis, you can then continue to

develop your strengths, work on your weaknesses, make the most of your
opportunities and seek to minimise the threats and barriers.

SWAIN analysis
This is another tool for self analysis, where, as well as identifying your strengths
and weaknesses, you are also asked to think about your aspirations, interests and
needs. Here are some further questions.

Aspirations
Where would I like to be in a year’s time?

In three years?

In five years?

When I look back on my working life, what would I like to be able to say I have
achieved?

What might be my greatest achievement?

Interests
What do I love doing?

What do I have a real passion for?

What gives me energy?

If I could spend all my time at work doing one thing, what would that be?

What would I really struggle to give up?

Needs
What do I need to do to succeed?

What training do I need?

Do I need further qualifications and if so which?

What knowledge and skills do I need to develop?

Do my ways of thinking need to change and if so, how?

Case study 2.3

Paul is a newly qualified counsellor and his supervisor has encouraged him
to undertake an analysis of his strengths and areas for development. Paul
decides to use a SWOT/B analysis and also to consider his aspirations,
interests and needs.
Reflective activity 2.3
Now spend some time doing a SWOT/B and SWAIN analysis. What does
this tell you about yourself that you did not know before?

Motivation
An important aspect of self-awareness is to understand what motivates us.
Motivation is a difficult concept to define but includes the processes or factors
that prompt us to act in certain ways. This can involve the identification of a
particular need and how this might be satisfied, and sometimes involves the
process of setting goals. There are many theories that seek to explain what
motivation is and how people are motivated, and they can be grouped into two
main types: content theories and process theories. In addition, many theories of
motivation identify factors that motivate people; some of these factors are
external (extrinsic) and some are internal (intrinsic).

Content theories of motivation

Content theories seek to explain what motivation is and the following are the
most well known examples of these.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Often depicted as a pyramid, Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs has the
following five levels:

1 Biological and physiological – the need for food, warmth, shelter and sleep.
2 Safety – the need for protection and security.
3 Love and belongingness – the need to feel accepted and loved by others (for
example family and friends).
4 Esteem – the need for achievement, independence, self respect and respect
from others.
5 Self-actualisation – the need to realise one’s personal potential, self-
fulfilment and personal growth.

Figure 2.1 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s hierarchy is shown in Figure 2.1.

Maslow’s work has been heavily criticised, in particular his argument that the
needs at the base of the pyramid need to be satisfied before those at a higher
level can be achieved. The idea of a ‘starving artist’, someone who sets all their
other needs aside because of their deep desire to self-actualise, seems to be a
case in point. However, many professionals who work with homeless people say
that their clients find it difficult to think of anything else if they do not know
where they will sleep that night.

McGregor’s X and Y theory

McGregor’s (1970) X and Y theory was developed from the work of Maslow
and argues that there are two basic suppositions about people and what motivates
them. Type X are people who are motivated by their biological and safety needs
towards the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy. They are motivated primarily by
extrinsic factors. Type Y are people who are motivated by the top three levels of
Maslow’s hierarchy and are motivated by extrinsic factors (such as rewards) and
intrinsic ones too like a sense of fulfilment. Whether people can be seen in this
simple way is, of course, open to debate and many people will only be well
motivated when a range of their needs are being met.

Herzberg et al.’s two-factor theory

Herzberg et al. (1959) argued that satisfaction and dissatisfaction were two
distinct phenomena associated with motivation caused by two different factors.
In their research with engineers and accountants, they found that aspects of the
job itself caused satisfaction at work; Herzberg called these factors ‘motivators’.
By contrast, dissatisfaction was caused by the working environment: the
‘hygiene’ factors. Some examples of each of the factors are as follows.
Motivators (concerned with the job itself)

• Achievement.
• Recognition.
• The work itself.
• Responsibility.
• Promotion.

Hygiene factors (concerned with the working environment)

• Policy.
• Working conditions.
• Pay.
• Status.
• Job security.

Here, it is possible to see a mixture of extrinsic and intrinsic factors in the

motivators and the hygiene factors. This work has also been criticised because of
the overlapping nature of the factors; what one person describes as a motivator
might be described by another as a hygiene factor.

Process theories of motivation

Process theories seek to explain how people are motivated and here are the most
well known examples.

Vroom’s expectancy theory

In his expectancy theory, Vroom (1964) argues that people make rational,
calculated choices based on the rewards they expect to receive. People value
different outcomes and will put effort into activities in proportion to their
estimate of the likelihood of achieving what they want. In other words, people
will put a lot of effort into something if they feel their chances of success are
high and vice versa.

Goal theory
Goal setting has been very influential in many different professional areas and
Locke and Latham’s (1969) work argues that if we set ourselves challenging
goals, we will work hard to achieve them. Once we have achieved the goals, we
are then in a good position to set some more. This cycle, sometimes called the
high performance cycle, is often depicted as an upward moving spiral, as shown
in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2 Goal theory

One key aspect is that any goal must be challenging; if the goals we set are too
easy to achieve our motivation will probably dwindle. If a goal is not achieved,
the result could be a downward spiral.

Equity theory
Equity theory (Adams, 1965) focuses on fairness and argues that people are
motivated when they feel they are being treated in an equitable way in relation to
their work colleagues. By contrast, people feel de-motivated if they feel they are
being required to do more than their colleagues. In general terms, we are happy
to put effort into something if we feel that the balance between our output
compared to our input is in the same ratio as that of others around us. However,
if others put in less and seem to receive more, we feel this is unfair and it de-
motivates us.
More recent work (Pink, 2009) proposes that motivation is made up of three
key elements and that neglecting these can lead to a lack of motivation.

• Autonomy – most of us like to have some control over our own work. As
professionals this is also what we would expect.
• Mastery – the possibility of working at something in order to get better at it.
• Purpose – the opportunity to connect with a larger mission.
Pink argues that the ‘carrot and stick’ approach to motivation is no longer
applicable in a world where people are expected to be creative. Neglecting the
three characteristics above and focusing only on goals and outputs means
limiting what people can achieve.

Reflective activity 2.4

Now think about what motivates you. Which theory or theories do you find
the most helpful in describing your motivation for your work?

Case study 2.4

Sandra is a social worker supporting children and young people with
disabilities. Most of the time Sandra enjoys her work and thrives on the
challenges it brings. She finds the work itself satisfying, but sometimes gets
frustrated by the culture of her organisation. In particular, she finds that
people rely on her too much and ask her to do things when they should be
asking someone else. This means that Sandra becomes overloaded whilst
others seem to have less to do than she does. Sandra decides to ask for
support in her next supervision session. She explains the sense of
unfairness that she feels and her manager asks her to make a note of when
this happens so that it can be addressed.

Transactional Analysis drivers

In Transactional Analysis (TA), recognising our drivers and the ways in which
they influence our work and lives is extremely helpful, particularly in relation to
motivation. An understanding of TA helps us to identify the origins of our
actions and reactions; this means we can then be in a position to change them if
we wish. From an examination of Berne’s (1964) work, Kahler (1975) defined
drivers, which can be seen in the following way.
In Berne’s ego state model (Parent Adult Child, often abbreviated to PAC),
messages from our parent’s or carer’s Parent ego state are transacted with and
received by our Parent ego state. These are the messages that communicate
commands about what to do and what not to do, how we should behave and how
we should not. They also lead us to define people and the world, for example
‘good people are . . .’ and ‘bad people are . . .’. These messages are grouped
together to make five drivers, which become powerful tools and have a big
influence on how we live our lives. Understanding our drivers is vital when
thinking about what motivates us.
The five TA drivers are shown below. Each driver has strengths and
weaknesses associated with it; like learning styles, weaknesses often emerge
when our strengths are overdone. Here are some examples.

• Be Perfect – accurate, eye for detail, neat and tidy but will have a tendency
to be harsh on themselves and ‘beat themselves up’ when they fail to meet
their own high standards. They can be harsh on other people too.
• Be Strong – excellent in a crisis, reliable and dependable, makes people feel
safe and secure, but does not tend to show their feelings because they do not
want to appear weak. This means they may come across as aloof or cold and
dis-interested.
• Try Hard – has a very strong work ethic, is persistent and resilient, but
sometimes does not know when to stop if something is too difficult. They are
often not comfortable when receiving praise.
• Please (people) – great team members who get on well with lots of people.
But they never want to upset people and so can be unassertive and often want
to rescue people.
• Hurry Up – enthusiastic, achieve a lot in a short space of time, but can be
prone to make mistakes because of rushing and lack of forethought.

Recognising our own TA drivers makes us more self-aware. Like learning styles,
we can then use our drivers to our advantage, making sure that we do not overdo
them, thereby allowing them to become weaknesses. In addition, a knowledge of
drivers can help us become more aware of how others are behaving and
communicating.

Case study 2.5

Brenda is training to be a mental health nurse and is becoming more self-
 aware as she is progressing. In particular, she is aware of her strong Please
(people) driver; this is a strength in her work as it means that she works
very well in a team and is genuinely interested in people, and it makes her
compassionate in her work. But she realises that it also has its drawbacks.
At times she worries about upsetting people (both colleagues and patients)
and this makes her anxious and passive. Brenda’s mentor has recognised
this and, as a first step, has asked her to observe instances when patients
have had to receive difficult information. She would like to discuss these
the next time they meet and for Brenda to highlight the strengths and
weaknesses in the approaches taken by the staff concerned. Brenda knows
that this will help her to consider how she might approach such tasks in the
future, using the strengths of her Please (people) driver without succumbing
to its weaknesses.

Conclusion
The focus of this chapter has been on becoming more self-aware, which is key to
becoming more reflective in your work. We started by examining the concept of
the metaphorical mirror by looking at the different kinds of mirrors we use and
what these tell us about different aspects of reflective practice. We then moved
on to explore learning styles and began to look at how we learn best. This was
followed by a SWOT/B and SWAIN analysis. The chapter concluded with an
examination of a number of theories of motivation and the concept of TA
drivers. All of these different aspects help us to understand ourselves better,
which is vital for our professional development. In the next chapter we look at
the role of writing in reflection.

References
Adams, J.S. (1965) ‘Inequality is social exchange’ in L. Berkowitz (ed.)
Advances in Experimental Psychology, 2, New York: Academic Press.
Berne, E. (1964) Games People Play, London: Penguin Books.
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B. and Synderman, B.B. (1959) The Motivation to Work,
New York: John Wiley.
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (2000) The Learning Styles Helper’s Guide,
 Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications.
Kahler, T. (1975). ‘Drivers: The Key to the Process Scripts’. Transactional
Analysis Journal, 5(3): 280–4.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Locke, E.A. and Latham, G.P. (1990) ‘Work and motivation: the high
performance cycle’, in U. Kleinbeck, H-H. Quast and H. Hacker (eds) Work
Motivation, Brighton: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Maslow, A.H. (1954) Motivation and Personality, New York: Harper and Row.
McGregor, G. (1970) The Human Side of Enterprise, Maidenhead: McGraw-
Hill.
Merton, T. (1971) Contemplation in a World of Action, New York: Garden City,
pp. 178–9.
Osterman, K.F. and Kottkamp, R.B. (2004) Reflective Practice for Educators,
2nd edn Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Pink, D. (2009) Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, New
York: Riverhead Books.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Vroom, V.H. (1964) Work and Motivation, New York: John Wiley.
Williams, M. and Penman, D. (2011) Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding
Peace in a Frantic World, London: Piatkus.
3 The role of writing in reflection

‘Writing to me is simply thinking through my fingers.’

(Isaac Asimov, personal communication)

Introduction
Many writers on the subject of reflection suggest writing as one key way of
engaging in the reflective process. In this chapter we discuss how writing can
help us to reflect at a deeper level and we look at some tools that can enable us
to do this more easily and effectively. In particular, the use of a reflective diary
or journal will be highlighted. The chapter concludes with suggestions of other
ways to engage in reflection at a deeper level.

Why writing?
So why is writing thought to be important in the area of reflection? There is no
doubt that writing in itself is a skilful activity. In primary schools the
development of the writing skills of most young children lags behind that of
their reading skills. When we were young we probably learned to read more
quickly than we learned to write. As a whole, writing is a much more difficult
skill to master, hence on any programme of study the most difficult tasks are
likely to be the written assignments.
So what makes writing difficult? In the early days of my role as a university
lecturer I attended a writers’ seminar with a professor whom I respected and
admired. Something he said that day seemed very significant to me and stayed in
my memory – his words were ‘I write about something in order to understand it’.
He was clearly very knowledgeable in relation to his field of study and I had
always assumed that he wrote a lot (papers, books etc.) because he understood a
lot. In fact, the opposite was the case; it was the process of writing that helped
him to understand things.
 This is an important point in relation to reflective writing – if you want to
understand more about yourself and your practice, you need to write about it. It
is almost impossible to write something whilst talking about something else,
unless you are writing and speaking things that you know ‘off by heart’ (e.g.
writing your address whilst reciting a nursery rhyme), and even then it is very
difficult to do – I have tried, and so have some of my students! The act of putting
pen to paper involves thinking about what you are writing, making decisions
about what to write, how to write it, processing your thoughts and explaining
what you mean so that, if appropriate, someone else can read it and understand
what you have written. Put simply, the act of writing helps us to develop our
understanding.
Neuroscience shows us that writing as an activity stimulates the reticular
activating system (RAS) at the base of the brain. The RAS acts as a filter for
everything our brain needs to process, making sure that we give more
importance to what we are actively focusing on at that moment. The act of
writing, therefore, enables us to sharpen our focus and will often be a much more
effective way of learning something than, for example, discussion. As a result,
you will be much more likely to remember what you have written down (there is
a good lesson here in relation to taking notes in lectures and seminars) than what
you have discussed. And, of course, it gives you a record of your learning that
you can go back to.
Moon (2006) identifies some of the aims of reflective diary writing as part of
the process of professional learning and development. They are as follows.

• To record experience. Often you think you will remember, but you don’t,
particularly at times when you are trying to ‘take a lot in’.
• To facilitate learning from experience. It helps you to examine your
experiences in some depth.
• To support understanding and how this is then represented. It helps you to
understand things and to then be able to discuss them or write about them
when being assessed.
• To help you develop critical thinking and a questioning attitude. It prevents
you from accepting things ‘at face value’.
• It increases metacognition, or thinking about thinking.
• It increases active involvement in learning and the ownership of it.
• It increases thinking skills.
• It enhances problem solving skills.
• It can be used as a form of assessment.
• It enhances the process of reflective practice, enabling you to think at a
deeper level.
• It enhances personal development and self-empowerment.
• It is therapeutic.
• It enhances creativity.
• It develops the skills of writing.
• It is a form of self-expression.
• It supports planning and achievement in projects.
• It serves as a means of communication when shared, for example, with a
fellow student, tutor or mentor.

But is writing something by hand the same as typing it on a computer keyboard?

This is less clear. Recent research with students (Mueller and Oppenheimer,
2014) suggests that it is not, and shows that they understand more when writing
by hand than when using a keyboard. Of course each of us has our own
particular preferences – some of us like a nice notebook and pen, others like a
laptop, tablet or smart phone. Two things are worth noting: first, when we get to
the point where we can type more quickly than we can write, writing then slows
us down and gives us more thinking time; in our hectic lives this can be very
valuable. Second, it is easier to delete words and phrases when using a keyboard
than when writing by hand. This might result in us being too selective about
what we write; there is always a temptation to write what we think we should
write, rather than what we want to write.
Here are four important messages in relation to reflective writing: the first is
to ‘write’ and not to procrastinate. It is very easy to think we will remember
things, particularly significant things, but in reality, when life is so busy, we
probably won’t. We might be tempted to think ‘a lot has happened today, I’ll
write about it later’ and events simply overtake us and we then forget even very
significant things that we thought we would always remember. The second is to
do what suits you best. It can be a mistake to waste time thinking about how to
record things. Those with a strong Reflector style (Honey and Mumford, 2000)
can easily slip into thinking so much about the kind of notebook to buy, the very
best pen, whether to use a laptop or not and so on that they fail to start writing –
I know this to my peril! The third is to be realistic. Reflective writing does not
need to be ‘perfect’ and, indeed, it should not be so; it needs to be manageable.
In my experience, an individual can achieve a lot by devoting as little as 15
minutes a week to this type of writing. The fourth is to be practical and not to be
hard on yourself. Suffice it to say that it is possible that I might have written a
better book if I had written it all by hand first, but this was not something I felt I
could contemplate!

Reflective activity 3.1

Now think about what is stopping you from starting to write reflectively. If
you have started this process already, how are you getting on? What are
you enjoying and what is difficult? Now write some notes.

Case study 3.1

Gloria has recently started a course in social work and is being encouraged
by her tutors to write some reflections on her learning. She has never done
this kind of writing before, but feels she would like to try to capture some
of the many things she feels she is learning. She usually uses a laptop when
taking notes, so tries using this for her reflections. Whilst she finds this
useful, she is always tempted to delete what she has typed as she feels it is
never good enough. Some of her fellow students are writing by hand
instead and many of them seem to enjoy it and to find it therapeutic as a
means of processing their learning experiences. Gloria decides to try
writing this way, but finds it a much slower process. She decides to use her
laptop when she feels she hasn’t much time and wants to be sure not to
forget things and to write by hand when she has more time. This seems to
work well for Gloria and she is pleased to have found a balance that she can
work with.

What is reflective writing?

If you are studying on a professional programme, it is likely that you will be
asked to write reflectively, so it is important to understand what this means. It is
also helpful to understand what it is not. So what do we mean by the term
reflective writing?
Reflective writing is always written in the first person. For those who have
been used to studying for a while, this will be unusual. Most academic writing is
done in the third person (he/she, it, one etc.), but those who write reflectively use
the language of I, me, we and us, which makes it more personal than most other
forms of academic writing. Bearing in mind that reflective practice demands a
high level of self-awareness and writing plays is a key part in helping us to
develop this, it should come as no surprise that writing reflectively demands that
we write about ourselves.
Reflective writing is critical in nature. As a term, it is important to understand
what the word critical means. The first thing that might spring to your mind
when you hear the word critical is negative, but this can take you down a
dangerous path where you see only the negative things about yourself and your
practice. The word critique is more accurate here as reflective writing asks you
to evaluate your work. For example, a restaurant critic will offer a critique of
their dining experience, focusing on what was good as well as what could be
improved, assuming they enjoyed at least some of their food anyway! This
means that reflective writing is not descriptive; it is more than simply writing
down what happened.
In my experience, some students can struggle with understanding how to write
analytically and might receive feedback with comments such as ‘too descriptive’
and ‘more analysis needed’. Here, the idea of a SWOT analysis (see Chapter 2)
is helpful with its emphasis on strengths and weaknesses. Writing about these
will make your work more analytical. However, reflective writing also involves
considering your thoughts, engaging with your emotions (see Chapter 6) and
challenging your assumptions (see Chapter 7). In relation to diaries and journals,
reflective writing is honest and spontaneous. This kind of writing is considered
in the final section of this chapter. There is no doubt that reflective writing takes
time, but many students who engage with it find that it is time well spent.

Table 3.1 Reflective writing

 Table 3.1 summarises what reflective writing is and what it is not.

How to start writing reflectively

Whether you are writing an essay, a speech or a book, one of the most difficult
aspects is where to start. If you are being asked to write reflectively you may
well feel that you do not know where to begin. In my experience, students often
pose questions such as ‘So, what am I meant to write?’, ‘How do I start?’ and
‘What if my writing makes no sense?’ The simplest way is just to start writing,
and Stage 1 of Bolton’s (2014: 136) exercise entitled the Six Minute Write offers
these very useful pointers.

• This is a timed exercise, so time yourself and write for six minutes without
stopping.
• Write whatever comes to mind and let your writing flow freely.
• Keep writing and do not pause to think too much about what you are writing.
• Do not pause to analyse what you have written, otherwise you will be
tempted to write what you think you should write rather than what you want
to write.
• Keep writing even if it does not make much sense to you.
• Do not worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar or jargon.
• Allow yourself to write anything.
• This is your writing and whatever you write is correct because it is yours.
• Remember, no-one else needs to read what you have written.
• Stop after six minutes and look at how much you have been able to write.

Reflective activity 3.2

Now try Bolton’s Six Minute Write. Remember to time yourself. Then
think about this experience of writing and write some notes on how you got
on. Was it easier or more difficult than you thought?

Case study 3.2

Peter has just started a course to train to be a counsellor and his tutor is
asking every student to reflect on their learning and the development of
their interpersonal skills. Peter is unsure where to start as reflective writing
is a new thing for him, so he decides to try the Six Minute Write; this is
what he wrote when he tried it.
Well, I’ve never written anything like this before! When I wrote at school I was always told to
be really careful – make sure your spelling and grammar are correct, don’t use abbreviations,
make it sound formal. This is totally different! Feels quite liberating! But, is it any good? Is this
the kind of thing the tutor means? I guess I’ll find out at some point. The tutor says ‘Just write
what’s in your head’ so here goes. Today we did our first role play exercises and how scary was
that? I always knew that the course would involve this and I do enjoy talking with people, but
trying out listening skills and asking open questions is all really difficult. I felt so nervous and
forgot what to do. The people I was working with seemed so much better than me – I know I’ve
got so much to learn it’s frightening. Will I ever be able to do this? I really don’t know, but I do
know I’m going to try.

As with Peter, the Six Minute Write should help you to get started. Bolton also
puts forward four other stages of reflective writing that you can try, and she
suggests other forms that it might take. Stage 2 involves thinking of an
experience that you have had and writing about it as if you are telling a story. In
Stage 3 you can then read the story (and the six minutes of writing) and respond
to it. In Stage 4 she suggests sharing what you have written with someone else –
this needs to be someone you know well and trust (see Chapter 8). In Stage 5 she
suggests you could begin to develop your work by writing from someone else’s
perspective, for example from the client’s point of view.

A structure for reflective writing

If you are new to reflective writing you might find it helpful to have a structure
for your writing. This can help you to make a start, and you might then discard it
later as your experience in this area grows. Knott and Scragg (2013) offer a very
useful structure for writing a reflective journal, which can be helpful for people
who are unsure about what to write. This structure is based on three stages, each
with useful accompanying questions to encourage reflection at a deeper level.

Stage 1 – Reflecting
Here, the suggestion is that you focus on an issue or a concern that you have in
relation to your practice and development. Like Bolton (2014), they advise you
to write freely and spontaneously in order to capture your thoughts and feelings.

Stage 2 – Analyse
This is the most complex of the stages and involves responding to the following
key questions:

• What is happening?
• What assumptions am I making?
• What does all of this show about my underlying beliefs?
• Are there alternative ways of looking at this, if so what are they? (e.g. from
the perspective of someone else – a colleague, the client, a manager). This
particular aspect is similar to Bolton’s (2014) Stage 5.

Stage 3 – Action
The focus here is on the action you could take following the analysis. Again, the
authors suggest considering some key questions:

• What action could I take?

• How can I learn from this experience?
• How might I respond if this situation occurred again?
• What can I learn from this experience regarding my beliefs about myself?

Reflective activity 3.3

Now try using Knott and Scragg’s structure to reflect on something that has
happened this week. How helpful was it?

Case study 3.3

Ella is training as a teacher in early years and wants to develop her
reflective writing skills. She decides to use Knott and Scragg’s structure for
reflective writing, and here is an example of what she wrote after a
particularly difficult day.
Stage 1 – had a really tricky day today in the nursery. Some of the children seemed to be really
difficult and at times it felt like it was all getting on top of me. In particular one little girl
seemed to be snatching toys from the other children. Usually I cope well with this, but today I
thought I might lose my temper with her. Usually I love my work, and I had designed such a
good activity for them, but they just didn’t seem interested. I couldn’t wait till the end of the
day. I just wanted to go home and collapse in a heap. Tomorrow will be another day and
hopefully it will be better than today – otherwise I think I might give up.

Stage 2 – so what’s going on? I know I love being with children and love the work – so why did
it go so badly today? I thought the activity I had planned was really good. But maybe it was too
much and too difficult – I think I was really disappointed because I’d put such a lot of work into
it. I did spend most of last night preparing it. Maybe the timing wasn’t good? Maybe they were
just tired? Or maybe I didn’t explain it properly. Or was it just boring? I know I was tired too,
which doesn’t help.

Stage 3 – I think I need to talk to my mentor about what happened. I feel a failure, but need to
remember that the children are very young and can only concentrate for so long. I also need to
think about the time of day for doing bigger activities. Maybe it would have been better earlier
in the day when the children have more energy and can concentrate for longer. I need to be sure
to get a good night’s sleep. Maybe I have more energy earlier in the day too – I will definitely
talk to my mentor.

Knott and Scragg also suggest looking back over a number of diary entries to see
if there are any key themes emerging over time. This can help you to highlight
some specific areas you would like to work on.
Using a structure such as this means that your reflective writing will move
from mere description of what happened to analysis and evaluation. You will no
doubt begin to gain significant insights into yourself and your practice as you
document your personal and professional development.

Using a reflective diary or journal to aid professional

growth
Many students on professional courses are encouraged to keep a reflective log,
diary or journal to aid their professional development. We have already
established the role that writing can play in relation to learning, but why is
writing regularly seen to be important? First, we need to distinguish the
difference between a log, a diary and a journal.
A log tends to suggest describing things that happen, such as logging events. When hearing the word
log, some of you might remember the ‘Captain’s log, stardate . . .’ where the voyages of the Starship
Enterprise were recorded. The purpose of this, like most other logs, is to record what happened.
Imagine being a crew member and trying to remember all the different events and galaxies visited –
without the aid of a log this would be impossible!

A diary implies regular writing (daily, weekly) and offers some kind of structure, perhaps with spaces
to write at regular intervals. Many of us also use diaries to help us to remember dates and times, to
plan ahead and to prioritise our work and lives. Losing a diary can make us panic, whether we leave a
paper version on the bus or forget to back up our laptop, hence the growth in automated updating
systems online. A diary provides a dated record so we can see what happened and when.

A journal is most often a nice quality notebook filled with blank pages. People who enjoy writing
might buy a travel journal for a particular period or holiday. It might have a nice cover with a picture
of the globe on the outside, but most of the pages inside will be blank, encouraging people to write
freely about their experiences. A journal is viewed as a personal item, so what someone buys to use as
a journal is an individual choice and will vary greatly; journal enthusiasts may even buy a notebook
and decorate the cover themselves. A journal tends to provide a more detailed record of a period of
time and is something that can be read in the future to bring back memories of a specific period of
time.

In some respects the terminology used to describe what you write in is irrelevant
and the quality of what you write is much more important. People who are new
to reflective writing might start with a log and move to the more structured form
of a diary later as their confidence grows. Others will enjoy the structure of a
diary and move on later to a free flowing journal format. Experienced journal
writers may start with a blank notebook, but for those who are new to reflective
writing this can be a scary prospect.
Engaging in reflective writing is a process and, as well as using something
like Bolton’s exercise to help you to get started, it is also well worth considering
how you can keep yourself motivated to continue writing. Bassot’s (2013)
journal is written for students on professional courses and, as well as providing
space to write, it also contains content on a range of topics related to reflective
practice; it could be a valuable tool for some. Simple motivational strategies to
try to ensure that you find writing enjoyable are important, such as having a nice
pen or background and font to use on your tablet.

Case study 3.4

Leroy is training to be a physiotherapist and is facing a challenging
placement working with patients who have suffered from spinal injuries.
Leroy used to enjoy reflective writing when he began his studies, but now
finds that he doesn’t have the time to give to it that he feels he should.
Leroy is anxious about his placement as he knows that he will probably
face some very demanding situations with patients who have major injuries.
He feels that he needs to slow down and take some time to reflect at regular
intervals. Leroy decides to ‘kick start’ his reflections by buying a small
high quality notebook for his reflections. He chooses one that will fit into
his pocket at work, so that he can carry it round with him and note things
down in it during his breaks. He also decides to write in his notebook for
ten minutes at the end of each shift to capture his thoughts. Leroy soon
finds that he enjoys writing again and can see that he is processing his
professional learning in a more thorough way than he has in the past.

Is it all about writing?

We have established how writing helps us to develop our understanding in all
sorts of different areas, but are there other useful ways of doing this too? There
is no doubt that technology can play a part in this, particularly if you are a
person who loves your laptop, smart phone or tablet like I do. Many of us have
now reached the point where we feel bereft if we forget our mobile phone and
use laptops or tablets to organise our work and lives. The beauty of being able to
‘back up’ everything calms our fears of losing important data should we no
longer have our favourite gadget.
So how can we harness such things to advance our reflective skills? Here are
some ideas:

• Send yourself a text message or email describing your day, outlining what
was enjoyable and difficult about it and then read it.
• Set an alarm on your smart phone to remind you to reflect on significant
events on particular days.
• Use your online calendar to give yourself a regular reminder to spend some
time reflecting (e.g. weekly).
• Make an arrangement with your critical friend (see Chapter 8) to send a text
message at certain times to encourage you to spend some time reflecting, or
simply to find out how you are getting on.

For those of you who love all things artistic there are other ways of reflecting by
using your artistic flair to help you to reflect. This could include:

• Drawing.
• Painting.
• Collage.
• Model making.
• A range of crafts such as sewing, tapestry, quilting.

For those of us who feel this kind of thing is not for us, don’t forget that
techniques such as some simple diagrams or mind maps can also work well to
help us to illustrate our thoughts.

Reflective activity 3.4

Think of some other resources you can use to help you to reflect. Now
write some notes on how and when you could use these.
 Case study 3.5
Jane is working in a further education college with students who are
speakers of other languages. She wants to encourage them to think about
their learning experiences from the past as she feels this will help them to
move forward in their studies, but she knows that for some of them, being
able to articulate abstract thoughts in English is very difficult. In a tutorial
session Jane decides to ask the students to reflect on their learning by using
collage. She brings in a pile of old magazines, flip chart paper, scissors and
glue and asks the students to choose pictures that represent their education
so far. As they are working, she asks the students to write down a few
thoughts on what each picture represents. The students enjoy the activity
and Jane is surprised that those students who usually find it very difficult to
share their thoughts are able to read what they have written in a relatively
easy way. Jane joins in the activity too and is reminded of how she feels
about her own learning and development. She chooses the following
pictures – a clock to remind her of her desire to make time for reflection, a
family group to illustrate the support she has from home and a jigsaw
puzzle to remind her of the many and varied aspects of her professional
knowledge and skills that she is seeking to develop.

Conclusion
In this chapter we have considered a range of issues in the whole area of
reflective writing. It is clear that writing helps us to reflect at a deeper level, and
some aids have been introduced that should help you to write more reflectively.
A useful structure has been presented to help you to get started, whilst
encouraging you to use a reflective diary or journal for your professional growth.
The chapter concluded with ideas for using other resources to help you to reflect.
In the next chapter we move on to the whole area of learning from experience.

References
Bassot, B. (2013) The Reflective Journal, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bolton, G. (2014) Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development,
 4th edn, London: Sage.
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (2000) The Learning Styles Helper’s Guide,
Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications.
Knott, C. and Scragg, T. (2013) Reflective Practice in Social Work, 3rd edn.,
London: Learning Matters.
Moon, J. (2006) Learning Journals: A Handbook for Reflective Practice and
Professional Development, 2nd edn., Abingdon: Routledge.
Mueller, P.A. and Oppenheimer, D.M. (2014) ‘The pen is mightier than the
keyboard: advantages of longhand over laptop note taking’, Psychological
Science, 25: 1159–68.
4 Experiential learning

‘One must learn by doing the thing; for though you think you know it you have no certainty, until
you try.’

(Sophocles)

Introduction
Programmes of professional education and training, such as teaching, nursing,
social work and counselling typically include periods of time spent on placement
or in a workplace. Many students speak of these times as being particularly
significant in their learning. In the same way as it would be impossible to learn
how to drive without getting behind the wheel of a car, becoming a competent
practitioner in these areas would seem impossible without some ‘hands on’
experience. It is generally accepted therefore, that learning from experience
plays a vital part in professional training and development. In this chapter we
examine what learning from experience means and we look at some key
theoretical approaches that explain how we learn in this way. In addition, we
consider why we do not always learn from experience and how we can address
areas of non-learning.

What do we mean by learning from experience?

Most people learn from experience throughout their everyday lives. For
example, phrases such as ‘that worked well’ or, conversely, ‘I won’t make that
mistake again’ show that often (but not always) people take note of what
happens around them and take action on it as a result. In addition to this informal
learning from experience, students on professional programmes have structured
times of placement or work experience to help them to become skilled and
knowledgeable in their chosen area of professional practice.
Many writers on the subject of experiential learning use cycles to describe
how we learn, and in this chapter we critically examine three particular models
that have become popular in this area. These models help us to understand how
we can maximise our learning to develop and improve our professional practice.

The ERA cycle

The ERA cycle summarises three of the main components of reflective practice
(Jasper, 2013). The first is Experience, or the things that happen to us. The
second is the Reflective processes that help us to think through the experiences
we have had; these processes help us to learn from our experiences. And the
third is Action, which follows as a result of our reflections. The ERA model is
often shown as a triangle with Experience at the top, Reflection at the bottom
right and Action at the bottom left. Arrows on the triangle suggest that
Experience is followed by Reflection, which in turn is followed by Action.

Kolb’s experiential learning cycle

From his background as a psychologist and his interest in organisational
behaviour, Kolb developed his experiential learning cycle; his work has become
seminal in this area. Kolb was interested in how people learn at work and how
they make sense of their experiences in organisations. Heavily influenced by the
work of Kurt Lewin, Kolb (1984) developed his experiential learning cycle to
depict how people learn from experience. The model is depicted below in Figure
4.1.
The diagram shows that there are four stages in the cycle that are depicted as
following on from each other in sequence. Kolb argues that the cycle can begin
at any point; however, often, but not always, the cycle starts with a Concrete
Experience. This can be something fairly mundane or something new or
strikingly different from what we would usually expect. Following the
experience, the next stage is Reflective Observation where we think about what
has occurred and begin to analyse it. This is then followed by the third stage on
the cycle called Abstract Conceptualisation where we start to generalise from
what we have experienced, adding to our knowledge of certain situations and
practices. In the final stage, Active Experimentation, we are able to begin to
apply the knowledge we have acquired to new situations and the next
experience; the cycle (or spiral as it is sometimes depicted) then starts again. The
experiential learning process could happen in a period of moments, days, weeks
or months depending on the situation.

Figure 4.1 Kolb’s experiential learning cycle

Reflective activity 4.1

Now write some notes about an experience you have had recently where
you feel you have learned a lot. How can you apply the stages of Kolb’s
cycle to this?

Case study 4.1

Cheryl is studying for a BEd in Primary Education and is doing her final
placement with a class of pupils in Year 6. She has enjoyed her previous
placements; she feels that her confidence is growing and she now wants to
make the most of her remaining time as a student in order to learn as much
as she can before she starts work as a newly qualified teacher. Cheryl
knows that she has a strong Activist learning style, which has been a real
strength in the classroom. She works hard and achieves a lot with the
 pupils. However, she does not always find reflection easy and her mentor
has asked her to work on this, as she feels it will help Cheryl to become a
good all round teacher. Cheryl decides to try using Kolb’s cycle to give her
reflections some structure. She uses her lesson plan to remind her of an
experience and annotates it in order to reflect on how the session went.
From this, Cheryl is able to identify things that went well and those aspects
of the lesson that she feels could be improved. On the back of the lesson
plan, Cheryl writes notes under the headings of Abstract Conceptualisation
and Active Experimentation to record the new knowledge she has gained
through the experience and ideas that she can use when planning a similar
exercise in the future. She discusses this with her mentor, who suggests that
Cheryl could do this kind of activity with the pupils too as part of their
preparation for transferring to secondary school.

When considering Kolb’s cycle it is important to remember that it is just one

explanation of how we learn from experience and, like any other model, it is
important to critique it. The arrows on the cycle point in one direction only,
which implies that one stage follows neatly after another; in practice this is
unlikely to happen each time we learn. While Kolb argues that the cycle often
starts with the Concrete Experience, our learning styles (Honey and Mumford,
2000, see Chapter 2) could also play a key part in where we begin on the cycle.
Examples are given in Figures 4.2–4.6.
Figure 4.2 Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and Honey and Mumford’s
learning styles

Figure 4.3 People who have a strong Activist learning style

Those who have a strong Activist learning style will often want to act quickly
and are likely to start the cycle with a Concrete Experience. Some will skip the
next two stages and immediately want to prepare to ‘have another go’.
Those who are Reflectors will feel much happier having thought things
through first and might ‘dip their toes into the water’ of the experience only
following some detailed planning.
Theorists will often want to go to the library first to read up on relevant details
and models and will look at how they apply to the experience. They may be
unhappy if they cannot see how their preferred theory works in practice and then
go back to the library to read some more.
Figure 4.4 People who have a strong Reflector learning style

Figure 4.5 People who have a strong Theorist learning style

Figure 4.6 People who have a strong Pragmatist learning style

Pragmatists may well want to plan before they act and if things do not go as
expected, they might be tempted to do more planning.
All of this means that, in practice, individuals can begin the cycle at any point
and travel round the cycle in numerous different directions. In their Learning
Styles Handbook, Honey and Mumford examine a large number of possibilities
in this regard; this is far removed from Kolb’s unidirectional cycle. However,
one of Kolb’s arguments seems clear; in order to learn most from experience, we
need to engage with each stage on the cycle. Missing stages altogether (as in all
the examples above) by focusing too much on our learning style preferences
means that we will fail to maximise our learning.
Finally, it is important to remember that any model that argues for a particular
sequence of events will always be flawed. It will face the inevitable question
‘So, does it always happen like that?’ And invariably the answer will be
‘probably not’.

Reflective activity 4.2

Now think about your recent experience again. Were there stages on the
cycle that you missed and, if so, why do you think that was? Does this link
with your learning style preferences?
Reflection-on-action
In Chapter 1 we considered Schön’s (1983) concept of reflection-in-action,
which formed a central part of his arguments on the need for professional
practitioners to adopt a reflective approach. He also wrote in far less detail about
what he called reflection-on-action; the kind of thinking that professionals
engage in following an experience. This is a reminder of the second stage
(Reflective Observation) of Kolb’s (1984) cycle.
Reflection-on-action is particularly important for people who work in the
minor professions (see page 9), as there is usually no single correct response to
any situation we might encounter. Indeed, mistakes can easily be made if we
think ‘I’ve come across this kind of situation before. Doing X helped then, so it
will probably work now’, as invariably it will not. Each case is unique, and this
demands creative thinking at a deeper level on the part of practitioners and an
openness to working at finding the most appropriate approach for the particular
situation. There is simply no ‘one size fits all’ model or approach that can be
applied in every case. Using the metaphor of bespoke tailoring, Thompson
(2005: 196) aptly describes reflective practice as ‘cutting the cloth to suit the
specific circumstances, rather than looking for ready-made solutions’. And
reflection-on-action forms a key part of this process as practitioners reflect
following an experience to seek what works best for that particular client.
So why is reflection-on-action needed? As professional practitioners we need
to resist the temptation to accept things at face value. Reflection-on-action helps
us to take an analytical approach to our practice and to consider things from a
number of different perspectives. As well as identifying how we can improve
and find solutions to problems we might identify, reflection-on-action also helps
us to see what went well and to build on that. This in turn helps us to build our
professional knowledge through Abstract Conceptualisation (stage 3 on Kolb’s
cycle) as we think about how we could adapt our practice and approach things
next time via Active Experimentation (stage 4 on Kolb’s cycle).

Case study 4.2

 Neil is training to be a social worker and has always enjoyed reading; he
has identified that he has a strong Theorist learning style. He is an
analytical person who likes to examine a range of theories to find the best
approach to any given situation. Once he has found his preferred approach,
he enjoys applying the model and working towards a solution. As he
progresses, Neil finds that he has ‘tried and tested’ methods, which help
him to feel confident. But after a while Neil finds that his methods do not
always work as well as he expects and he finds this frustrating. When this
happens, he is always tempted to try again, but usually with little success.
Neil realises that instead of seeking answers in books, he needs to reflect on
the experiences he is having, to try and identify what is not working and
why. As time progresses, he realises that in many situations he cannot
simply apply one approach, but needs to draw on aspects of a number of
approaches to support the particular client he is working with at the time.

Reflection-on-action is central to reflective practice as it can prevent stagnation

through routine. It demands that we turn off our ‘autopilot’ and see each
situation afresh. However, this does not mean that we need, or indeed will be
able, to spend time reflecting on every detail of our professional lives; this would
simply be too exhausting. But reflection-on-action means being open to new
ideas and through it our practice can develop and remain vibrant.

Driscoll’s ‘What?’ model

People who are new to reflective practice often find a simple, straightforward
model useful when seeking to learn from their experiences. In particular,
Driscoll’s (2007) ‘What?’ model (drawn from Borton’s Developmental
Framework, 1970) is an example of such a model. Like Kolb’s (1984) model, it
is drawn as a cycle (or in this case as a spiral) with arrows pointing clockwise.
The model has the following three steps:
Step 1 – What? – this involves writing a description of an event or an experience.

Step 2 – So what? – here we reflect on the event or experience and start to analyse selected aspects of
it.

Step 3 – Now what? – a range of proposed action points are devised following the experience,
focusing on what has been learned. When depicted diagrammatically, a number of arrows are drawn
 from Step 3 to represent a range of possible actions that could be taken in the light of our experience.

Driscoll has also formulated a number of useful trigger questions to help us to

use the model effectively, including:
Step 1 – What? – how did I react and what did others do who were involved?

Step 2 – So what? – do I feel troubled in any way, and if so, how?

Step 3 – Now what? – how can I change my approach if I face a similar situation again and what are
my main learning points? What different options are there for me?

Case study 4.3

Dan is training to be a nurse in elderly care and wants to reflect on the
experiences he is gaining on his placement. Dan decides to use the
questions in Driscoll’s model to help him to begin to analyse what he is
learning.
Step 1 – how did I react to the experience and what did others do who were involved?

Today I was observing an experienced community nurse change a dressing on a man’s leg that
is badly infected. The man was nervous and became very distressed – he has had dressings
replaced regularly and knows that the process is very painful. I felt awful about causing him
more pain. The community nurse seemed very calm and spoke to him in a reassuring way. She
asked him if he would like some pain relief and he said yes. She sat with him for ten minutes to
make sure that the pain relief was working and spoke with him about his grandson’s visit that
he was looking forward to at the weekend. This definitely seemed to put him at ease.

Step 2 – do I feel troubled in any way, and if so, how? She made it all look so easy. How would
I cope if I had to do this? As a nurse I am meant to relieve pain not cause it. She focused on the
patient while I focused on myself.

Step 3 – how can I change my approach if I face a similar situation again and what are my main
learning points? What different options are there for me? I learned a lot from the community
nurse. She was very caring but firm. She knew the man’s dressing needed to be changed but did
everything in a very calm and kind way. She distracted him and helped him to relax. These are
all strategies that I can try in the future if I have to do this. Nursing isn’t only about my clinical
skills; my interpersonal skills are vital, as is compassion and understanding for my patients.

Driscoll’s model is simple and the three stages – ‘What?’, ‘So What?’, ‘What
next?’ – are easy to remember, particularly when you are new to professional
practice and it seems like there is so much to learn. In particular, the question
‘Do I feel troubled in any way?’ is extremely useful as our feelings can act as a
prompt to deeper thinking and exploration (see Chapter 6). However, after a
while you may find that you want to reflect at a deeper level so, if appropriate,
you should feel free to use this in the early days of your practice and then to
move on to other approaches. This means that your reflective skills will develop
alongside the other key skills that you use in professional practice.

Reflective activity 4.3

Now try using Driscoll’s model to reflect on a recent experience. How does
it compare to using Kolb’s model? Where are the similarities and
differences?

Learning as transformation
It is widely accepted that learning has the potential to transform a person’s life,
and as you progress in your studies and in your professional life you may feel
that you are becoming a different person. Looking back on my own professional
life, I know that I am not the same as the person who initially trained to be a
Careers Adviser.
Illeris (2014), drawing on the work of Taylor (2009), identifies the following
six principles that can lead to transformative learning.

1 Acknowledging individual experience – this is the previous experience that

each learner brings with them, which forms a starting point for learning.
When this is recognised and valued, people are more likely to reflect on their
current position and to challenge themselves through experience.
2 Encouraging critical reflection – this involves paying attention to three key
elements: the meaning people extract from what they are learning, the
process (or how people are learning) and the premises (or the context for
learning). The latter appears to be particularly significant for transformative
learning to take place.
3 Engaging in discussion and dialogue – a dialogue with self and others is vital
as this prompts critical reflection and this is how individuals discover their
boundaries.
4 Having a holistic orientation – people need to learn as whole beings. This
includes engaging with their emotions (see Chapter 6) and their context. This
happens through a process of ‘see-feel-change’ (Taylor, 2009: 10).
5 Being aware of context – having an appreciation of their context and their
experiences – means that people are more likely to adapt to change. In
particular, being aware of the time constraints of life and how to manage
them is significant for learning as transformative learning takes time.
6 Building authentic relationships – this is a particularly important element for
people who are training to be teachers and mentors. It involves being open
and honest and allowing learners to question their growing understanding.
This enables the person in training to understand themselves and their
practice better and allows their confidence to grow.

Reflective activity 4.4

Looking at the six principles above, which do you feel is most important
for your professional learning and why?

Overall, Illeris argues that a learner-centred approach is most likely to lead to

transformation, and experiences that enable people to develop at their own pace
and in ways that are most suited to them are most likely to succeed. However,
this presents challenges for students and teachers alike because the syllabus or
the National Occupational Standards for the particular sector still needs to be
met. The rise of competence frameworks has done much to restrict flexibility in
professional training, although the maintenance of standards is vital for the well
being of clients and professionals.

Do we always learn from experience?

Whilst it is widely accepted that learning has the potential to transform people’s
lives (Illeris, 2014), when we look back honestly at our own lives and those of
others it becomes clear that this does not always happen. This also applies to
learning from experience. As one student who was training to be a Careers
Adviser once said to me, ‘I don’t understand why I keep making the same
mistakes. I know what I need to do and when I go into the assessment, it’s clear,
but when it comes to it, I just don’t seem able to do it’. Why is this? If it were as
simple as ‘practice makes perfect’ why is it that in some situations improvement
does not happen automatically?
The work of Jarvis (2003) gives us some useful indicators about a range of
responses we can have to learning experiences. He views learning as a more
complex process and explains that it does not always happen following an
experience. Based on the work of Kolb, he carried out research with adult
learners to try and identify how learning took place. The cycle he then developed
(much more complex than Kolb’s cycle) can be traversed via nine different
routes depending on how the person responds to an experience. The routes
themselves are not specified because of the difficulties of isolating them and
because an individual might be able to follow more than one route in any one
experience. However, the cycle is described as having the following nine
aspects.

1 The person having the experience.

2 The situation.
3 The experience.
4 The person: reinforced but relatively unchanged.
5 Practice experimentation.
6 Memorisation.
7 Reasoning and reflecting.
8 Evaluation.
9 The person: changed and more experienced.

This is depicted in Figure 4.7.

An individual can have one (or more than one) of nine responses to an
experience. Jarvis describes nine routes on his learning cycle, which he puts into
three groups: non learning, non reflective learning and reflective learning.

Non learning
Presumption (aspects 1–4)
This happens routinely in everyday life, where we experience the same (or
similar) things many times as we socialise with those around us. We approach
such situations in a similar way based on our previous experiences. In these
situations we can assume we already know what to do or how to behave when,
of course, this may not be the case.

Non-consideration (aspects 1–4)

Many learning opportunities are missed because we simply do not consider them
to be noteworthy at the time: maybe we are too busy, too tired, distracted or
simply see them as a waste of time.

Figure 4.7 Jarvis’ experiential learning cycle

Jarvis (2006), p. 9

Rejection (aspects 1–3, then 7–9)

Here, something is specifically rejected; this involves some thought, followed by
evaluation. There are a number of reasons why we reject things, for example we
might feel they apply only to others and not to us. We might have tried them
before and found them to be unhelpful. Over time it could be that rejection
becomes part of our habitual response (we have all met cynical practitioners who
are quick to say ‘we’ve tried that before and it didn’t work, so it won’t work
now’) and hence rejection might over time become presumption.

Non-reflective learning
Pre-conscious (aspects 1–3 to either 4 or 9)
This learning happens incidentally and is generally not recognised as learning
per se. In effect, it might not be called learning at all until it is recognised as
such later. So we may not initially realise that we have learned something, but
only see it like this later when it enters our consciousness. For example, we may
recognise something as familiar (e.g. a theoretical model that seems very clear
and simple, even obvious to us) which we later realise we have learned through a
previous experience or experiences. It is a mistake to think of this as intuition
(‘well, I just knew how to do this’ or ‘I understood that anyway’); it has been
learned previously because you can probably identify a time when you could not
do the thing you have identified or did not understand it.

Practice (aspects 1–3, then 5–8 to 6 to either 4 or 9)

This often applies to skills learning. Through experience we have the
opportunity to try things out in practice; this might include following processes
and procedures, applying a theoretical model or copying an experienced
practitioner as they model their skills to us. This is often done through conscious
imitation of the practice of someone else whose work we respect and admire.

Memorisation (aspects 1–3 to 6, possibly to 8 and then to either 4 or

9)
Many of us will equate this to things that we have needed to learn ‘off by heart’,
for example our times tables, mathematical formulae, chords on a guitar or keys
on the computer keyboard. Here, repetition is important to ensure that our
responses become automatic in relevant situations.

Reflective learning
Contemplation (route 1–3, to 7 to 8 to 6 to 9)
This could be described as purely thinking about something after an experience.
Those with a strong Reflector learning style will be very familiar with this and
can indeed spend a long time in contemplation. It does not necessarily mean that
action will follow, although it might at some point in the future.
Reflective practice (route 1–3, possibly to 5, to 7 to 5 to 8 to 6 to 9)
This is clearly the most complex route so far as the practitioner reflects before
experimentation and afterwards too and evaluates their experiences in an
iterative way in order to become more skilful and knowledgeable. This
underlines that reflective practice itself is indeed a complex process.

Experimental learning (route 1–3, to 7 to 5 to 7 to 8 to 6 to 9)

This appears more complex still as the learner focuses on practice as a basis for
their reflections as they seek to ground their knowledge in practice and reality.
Perhaps the most important aspects here are the insights this work gives us
about why we fail to learn. The following case study shows how an individual
can navigate the cycle and fail to learn from experience.

Case study 4.4

Sarah is training to be a Careers Adviser who cannot understand why her
learning appears to be ‘stalling’. She doesn’t understand why she keeps
making the same mistakes. She knows what she needs to do and when she
goes into the assessment, it’s clear, but when it comes to it, she just doesn’t
seem able to do what she knows she needs to do. Following an in-depth
discussion with her tutor it appears that she was ‘tracking’ across the cycle
following each experience (3) because of failing to engage with any other
element on the cycle. She was thereby exiting the cycle prematurely,
reinforced (and determined to try again) but relatively unchanged (4). This
is rather like the person in Figure 4.3.

Aspect 2 is particularly interesting and points to the influence that our situation
has on our learning. It is clear that we learn more in some situations than in
others, and, in this particular instance, the fact that Sarah was being assessed
may well have an impact on how much (or rather how little) she could learn
from the experience. We all need to be in environments that are conducive to
learning to be able to develop to our full potential. In this particular case, she
knows what she has to do, but somehow is unable to do it in the pressurised
atmosphere of being assessed. So another possible response she might have
could be to memorise what she has to do (6) to enable her to cope with the
pressure. This might help a little, particularly if the assessment task is fairly
straightforward, but even so, she could again exit the cycle reinforced but
relatively unchanged (4) if she then fails to put things into practice.
Sarah could also spend some time in contemplation, thinking through the best
ways of trying to achieve what she needed to achieve, but could still fail to
change the way she does things and exit the cycle as before (4).

Table 4.1 Learning from experience

It is clear that we do not always learn from experience and there are many
factors that can influence whether or not we learn at particular times in particular
places. Table 4.1 highlights some of these.

Reflective activity 4.5

Now think about how you feel you learn best. Consider the points in the
table above – which do you feel apply most to you and your learning? Are
there any that do not apply? Are there any points you would like to add?

Reflective activity 4.6

Think of a time when you feel you learned a lot. Why was this? What can
you gather from this about how you learn best?
Regressive transformation
As well as failing to learn from experience, Illeris (2014) identifies that people
can fall back in their development through regressive transformation. Feelings of
discomfort can be an indication that this is happening and thoughts such as the
ones listed below can be common.

• That things are moving too quickly.

• That the demands are too high.
• That it is too difficult to let go of current viewpoints or behaviours.
• That the levels of doubt and uncertainty being demanded are too difficult to
cope with.
• That we want to experience the safety and security of our current position
and do not want to change.

Any or all of these feelings can mean that we fail to move forward in our
learning and development.

Case study 4.5

Shan is a youth support worker who has completed her foundation degree.
She now wants to move on to the final part of her studies to gain a full BA
with honours. Shan is very committed to her work and study, but it seems
that as soon as she returns to university things start to go wrong, and she
feels like her development is regressing. In particular, her personal
circumstances become difficult. Her parents emigrated last year; Shan’s
grandmother has become ill and she feels responsible for her as she is the
relative who lives nearby. In addition, Shan’s workload has recently
increased because several members of staff have left her organisation and it
is taking a while to recruit new people. Shan feels very tired and
overwhelmed; since Christmas she has been ill on several occasions. This
means that she has had to miss several sessions at university and feels she
is falling behind. In spite of her supportive tutors, she decides to interrupt
her studies as things at the current time are just too difficult for her. She
hopes to resume her studies when things get easier for her at which point
she hopes her development will be re-kindled.
Conclusion
In this chapter we have examined the whole area of learning from experience
and have considered how and why this does not always happen. We have
examined models by Kolb, Driscoll and Jarvis and have considered a range of
factors that can promote or inhibit learning. In the next chapter we move on to
consider some of the different arguments regarding how we learn most.

References

Borton, T. (1970) Reach, Touch and Teach, London: Hutchinson.

Driscoll, J. (ed.) (2007) Practising Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach
for Healthcare Professionals, Edinburgh: Ballière Tindall, Elsevier.
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (2000) The Learning Styles Helper’s Guide,
Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications.
Illeris, K. (2014) Transformative Learning and Identity, Abingdon: Routledge.
Jarvis, P. (2003) ‘Adult learning processes’, in P. Jarvis and C. Griffin (eds)
Adult and Continuing Education, London: Routledge, pp. 180–98.
Jasper, M. (2013) Beginning Reflective Practice, Andover: Cengage Learning.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Taylor, E.W. (2009) ‘Fostering transformative learning’, in J. Mezirow, E.W.
Taylor et al. (eds) Transformative Learning in Practice: Insights from
Community, Workplace and Higher Education, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass.
Thompson, N. (2005) ‘Reflective Practice’, in R. Harrison and C. Wise (eds)
Working with Young People, London: Sage.
5 Learning from positives and
negatives
Critical incidents

‘You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.’

(Johnny Mercer, 1944)

Introduction
In the previous chapter our focus was on learning from experience, and how we
do this has been the topic of much discussion and debate. For example, what
kinds of experiences help us to maximise our learning? Many writers suggest
that we learn most from things that we find difficult, for example things that ‘go
wrong’ or do not go according to plan. Such approaches focus on issues
connected with problem solving and are often referred to as ‘deficit models’.
Others advocate that we need to focus on the positives in order to learn from
what is working well. In this chapter, two particular models are highlighted: one
that focuses on problem solving and the other, advocating a more holistic
approach, emphasising the positive. Events that are significant in our learning
are often referred to as critical incidents and this is where this chapter begins as
we now move on to consider how we can reflect at a deeper level about our
practice.

What is a critical incident?

Many professionals in a wide range of settings use the technique of critical
incident analysis in their practice in order to reflect at a deeper level about their
work. Having considered how we can reflect on our work through learning from
experience (see Chapter 4), we now need to delve deeper in order to begin to
analyse and critically evaluate our practice, thereby moving from reflection
towards critical reflection.
Initially used by Flanagan (1954) whilst diagnosing problems experienced by
aircraft pilots, the term critical incident is often used in health settings where a
patient’s condition can become critical, sometimes very quickly. However, many
professionals find the term useful when thinking about what they can learn from
particular situations they face in their day-to-day practice. Such incidents may
not always be critical in the literal sense of the word, although for professionals
who work in very challenging situations they can be.
When seeking to identify what constitutes a critical incident, the following
questions can give us some pointers.

• How do I feel? This will be examined in some depth in the next chapter, but
our feelings often give us a good initial indication as to whether an incident
is critical or not. We might feel irritated, angry, anxious or disturbed and
have the kind of discomfort highlighted by Driscoll (2007) when he asks if
we feel troubled in any way in Step 2 of his cycle (see Chapter 4).
• Is this what I expected? Often an incident becomes critical when we are
surprised by events and things do not turn out as we expect. This means that
we need to examine our assumptions (see Chapter 7) to try and identify why
we expected certain things to happen and not others.
• What do I do now? Critical incidents can ‘stop us in our tracks’ and make us
question how we should proceed. This is particularly the case when we are
new to practice and we can find ourselves thinking ‘How do I handle this? or
‘What on earth do I do now?’ This is because such an incident highlights
some kind of gap in our knowledge and experience.
• Other people seem to be able to cope with this, so why am I finding this so
challenging? It is important to remember that an incident is only critical from
the perspective of the particular individual. Something that you may find
difficult, others may find easy and vice versa. This is because each of us has
different levels of experience, but also we have all had different experiences
in our past that can affect how we see things in the here and now. Such
things can be discussed in the safety of supervision (see Chapter 8),
assuming, of course, that this is available.

Several tools for critical incident analysis have been developed for use in
different settings and they have the following areas in common regarding how an
incident can be analysed effectively.
1 An account of the incident (often written) to start the process of analysis.
2 My initial responses and the responses of those around me.
3 The issues and dilemmas that this incident highlights.
4 The learning that I take from the incident.
5 Outcomes from the incident.

Reflective activity 5.1

Now think of a recent incident that you would describe as critical. Use the
five headings above to help you to examine it.

Case study 5.1

Luke is training to be an occupational therapist and is enjoying his
placement at a rehabilitation centre for people who have suffered severe
strokes. He gets on very well with a particular patient who jokingly
discloses that he has been trying to walk on his own and, as a result, has
had a few falls in his room. Luke knows that the patient should not be
doing this as he could injure himself. He feels anxious and uncomfortable
when he discusses this with the patient, particularly when the patient then
asks him not to tell anyone else. Luke promises that he will not say
anything if the patient agrees not to try and walk again without help. Luke
takes some time to write about this following his shift, and still feels very
uncomfortable with the situation. He realises that he doesn’t know enough
about the situation and that he could be preventing better care. He feels that
he does need to tell a manager and that he should not have promised to say
nothing. He decides to go back to the patient concerned and explains to him
that he needs to inform a manager. Luke explains to the patient that he has
his health and recovery in mind and wants him to be able to go home as
soon as possible, as he knows this is what the patient wants too. The patient
accepts that Luke needs to disclose the details of the conversation and
decides that he would prefer to disclose this himself with Luke’s support, as
this will also help him to communicate his frustrations regarding his
progress.
The problematic experience
Writing from the perspective of education, Osterman and Kottkamp (2004)
argue that we learn most from experiences that are problematic; hence, this is
where our focus should be. They see reflective practice as a way of ‘overcoming
organizational habit and facilitating significant change’ (Osterman and
Kottkamp, 2004: 23).
As professional practitioners we can face a wide range of challenges in our
practice, such as:

• Needing to meet targets possibly at the expense of meeting the needs of the
people we are supporting.
• Pleasing our managers at the expense of our colleagues or clients.
• Keeping within budgets whilst also coping with high levels of demand for
our time and work.
• Wanting to be seen as professionally competent whilst maintaining our
integrity.
• Day to day situations that we find difficult to deal with.

Osterman and Kottkamp put forward an experiential learning cycle with many
similarities to the work of Kolb (1984) (they based their work on his cycle), but
also some key differences. The first step on the cycle is Problem Identification
(as distinct from Concrete Experience); this emerges from practice when, for
example, a particular outcome is not what was desired or expected. Just like a
critical incident, this reveals a gap in our knowledge and practice. Such
experiences present themselves as problems that demand our attention and make
us want to work towards a possible solution by engaging in a learning process.
In these situations it can be tempting to skip to solutions (rather like the
person in Figure 4.2, or the person who ‘tracks’ across the top of Jarvis’, 2003
cycle, Figure 4.7) instead of taking the time to analyse what happened. Hence
the second step on the cycle, Observation and Analysis, is seen to be the most
important step and the most complex. Here, Osterman and Kottkamp delve into
the realm of assumptions using Argyris’ (1982) Ladder of Inference (see Chapter
7). This asks us to analyse carefully what took place and to question our
perspectives. They helpfully use the metaphor of lenses to show how the same
thing can be seen in different ways depending on the lens we chose to look
through, like for example when we use a camera. It is also important to
remember that lenses can, of course, be clouded or distorted. This step on the
cycle involves observing and analysing the situation and ourselves, thereby
taking ‘a dual stance being, on the one hand, the actor in a drama and, on the
other hand, the critic who sits in the audience watching and analysing the whole
performance’ (Osterman and Kottkamp, 2004: 23).
Observation and Analysis is followed by Abstract Reconceptualization (as
distinct from Abstract Conceptualization in Kolb’s cycle) as we re-think our
ways of thinking and acting. Here, new ideas and possible practices emerge
through a deeper understanding of the situation and the event. As a result we
reconceptualise; that is, we begin to think about the event differently, giving us
new thoughts and ideas which can be transferred into different strategies for
action that we can try out in the final step on the cycle, Active Experimentation.

Case study 5.2

Errol is training to be a Maths teacher in a secondary school and is finding
some aspects of the work challenging. In particular, having always enjoyed
Maths himself, he finds it difficult when some students do not seem to be
interested in his lessons. The behaviour of the students can then become
difficult to manage and before long Errol starts to dread particular lessons,
particularly those on a Friday afternoon. Errol discusses this with his
mentor who helps him to identify the problem. They then spend some time
analysing the problem from a number of different angles. As a result, Errol
begins to understand that his expectations of some of the students are too
high and that many of the concepts he is trying to put across are abstract.
He decides to use more concrete examples in his explanations and sets
tasks that are much more practical and applied in his next lesson. In
addition, he asks the students to discuss their work in pairs and to mark one
another’s work. Errol enjoys facilitating the lesson and, towards the end,
tasks are discussed in a plenary session where he can assess what each
student has learned. As he goes through the tasks with them, he asks the
students to write on their own work so that he can be sure that they
understand if they went wrong and how they could improve.
Critiques of Osterman and Kottkamp’s work are similar to those of Kolb as,
again, the cycle shows four steps, one following the other in a particular
sequence. Of course, as we know, things do not always happen in such a neat
and tidy fashion. In addition, the model is based on the assumption that a
problem can be identified, but in practice that will not always be the case as
sometimes we might struggle to see beyond the event itself, depending on our
perspective and our previous experiences. It is important to emphasise that the
model also seems to demand that we see ourselves as part of the problem. When
analysing problems we need to be careful not only to see other things connected
with the situation and other people as the problem, as this could mean that our
observations and analysis are flawed. Like other reflective models, this model
demands that we engage in critiquing ourselves as well as others and the
situation itself.
Osterman and Kottkamp’s model could be described as a deficit model. Such
models can give the impression that we can only learn from problems or from
things that go wrong. Without careful consideration, we can forget to look at
aspects of our professional practice where things are going well.

Reflective activity 5.2

Now think about a problematic experience you have had recently and
analyse it using Osterman and Kottkamp’s cycle.

Learning from positive experiences

Written from the perspective of positive psychology and appreciative enquiry,
Ghaye’s (2011) work takes a different stance and argues that we need to focus
on positive experiences as a source for learning and development. Only paying
attention to problems or negative experiences can trap us in negative cycles of
thinking, thereby making us too pessimistic about our work and trapped in what
he calls ‘deficit based actions’ (Ghaye, 2011: 9). An emphasis on the positive
can do much to motivate us and encourages us to capitalise on what is working
well.
Ghaye (2011: 2) describes his reflective approach as ‘strengths based’ and, in
contrast to Osterman and Kottkamp, he states clearly that ‘It is not always
necessary to first analyse the problematic aspects of the situation/experience’.
He puts forward the following six key ideas in relation to reflection.

1 It is linked to practice and can help us to develop new ideas for high quality
work.
2 It is linked with our feelings (see Chapter 6).
3 It is often structured and organized.
4 It often focuses on looking back on past experiences, but should also
consider what is happening in the present.
5 It plays an important part in helping us to see what we are good at, what we
can achieve and how we can improve.
6 It can be triggered by many different things, particularly questions we can
pose in relation to our practice (see below).

Ghaye discusses four different kinds of reflection. The first two, reflection-in-
action and reflection-on-action, are familiar (see Chapter 1). The other two types
of reflection may not be familiar yet and they are as follows.

• Reflection-for-action – he describes this as fundamental. He argues that such

reflection is undertaken for a particular reason, such as because we want to
understand something better, or to develop something or improve it. It is
done as part of a process of planning how to address a particular issue.
• Reflection-with-action. The focus here is on thinking that leads to action.
This looks forward to things you might do as an individual or with other
people in a team.

Ghaye argues that as well as looking back on situations and experiences

(reflection-on-action), we also need to examine the present (reflection-in-action)
and look to the future (reflection-for action and reflection-with-action).
Ghaye’s strengths-based model offers an approach that encourages us to build
on the positives by asking the following questions.

• What is successful right now? (Appreciate)

• What do we need to change to make things better? (Imagine)
• How can we achieve this? (Design)
• Who needs to take action and what will the consequences be? (Act).
In contrast to other cycles, the points above are presented at various places on
the capital letter R as shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1 Ghaye’s R model

Ghaye (2011), p. 18

Case study 5.3

Catherine is training to be a counsellor and is finding certain aspects of this
challenging, in particular the role-playing activities. She is always quick to
see where she feels she has gone wrong, and in discussion finds it very
difficult to say what she is doing well. She discusses this with her
supervisor who suggests that she uses Ghaye’s model to help her to identify
what she does well. Catherine writes the following reflections in her
journal.

• What is successful right now? I am finding the role plays easier now.
Today I asked lots of open questions and felt much more relaxed. I
know I can communicate well and that people enjoy talking to me. It’s
easier when you know people and the students in my group are all very
 supportive.
• What do we need to change to make things better? Practice, practice,
practice. I know this is how I will get better.
• How can we achieve this? I need to find more opportunities to practice
using my skills because I’m sure this will help my confidence.
• Who needs to take action and what will the consequences be?
Tomorrow I’ll go to the volunteering fair and find out if I can do some
voluntary work as I think meeting new people will help. I might be able
to get some relevant experience too. I’ve also got to know two people
well on my course and one of them has suggested we could get together
to practice our skills. This is a good idea and I’ll ask if we can arrange
this.

Ghaye’s work provides a useful antidote to many models of reflection that

emphasise that we should focus on problems. It seems fair to say that if we only
focus on problems or things that go wrong, we can forget the things we do well.
This can trap us in negative ways of thinking about our practice, which can be
very de-motivating in the longer term. We all need to remember times when we
recognise things we have done well as this builds our career happiness (Bassot,
Barnes and Chant, 2014) and is important for how we feel about ourselves and
our work. The R model itself is clear and easy to remember because it stands out
as being different from other cyclical models that are presented as being circular
or oval in shape.
However, it is important to remember that focusing too much on the positive
can make us too accepting of our practice and can lead us to overestimate how
effective our practice actually is – in effect another distortion of the metaphorical
mirror (see Chapter 2). This can make us unaware of the things we could have
done better. In spite of the focus on positives, Ghaye still speaks of improving
practice and making it better, when perhaps to use the term even better would be
more appropriate.

Reflective activity 5.3

Now think about a positive experience you have had recently and analyse it
using Ghaye’s cycle.
Reflective activity 5.4
Now look back at your notes on Activity 5.2 and compare what you wrote.
Which model have you found the most useful and why?

Conclusion
In this chapter we have discussed two contrasting models of reflection – one
focusing on problems and the other on positive experiences. It seems clear that
there is a place for both in the daily challenges of professional practice. Focusing
only on problems can ‘weigh us down’ and make us think that our practice is
never good enough. Focusing only on positives can deceive us into thinking that
what we did was good in the circumstances when it could be significantly
improved. A careful balance seems appropriate, and selecting a model for
reflection for particular circumstances is just one part of the professional
judgement of practitioners. In the next chapter we move on to consider the whole
area of engaging with our feelings.

References
Argyris, C. (1982) Reasoning, Learning and Action: Individual and
Organizational, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bassot, B., Barnes, A. and Chant, A. (2014) A Practical Guide to Career
Learning and Development: Innovation in Careers Education 11–19,
Abingdon: Routledge.
Driscoll, J. (ed.) (2007) Practising Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach
for Healthcare Professionals, Edinburgh: Ballière Tindall, Elsevier.
Flanagan, J.C. (1954) ‘The critical incident technique’, Psychology Bulletin, 51:
327–58.
Ghaye, T. (2011) Teaching and Learning through Reflective Practice: A
Practical Guide for Positive Action, Abingdon: Routledge.
Jarvis, P. (2003) ‘Adult learning processes’, in P. Jarvis and C. Griffin (eds)
Adult and Continuing Education, London: Routledge, pp. 180–98.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
 and Development, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mercer, J. (1944) Accentuate the Positive. Available from
http://www.lyricsmania.com/accentuate_the_positive_lyrics_johnny_mercer.html
Accessed 7 May 2015.
Osterman, K.F. and Kottkamp, R.B. (2004) Reflective Practice for Educators,
2nd edn., Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
6 Engaging with emotions

‘If you are carrying strong feelings about something that happened in your past, they may hinder
your ability to live in the present.’

(Les Brown, 1992)

Introduction
Many writers on the subject of critical reflection discuss the importance of
engaging with our feelings. This is particularly the case when reading literature
from health and social care, where some of the challenges practitioners face can
prompt an emotional response. This chapter will explore the topics of objectivity
and subjectivity, and the importance of engaging with our emotions will be
discussed. The reasons for doing this will be explored using insights from
Transactional Analysis. This is followed by an explanation of the Almond
Effect. Two theoretical models will then be presented that can help us to engage
with our feelings in a systematic way. The chapter concludes with some
suggestions of how we can begin to process our feelings effectively.

What are emotions?

First, it is important to understand what emotions are and the effects they can
have on us. Emotions are more than just feelings; Williams and Penman (2011:
19) define them as a combination of thoughts, feelings, impulses and bodily
sensations (such as a faster heart rate or trembling hands) that create ‘an overall
guiding theme or state of mind’. These different elements play off one against
the other and can result in us feeling positive or negative depending on the
situation and our previous experiences. Our emotions, therefore, guide us in
particular directions depending on the circumstances we are facing. Unlike many
animals, who are able to experience such things as fear (for example, when
chased by a predator) and then quickly relax, as humans we tend to dwell on
what happened as our minds remember past experiences that are similar and
imagine what might happen in similar circumstances in the future. The result is
that we remain on high alert and can find it difficult to ‘switch off’ when we
leave work.

Objectivity and subjectivity

When looking at definitions of these terms in a standard dictionary, objectivity is
said to rely on facts and subjectivity on opinion. Objectivity is often linked with
the idea of taking a scientific approach that can be justified and defended if
needed, whereas subjectivity is more difficult to define and relies on deciding
how to act in the particular situation depending on the circumstances. Many
professional practitioners seek to take an objective approach to their work by
being clear about factual events and circumstances, trying not to rely on opinion,
which can be biased either in favour of or against the client. However, Schön
(1983) suggests that people in the ‘minor professions’ need to move away from a
reliance on a scientific approach (or technical rationality) to reflection-in-action
(see Chapter 1). This kind of ‘thinking on your feet’ can often involve engaging
with our emotions in our everyday practice.

Why is it important to consider our emotions in

relation to professional practice?
Many people enter the so-called ‘helping professions’ because they enjoy
relating to people and feel that they have something to give both on a personal
and societal level. Any such work is demanding as it involves getting closer to
people’s lived experiences and seeking to support them. In addition, many
clients face struggles and setbacks that we can only imagine, although some
practitioners may indeed have had similar experiences and feel drawn into their
particular role because of them. For example, my own lack of careers advice
coupled with my choice of the ‘wrong’ course at university certainly prompted
me into my work as a Careers Adviser; my doctoral research was all about
university choice and even today it gives me great satisfaction to help someone
choose the ‘right’ course or career for them.
However, because of these experiences, working with clients can bring our
past experiences, positive and negative, into focus. A counsellor friend of mine
once explained it like this. If you imagine the human brain as an oval-shaped
object, the top third of the oval represents our conscious – the things (including
thoughts, memories and experiences) that we remember and are aware of on a
regular basis. The bottom two thirds are our unconscious – a myriad of things
that we are not aware of. What appears at first to be a complete barrier between
the two (see Figure 6.1) in fact has a concealed trap door in the middle (see
Figure 6.2) which opens in response to triggers that are beyond our control.
These triggers are things that remind us of our past experiences and can include
such things as sights, sounds, smells, words and phrases. When we experience a
trigger, the trap door opens and things from our unconscious ‘spill out’ into our
conscious; Freud (1912) called this ‘transference’.
But how is this connected with our emotions? In his work on Transactional
Analysis (TA), Berne (1961) asserts that the human brain stores memories and
feelings in such a way that they are inseparable. This means that we not only
remember things that have happened in the past, but we also experience the
feelings again that we felt at the time. In short, we not only remember the past
event, we also feel how we felt at that time.

Figure 6.1 The human brain

Figure 6.2 The human brain responding to a ‘trigger’

Berne argues that everything we experience is stored within us. When hearing
this for the first time, this might seem somewhat far-fetched, but here are two
examples that serve to illustrate Berne’s point.
A colleague of mine who used to teach in a university in Sweden once came
to visit my university and as part of his visit observed one of my sessions. That
day I was teaching Berne’s TA and as we discussed some of the core principles,
he shared this story. He explained that he grew up in the locality of my
university and as he travelled that morning by taxi he was suddenly overcome by
an intense feeling of travel sickness. By the time he reached the university the
feeling had passed; as he had not experienced any kind of travel sickness for a
long time, he was curious about this. By the time of the session, he had
remembered being a very small boy (about 3 years old) and being in the car with
a relative and feeling very travel sick, so much so that they had to stop the car –
and you can imagine the rest! That morning, his feelings of being travel sick
occurred at the very spot where they had had to stop the car that day many years
before.
Again whilst teaching TA, I once asked my students if any of them wanted to
share an experience to illustrate the premise that memories and feelings are
stored together. One student explained that she was a foster carer and one of the
teenage girls that she used to care for had a real dislike of oranges. This dislike
was so intense they could not have any oranges, orange juice or anything
containing oranges in the house. One day the student concerned spoke to the
girl’s social worker about this and it transpired that in her case notes it was
recorded that she had been abandoned as a newborn baby and left outside a
hospital in an orange box.
When thinking about the effect of triggers, it is important to remember that
memories cannot be recalled without the feelings experienced and vice versa.
Harris (1967: 12) explained it in this way ‘I not only remember how I felt, I feel
the same way now’. This means that as professional practitioners we should not
be surprised when we have emotional responses to our experiences at work.
Often these will occur as a result of a trigger reminding us of a past experience
(positive or negative) which in turn will mean that we also feel how we felt at
that time.

Reflective activity 6.1

Describe a recent experience that prompted an emotional response. What
surprised you about this?

Case study 6.1

Tom is a bereavement counsellor who is working with a number of clients
who have recently lost people close to them. He enjoys his work and went
into it because of his own experiences of losing his father when he was
young. At that time Tom was fortunate in having a close relationship with
his father’s district nurse, who was also the father of one of his close school
friends. Tom spent time talking very informally with him for a period of
time following his father’s death and some years later realised how
valuable this had been in supporting him and helping him begin to come to
terms with a wide range of things that he had thought and felt during this
time. Tom is currently working with a client in her fifties who has recently
lost her elderly mother. During their early sessions Tom is surprised by his
feelings about the client and her situation. The client’s mother was 85 when
 she died and Tom felt jealous and wished that his father had lived such a
long life. He felt that the client should have been grateful for her mother’s
long life, but instead she was overwhelmed by grief. He found himself
thinking ‘if you knew what I went through, you’d realise how lucky you are
and get through it’. Tom’s grief that he felt many years ago re-surfaced, and
in that moment he felt like he did during those first few months after his
father died.

So if the trapdoor is open, what happens next?

The Almond Effect and the closing of the trapdoor

As human beings most of us have emotional responses to the situations we
encounter and the people around us, which can be triggered by a range of things.
The effect this has can sometimes be very powerful and can take us by surprise.
We can all probably remember times when we have said things that we very
quickly regret, or have reacted in a certain way and wish we had done things
differently. In her book Where Did That Come From? Riches (2012) explains
that this happens because of what she calls The Almond Effect.
Neuroscience shows that the human brain responds to potentially threatening
situations with a ‘flight or fight’ response. These responses are mostly automatic
and result from the hardwiring of our neural pathways. Developed through the
process of evolution, they have played an important part in the survival of the
human race. Originating from the Greek word for almond, the amygdalae are
two almond-shaped parts of the brain that play a vital role in both stimulating
and regulating our emotional reactions to people and situations, particularly in
relation to fear. The amygdalae prompt our ‘fight or flight’ response where
appropriate; they also enable us to sense emotional responses in other people. It
is important to remember that our instinctive emotional responses always happen
first; this is the Almond Effect.
However, the process does not usually stop there. Following our initial
emotional response, we can then reach a more rational approach by using a range
of strategies, many of which involve helping us to slow down and think. First, of
course, we have to recognise what is happening as it is happening (part of the
skill of reflection-in-action, Schön, 1983). These signs will vary from person to
person but could mean being aware of such things as an increase in our heart
rate, trembling, nausea or shallow breathing. This recognition gives us the
opportunity to slow down and to reach a more measured response. Riches
suggests some practical techniques such as remembering to breathe deeply and
being sure to keep our body language open so as not to appear defensive.
Following this process the trapdoor closes.

Reflective activity 6.2

Think back to the previous activity. Following your initial response, did
you manage to reach a more rational one? If so how? If not, why not?

Case study 6.2

Bernadette is training to be a Careers Adviser and as part of her course she
is required to spend some time on placement in a school. She decided to
become a Careers Adviser because she had very little guidance when she
was at school. She left school at 16 because she hated it and drifted from
job to job until she found something she enjoyed. She now has two children
of her own and wants them, and young people generally, to get more
support than she did. Bernadette is not looking forward to her school
placement and after the first week she contacts her tutor as she is very
unhappy. She explains that each time she goes into school she feels
physically sick and cannot wait for the end of the day. In particular, she
cannot bear the smell of the school, which ‘hits’ her as soon as she walks
through the main entrance. She feels that she might have to withdraw from
the course, or work with adult clients instead, as she cannot bear the
thought of feeling like this in the long term. During the discussion
Bernadette is reminded of her sessions on TA and realises that her unhappy
memories of school are re-surfacing, in particular how she was always in
trouble and made to stand outside the Head’s office. The smell is acting as
a trigger for her memories and feelings, making her fearful and wanting to
‘flee’. Bernadette soon realises that she is an adult and does not need to
experience her time in school now in this way. She also realises that she has
lots of empathy with young people in school who might be having similar
experiences to hers, and that she is in a good position to support them.
Of course, all of this is also very helpful when thinking about how our clients
respond; being in tune with our own emotions and recognising and
understanding the emotions of others are two key aspects of emotional
intelligence (Goleman, 1996). In relation to work with clients, it is important to
remember two things. First, that the initial response we see is likely to be an
emotional one. The second is that some clients will need our help and support to
reach a more rational response and will not always be able to do this for
themselves. At times, we too will need this kind of support from colleagues, and
through supervision if it is available.

Reflective activity 6.3

How might you be able to use your knowledge of the Almond Effect when
working with your clients?

Why do we need to process our feelings?

Processing our feelings can be uncomfortable and, particularly when we are
busy, it can be very tempting to simply put them to one side. However, being in
tune with our emotions is an important part of professional practice because it
allows us to deal with how we are feeling about our work and those we are
supporting. Many practitioners experience positive and negative emotions about
their work, and the effect of not processing our feelings, particularly negative
ones, can be damaging and detrimental to ourselves and to the people we are
supporting.
For example, a practitioner who has lots of negative feelings about their work
and their clients can expect to experience at least some of the following.

• Lack of motivation.
• Dissatisfaction with work.
• Higher levels of anxiety.
• Fatigue – especially mental and emotional fatigue – which in extreme cases
can lead to exhaustion.
• Cynicism.
• Anger.
• Anxiety.
• Burn out.
• Low self esteem.
• Little sense of well being.
• In extreme cases burn out, depression and poor mental health.

Storing our feelings can be rather like using a ‘pressure cooker’. As time goes
on, unless the steam is released, the pan could explode, with somewhat
devastating consequences.

Gibbs’ reflective cycle

We will now move on to examine two theoretical models that can help us to
process our feelings. The first is Gibbs’ (1988) reflective cycle and is shown in
Figure 6.3.
There are some clear similarities with Kolb’s (1984) model (see Chapter 4)
but also some clear differences. Like Kolb, Gibbs also emphasises learning that
happens from experience, which he suggests happens in a particular sequence.
Gibbs’ cycle appears more detailed, having six steps and provides useful
questions as prompts to help us to explore what we have learned at a deeper
level. This also makes the model easy to use in practice.
At the second point on the cycle Gibbs focuses on feelings and our emotional
response to situations. For those professionals supporting people in challenging
circumstances (e.g. health, counselling, social work), this aspect of Gibbs’ cycle
is particularly helpful. Bearing in mind the Almond Effect and the ways in which
our brains store memories, it would be somewhat naïve to think that as
professional practitioners we could somehow turn our emotions off and respond
objectively immediately.
Figure 6.3 Gibbs’ reflective cycle

The third step on Gibbs’ cycle is also worth noting. The questions under the
heading of ‘Evaluation’ ask us to examine what was good about a particular
experience as well as what was bad. This combination reminds us of the
contrasting cycles of Ghaye (2011) and Osterman and Kottkamp (2004) (see
Chapter 5) and seems well balanced. It prevents us from dwelling too much on
the negative side and running ourselves down and also asks us to look at the
positives so that we can build on them.
In particular, the fourth step on the cycle entitled ‘Analysis’ helps us to think
at a deeper level still in order to try to make sense of the experience. This could
involve looking at the experience from different perspectives to try to see what
was happening and why. It is interesting to note that Gibbs chooses tentative
words in his question for this step on the cycle ‘What sense can you make of the
situation?’ rather than a more direct question like ‘What sense do you make of
the situation?’ The implication here is that we will not always be able to make
sense of every experience in our professional practice but he certainly
encourages us to try.
In some situations it will be easy to stop at this particular point on the cycle,
but the next two points are important if we are to learn from experience and if
our practice is to move forward. Using the heading ‘Conclusion’ Gibbs
encourages us to think through alternative approaches and what we might have
been able to do differently. The cycle concludes with ‘Action Plan’ where he
asks us to think about what we would do if the same situation arose again.

Case study 6.3

Prem is training to be a paediatric nurse and is enjoying his placement in an
Accident and Emergency unit. One Saturday afternoon a couple arrive with
their two-year-old son who is having difficulty breathing. They have been
preparing for his birthday party and think he might have swallowed
something, perhaps one of the party balloons. Prem assists the nurse
involved but finds the situation quite distressing. He decides to use Gibbs’
cycle to reflect on the experience after his shift.
Description – what happened? The parents arrived with their son who was having difficulty
breathing. They were understandably very anxious and distressed. The boy looked a bit blue
and was starting to become floppy.

Feelings – what were you thinking and feeling? I felt very anxious for the boy and for the
parents too. I knew we needed to act quickly, but didn’t know what to do. This made me panic
inside, although I tried not to show it. I also felt angry because the boy’s parents had not been
watching him closely enough.

Evaluation – what was good and bad about the experience? I was glad that I was with an
experienced nurse who knew what to do. She took action quickly and the boy was assessed by
the registrar on duty and everything then moved very quickly to get him the help he needed. I
found my own initial feelings of panic difficult to cope with and hope that I didn’t pass them on
to the boy and his parents.

Analysis – what sense can I make of the situation? I felt guilty because of my anger towards the
parents. It is not possible to watch a two-year-old every minute - this could happen to anyone. I
didn’t have enough clinical skills or experience to cope with this. Maybe my anger was caused
by a lack of understanding.

Conclusion – what else could I have done? I was pleased that I was able to manage my feelings
of panic and did not appear to pass these on to the parents.

Action plan – if it arose again, what would I do? I would take some deep breaths, act swiftly
and calmly to get the necessary help, try to understand the clients’ situation and use my
interpersonal skills to help them in the best way I can.

Reflective activity 6.4

 Now choose a recent experience from your professional practice and reflect
on it using the questions from Gibbs’ cycle. How does using this cycle
compare with others you have now used?

The work of Boud, Keogh and Walker

Boud, Keogh and Walker (1985) also encourage us to pay attention to our
feelings, often referred to in literature as the affective dimension. Writing from
the context of adult education, the focus once more is on learning from
experience and they argue that reflection acts as a processing phase after the
occurrence of an experience. Importantly, they also argue that it is the conscious
process of reflection that enables us to learn and to develop our practice through
analysis and evaluation rather than some kind of ad hoc thinking about things,
for example on the bus on the way home. Such reflection can be prompted by
positive and negative experiences and involves intellectual and affective aspects.
The outcomes of reflection can include the following.

• Synthesis – a mixing of different ideas to bring about a different whole.

• Integration – combining two or more things to become more effective.
• Appropriation – taking something forward that you want to use in the future.
• Validation – growing confidence in knowing your actions were justifiable.
• A new affective state – a change in the way you feel about the experience.
• A decision to engage in some further activity and a commitment to action.

Boud et al. draw our attention to three important factors that affect learning, and
it is worth considering them in relation to our own learning. First, learners all
have previous experiences that affect how they approach the current learning
situation. So, if someone has had positive learning experiences in the past, they
may well be more enthusiastic and open to learning compared to those whose
experiences of learning have been more negative. Those who have had negative
experiences need an opportunity to process them; this is not only important for
adults in an educational setting but for children too. Such negative experiences
prompt emotional reactions, which, if not processed, can become a barrier to
learning. Processing those feelings can mean liberation from previous
assumptions, such as ‘I’m no good at Maths’. Rather like Honey and Mumford’s
(2000) learning styles (see Chapter 2), we need to be aware of our learning
habits so that, if necessary, we can liberate ourselves from them. This is a
process that can be swift (like a ‘eureka’ moment) or slower, where a series of
happenings enable us to look at things differently. For those in the teaching
profession these are vital points to remember not only in relation to how we
learn in our own practice, but also how those in our classrooms and seminars
learn too.

Reflective activity 6.5

Take a few minutes to think about your previous experiences of education
and learning. How might your learning habits affect your learning now?

Secondly, Boud et al. discuss the importance of the intent of the learner. People
differ in how they approach learning; some are satisfied with a ‘surface
approach’ (Boud et al., 1985: 24) whilst others adopt a deeper one. Those who
take a deeper approach seek to understand what they are studying and engage
with it, for example to compare and contrast it to what they know already. They
actively interact with their material to discover meaning. Those who take a
surface approach are more likely to memorise information and simply focus on
the requirements of the essay or examination.
Thirdly, Boud et al. are clear that taking a reflective approach is a deliberate
choice, rather like the choice we make to look in the ‘metaphorical mirror’ (see
Chapter 1). Choosing to look in the ‘metaphorical mirror’ then presents us with a
second choice: whether to take action on what we see or not. And, importantly,
we must always be prepared for our initial emotional responses to what we see
and be ready to process them.
Boud et al. present their model in three stages and these are shown in Figure
6.4.
Stage 1 (returning to the experience) is familiar and involves taking some time
to reflect on the experience. Boud et al. suggest that writing things down in a
detailed way can be helpful and they also encourage us to hold back from
making any judgements regarding what happened at this point. In particular,
they ask us to observe our feelings. This material provides us with the data that
we need to process in the next stage.
Stage 2 (attending to feelings) asks us to pay attention to our feelings. Using
positive feelings is important as these keep us focused on moving forward,
particularly in circumstances that might be challenging. In very challenging
situations our positive feelings might be minor compared to the negative feelings
we experience and, therefore, all the more important to remember in relation to
our own motivation and well being. This stage also involves processing our
negative feelings to ensure that they do not ‘drag us down’ and become a barrier
to our development.
Stage 3 (re-evaluating the experience) is closely linked with the outcomes of
reflection on page 74, which lead us to action. This re-evaluation can help us to
see things differently, to change our behaviour and to be ready to take action on
what we have found.

Figure 6.4 Boud et al.’s model for reflection

Boud et al. (1985), p. 36

In particular, it is important to notice that, unlike previous reflective cycles we
have examined, Boud et al. show that their cycle is multi-directional. In other
words, the arrows go in more than one direction, showing that the processes
involve re-visiting (perhaps even repeatedly) the stages, as distinct from other
models that seem to imply that the stages or steps in a cycle are only visited
once. This makes this cycle different and more complex.

Case study 6.4

 Jon is on his second placement in a primary school and is working in a
class with pupils in Year 1. He is getting to know the children quite well
and can see that there are a couple of children in the class who might be
being bullied by other children. Jon notices that there are certain boys and
girls who call some of the other children by what he considers to be
harmful nicknames and this makes him feel very uncomfortable. He uses
Boud et al.’s cycle to analyse his experiences so he can discuss them in
depth with his mentor. He writes this in his journal.
Stage 1 (returning to the experience) – Children can be very mean. Today I overheard one of the
girls teasing another girl because she is friends with one of the boys. She and the boy have been
friends since nursery and she became very upset when the other girl started to call him silly
rhyming names. I felt angry because good friendships are so important for children and bullying
is never acceptable.

Stage 2 (attending to feelings) – Why did I feel so angry? I suppose it reminded me of the name
I was often called at school and how it really hurt and often undermined my confidence. I
wasn’t bullied badly at school, but even so, calling people names is horrible. I remember talking
to my Mum about it and that always made me feel better. She used to say ‘sticks and stones
may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’. I remembered those words and they helped
me to feel better.

Stage 3 (re-evaluating the experience) – what new perspectives do I now have and how will I
change my behaviour? Children can be cruel but I don’t need to let that drag me down to the
point where I feel negative about them. Bullying is never good, but children need to build their
resilience and as long as they have support, they can often cope with it better. I will talk to my
mentor and ask her to help me to formulate some strategies that I can use in situations like this.

How can we process our feelings effectively?

It is clear that processing our feelings is important and that it will be vital to our
well being to find effective ways of doing this. Some possible ways include:

• Writing about your experiences in a notebook or journal. As discussed in

Chapter 3, this forces us to slow down.
• Using a recording device (e.g. on your smart phone or tablet) that you can
listen to afterwards.
• Finding a trusted colleague who you can share with; often this is termed a
critical friend (see Chapter 8).
• Using supervision if it is available (see Chapter 8).
• Finding a safe space, e.g. a supportive group, where you can share your
 feelings and know that they will be handled sensitively.

All of these things will help you to externalise your feelings rather than store
them up when they might have a tendency to make you re-visit things far too
often. It is also important to remember that the feelings we have can be
communicated unwittingly to other people; this is called countertransference.

Reflective activity 6.6

Which of these methods would suit you best? If appropriate, how can you
make sure you have the support mechanism in place?

Case study 6.5

Camille is a newly qualified social worker who understands the value of
reflection. She is working in a children and families team and has some
challenging safeguarding issues to deal with, which she finds upsetting and
sometimes distressing. Camille often finds it difficult to ‘switch off’ when
she leaves work, so decides to use some methods to help her to process the
feelings she is experiencing. She writes in her reflective journal regularly
and finds that this is a good way of ‘letting off steam’. When time is at a
premium, she records her thoughts by speaking into her smart phone. She
has a close friend at work and they have a regular cup of coffee together
each week to share their experiences. Camille always attends her
supervision sessions and uses these as a means of exploring her cases from
a number of different angles. All of these help her to process her feelings
and to externalise them. This means she is less likely to take them home
with her and pass them on to other people.

Conclusion
In this chapter we have explored the vital area of engaging with our emotions in
professional practice. This is always challenging, particularly in relation to
processing negative feelings we all undoubtedly have at certain times. Finding
ways of doing this that work for us as individuals is vital for our well being,
motivation and development. In the next chapter we move on to consider the
area of assumptions.

References
Berne, E. (1961) Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy, New York: Grove
Press.
Brown, L. (1992) Live Your Dreams, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, p.
16.
Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D. (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience into
Learning, London: Routledge Falmer.
Freud, S. (1912) ‘The dynamics of transference’, in J. Strachey (ed.) (1961)
Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 12, London:
Hogarth, pp. 99–108.
Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning
Methods, Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Ghaye, T. (2011) Teaching and Learning through Reflective Practice: A
Practical Guide for Positive Action, Abingdon: Routledge.
Goleman, D. (1996) Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ,
London: Bloomsbury.
Harris, T.A. (1967) I’m OK – You’re OK, New York: HarperCollins.
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (2000) The Learning Styles Helper’s Guide,
Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Osterman, K.F. and Kottkamp, R.B. (2004) Reflective Practice for Educators,
2nd edn., Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Riches, A. (2012) “Where Did That Come From?” How to Keep Control in Any
Situation [e-book] Sudbury, MA: eBookIt. Available at
http://www.anneriches.com.au/almond-effect.html.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Williams, M. and Penman, D. (2011) Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to finding
Peace in a Frantic World, London: Piatkus.
7 Bringing assumptions to the surface

‘We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.’

(Cicero)

Introduction
In this chapter we will explore the area of assumptions including how they come
about and why as professionals we need to understand some of the assumptions
we might be making. We will examine different levels of assumptions and
discuss some theoretical perspectives that can help us to understand more about
how we can challenge our ways of thinking. The chapter will conclude with a
model that can be used individually and in supervision to help us to reflect on
how we can begin to overcome some of our limiting assumptions.

What are assumptions and how do they come about?

If we look up the word assumption in a basic dictionary we would find it defined
as something that is accepted as true or certain to happen but is without proof.
Assumptions are ideas and thoughts that evolve over time and become things
that we then take for granted. They become so ingrained in our daily thoughts
and actions that we no longer question their validity or even think about them. In
some circumstances assumptions are valuable as they prevent us from needing to
think about every aspect of our lives in detail. Sometimes these kinds of
assumptions are referred to as working hypotheses. For example, if we had to
think closely about what to do each time we did something as routine as making
a cup of tea, life would be exhausting! Instead, we draw on our past experiences
and make it somewhat automatically. However, other assumptions are not
helpful, as they can lead to unconscious bias in our practice (Moss-Racusin,
Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham and Handelsman, 2012).
Often, our assumptions are based on our personal values. Values are things
that are important to us – in a literal sense they are things that we value. Our
personal values are deep rooted and will often stem from our upbringing and can
include things like, honesty, hard work and the importance of family. Personal
values, therefore, reflect the social context of the individual and vary from
person to person.

Reflective activity 7.1

Think about some of the phrases that you heard regularly when you were
growing up. What do they say about your values?

Brookfield (1995: 2) describes critical reflection as a process of ‘hunting

assumptions’. Here, the word ‘hunting’ is particularly helpful and gives us
insights into how difficult a process discovering some of our assumptions can
be. Hunting usually involves searching out things that are hidden beneath the
surface, and sometimes the things we are hunting positively want to escape from
us. Brookfield (1995: 2) describes assumptions as ‘taken-for-granted beliefs
about the world and our place within it that seem so obvious as not to need
stating explicitly’. He describes the following three levels of assumptions.

1 ‘Paradigmatic assumptions’ – these operate at the deepest level and have

become so ingrained that often we simply do not think about them. They
play a vital part in how we structure what we see around us and in the way
we view and experience the world. Our paradigmatic assumptions inform our
views of ‘reality’ and ‘truth’ and are so deep that we do not necessarily even
recognise them as assumptions. Many people resist examining them because
the process can be very challenging and at times uncomfortable. Our
paradigmatic assumptions inform the two other levels shown below and lead
us to think and act in certain ways.
2 ‘Prescriptive assumptions’ – these are based on what we think ought to
happen in particular situations. For example, we may be working hard with a
particular client and may feel that they should then take action on the things
we have discussed. However, there may be many reasons why they do not
take any action; we are simply assuming that they should do so.
3 ‘Causal assumptions’ – these inform what we expect to happen or to be the
case in certain situations. For example, I tried this particular approach in this
situation and the outcome was good, so I am then surprised when it does not
 work in a similar situation. I might assume that the reason it failed is because
of a lack of engagement on the part of others. Of course, this will not
necessarily be the case.

Reflective activity 7.2

Now spend some time thinking about the kinds of assumptions you make in
relation to your professional learning and practice. How would you
categorise these using Brookfield’s 3 levels?

Case study 7.1

Jude is a learning mentor in a secondary school and he supports students
with challenging behaviour. He is currently working with a student
(Melanie) who finds attending school very difficult and has frequent panic
attacks. Despite lots of hard work, Jude feels that she is not making much
progress. He begins to wonder if he might be expecting too much of her
and decides to examine his thoughts using Brookfield’s levels of
assumptions. He wrote this in his journal.
Causal assumptions – I really don’t understand it. I’ve been working with Melanie for quite a
while now, but she is still having lots of panic attacks. It’s so distressing to watch and I really
wonder how she will cope with everyday life. I’ve tried lots of different strategies to try and
help her to calm down, but nothing really seems to work. When she gets anxious, the panic just
seems to take over. I think she’s just not trying hard enough.

Prescriptive assumptions – working with Melanie is getting more and more difficult. She says
she is trying the strategies we have discussed, but says they’re not working. She really should
be getting better by now, but she’s just getting worse.

Paradigmatic assumptions – I want Melanie to get better because then her life will be so much
easier, and I guess mine will be too. I suppose I’m finding the fact that she isn’t improving
difficult because it makes me feel like I’m a failure. I’m not used to this. I’m used to being
successful; people often praise me for my work, especially parents, and maybe deep down it
feels like I am letting everyone down in some way. This puts pressure on me and maybe this
means I put pressure on her. Perhaps I’m the one that needs to relax and listen more.
Why professionals need to understand the
assumptions they may be making
Unless we give due attention to our assumptions, our professional practice could
be likened to some kind of ‘autopilot’. Of course, we cannot examine every
detail of our working day – there is insufficient time and our working lives
would then be too tiring mentally and emotionally. However, any kind of
‘autopilot’ is very risky for the following reasons.

• If we fail to consider the assumptions we are making about our clients

(including such things as our prejudices and stereotypes), we can find
ourselves practising in a discriminatory or oppressive way.
• If we always see what we believe we see, we do things in similar ways and
our practice becomes stale. We fail to see positives when our assumptions
are disconfirmed and our practice stagnates.
• If we practice ‘in the same way’ we lose our creativity.
• We risk going back to the area of ‘unconscious incompetence’ (see Chapter
1).

How assumptions can be questioned

In many circumstances our feelings act as a guide to the assumptions we might
be making and these will often be closely linked with our previous experiences.
Table 7.1 shows some examples of a range of different feelings we might have
in relation to particular circumstances in our professional practice, some ideas of
the kinds of experiences that might prompt these and the assumptions we might
make as a result in similar situations in the future. It is also important to
remember that when we experience things we feel the feelings as well (see
Chapter 6).

Table 7.1 Feelings we might have in relation to particular circumstances in our

professional practice
 It is interesting to note that it is not only negative experiences that can lead us
to make assumptions; positive ones can do this too. However, this does not mean
that we should somehow try to set our feelings to one side, but rather that we
should pay attention to them so that we can process them (Boud et al., 1985).

Reflective activity 7.3

Now think of some work, or personal situations that you have encountered,
the feelings you had and the assumptions you then went on to make. You
could do this in a table or just as notes.

Case study 7.2

Theo is training to be a nurse and is on placement in a learning disability
assessment unit. He is finding the placement difficult and often goes home
feeling drained physically and mentally. He regularly feels discouraged by
the circumstances of the patients, particularly the young adults. Some of the
patients have very few visitors and some have none at all. Theo has a very
 supportive family and he is very close to his older brother. They have
always supported one another and often speak of being best friends as well
as brothers. Theo does not understand why some of the patients seem to be
completely alone and he finds himself getting angry about this. He feels
that parents should support their children no matter what, like his parents
have always supported him, and that vulnerable people should not be left
alone without the support of their family. He assumes that families who do
not support their children are in the wrong and he cannot wait for his
placement to end.

Argyris’ Ladder of Inference

It is fair to say that each of us at some point in time has made assumptions,
jumped to conclusions, which in turn have led to particular actions. In order to
challenge our assumptions, we need to understand how assumptions are made –
Argyris’ (1982) Ladder of Inference is a very helpful explanation of this
phenomenon. Figure 7.1 illustrates this.
Argyris argues that the Ladder of Inference works in this way. At the foot of
the Ladder, we observe an event as it happens. Our human brains receive so
many messages each day that we select the data we need or want at any given
time. We then add meaning to that data, drawing on our current situation and our
past experiences in similar situations. These meanings are drawn from the
perspective of our own personal and cultural settings. From here we make
assumptions and then draw conclusions about the person or the situation. These
conclusions become part of our beliefs about the world and how it operates or, in
other words, they become part of our worldview. The action we then take is
based on our beliefs.
Figure 7.1 Argyris’ Ladder of Inference

Once we reach this point we take one of two recursive loops (see Figure 7.2).
The first loop is from our beliefs (the penultimate step on the Ladder) back to the
second step on the Ladder where we automatically select data. In this loop, our
beliefs lead us to make similar choices from our subsequent observations. In
short, we most often select the data that supports our existing beliefs and ignore
the data that might refute them; we see what we believe we see.
The second loop is from taking action at the very top of the Ladder to the
bottom of the Ladder (see Figure 7.2). This involves taking action to seek more
observable data. But this new data is also observed through the lens of our
beliefs and these prompt us to notice what we have seen previously. Hence, our
approach becomes biased in favour of our previous observations. Following
either of these recursive loops means that our assumptions are strengthened and
our existing beliefs are confirmed and even reinforced. So, in contrast to the
well-known phrase ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’, both loops prompt an ‘I believe
it, so I see it’ approach.
Here is a very general example of how the Ladder of Inference operates.
A client you are working with behaves badly and you select data from what
you observe. You only see their bad behaviour rather than anything good they
might do or have done in the past. The meaning you add is that you are not
surprised that they behave badly as in your experience many people you work
with in this particular context behave like this. You then make assumptions
about the person based on this, for example that this particular person is just like
other people you meet here. From this you draw your own conclusions and come
to believe that whenever you work in this particular setting, you will always deal
with difficult people. These beliefs then influence your actions in the future and
you go into the situation expecting people to be difficult.

Figure 7.2 Argyris’ Ladder of Inference and the recursive loops

Recursive loop 1 – based on the belief that everyone is difficult in this situation, you select data in the
future and only see bad behaviour in the people you meet, thereby confirming your expectations.

Recursive loop 2 – after taking action you then seek further observable data. But your data selection is
based on your existing beliefs about how people behave here and again your expectations are
confirmed.

Either way you see what you expect to see rather than what actually takes place
and your assumptions have won the day. However, this can be avoided in two
ways. First, we need to challenge our assumptions regularly by asking ourselves
some questions such as:

• Do people always behave badly here or is it simply that this is what I am

used to seeing?
• When did an individual last behave badly in this context?
• What might the reasons have been for their behaviour?
• Did I play any part in prompting their behaviour, for example, by being
insensitive to their needs?

Second, we can actively seek out some contrary data that will disconfirm our
assumptions. For example:

• Remind yourself that the context has been difficult in the past but that this
does not mean that it will always be like this.
• Look for positives.
• Make a note of each time someone behaves well in this particular context.
• Make a note of anything you felt you did that helped towards a more positive
atmosphere.

These are vital steps towards working in a non judgemental way.

Reflective activity 7.4

Now think about a situation where you feel you made some assumptions.
How would you now be able to avoid the two recursive loops?

Case study 7.3

Megan is training to be a Maths teacher and is on placement in a secondary
school. She dreads Friday afternoons because she has to teach the bottom
set and the students can be uncooperative and difficult to manage. She has
observed lots of bad behaviour and usually cannot wait for the lesson to
end. Her mentor has become concerned about her attitude to the class and
asks her to think about some of the assumptions she is making. Emma soon
realises that she expects very little of the students. The exercises and
activities she chooses are often dull and do not demand very much from
them. As a result, they get bored very easily and their behaviour
deteriorates further. Megan decides to design more interesting and practical
 activities to try and engage the students more in the next lesson. She
deliberately looks for any evidence of good behaviour and realises that
many of the students behave well and in fact only a small number behave
badly. She decides to discuss some specific strategies for working with the
students who are not engaging with her lesson when she next sees her
mentor.

Double loop learning (Argyris and Schön)

In Chapter 4 we examined Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle. This
process involves having an experience that we later reflect on; this builds our
knowledge and helps us as we prepare for the next experience. This kind of
experiential learning is very valuable in professional practice and can be
described as single loop learning (Argyris and Schön, 1974).
However, if we want to take our professional learning further and to engage
with it at a deeper level, we need to challenge our established ways of thinking
and of doing things, which in turn involves becoming aware of our assumptions.
Critically reflective practice asks us to delve beneath the surface of our ideas to
our beliefs and paradigms so that we can challenge our assumptions and, if
necessary, adjust our habitual ways of viewing the world. In this regard Argyris
and Schön’s (1974) concept of double loop learning is very useful (see Figure
7.3). Unlike Kolb’s single loop cycle, double loop learning asks us to bring our
assumptions to the surface and to question the things that we take for granted.
This can lead us to explore further our personal values and beliefs that lie
beneath our professional practice. Through this process, our perceptions and
habits can change; we become more open minded and our practice can become
more creative.
Figure 7.3 Double loop learning

It is important to remember that exploring our assumptions is always

challenging both personally and professionally. Taking a questioning approach
can be helpful and here are some questions you could pose.

• Am I making any assumptions in this situation and if so, what are they?
• Are these assumptions valid?
• How would I justify them if I were asked to do so?
• Does this mean I am jumping to conclusions?
• Do my perceptions need to change?
• How does this affect my beliefs and how I see the world?

Such challenging can be done as part of the process of reflection following an

experience as shown in Figure 7.4, but could be done during an experience too.

Reflective activity 7.5

Now think about an incident that happened recently where you felt you
made some assumptions. What were they and how would you now respond
to the questions posed above?
 Case study 7.4
Tony is a newly qualified social worker and is working in a team providing
care in the community for elderly clients. He regularly visits an 80-year-old
who is being visited twice a day by carers to help him with his personal
care. The client is keen to stay in his own home as long as possible as he
values his independence. Whilst the client seems happy, Tony is concerned
about the length of time he is spending on his own. He imagines that the
client is lonely and that this could be bad for his mental health. He also
thinks that it would be good if the client could get out of the house
regularly and see something of the outside world. He tries to talk to the
client about this, but the client assures him that as long as he has his regular
visits from his carers, he is happy. He explains that one of them brings him
his daily newspaper, which he loves to read and another always makes a
cup of tea for both of them at the end of her visit and spends a few minutes
chatting with him. Tony realises that he has assumed that the client is
unhappy, when in fact he isn’t. The client is happy in his own home and
feels secure there. Tony begins to understand that the client sees the world
differently from him and that the most important thing is that the client is
happy.

Mezirow’s seven levels of reflectivity that lead to

‘perspective transformation’
In his work on transformative learning Mezirow (1978; 1981) puts forward
descriptions of seven levels of reflectivity, which enable us to analyse how we
approach people and situations. In particular, this helps us to think about
assumptions we might be making in the light of past experiences. Reflectivity is
often defined as the act of reflection, but, as indicated in Chapter 1, the terms
reflection, reflectivity and reflexivity are sometimes used interchangeably, which
can be confusing. The first four levels operate within our everyday
consciousness, so are things that we are aware of on a regular basis – these
include our feelings and personal values. The remaining three levels lie at a
much deeper level and form part of our critical consciousness. At this level we
become aware of the reasons why we sometimes make judgments about
situations and people quickly, and in some cases why we can make these too
quickly.
The seven levels are as follows:

1 Reflectivity – becoming aware of our view of things, people and situations.

This also includes being aware of how we think and act in certain situations.
So what do I think and feel about this person or situation and how does this
affect how I behave?
2 Affective Reflectivity – not only becoming aware of our feelings in a
particular situation, but also becoming aware of our feelings about how we
think and act. So how do I feel about the way I think/act in these situations
and am I comfortable with this?
3 Discriminant Reflectivity – questioning whether or not our perceptions about
people are valid and accurate – are my perceptions correct?
4 Judgemental Reflectivity – involves becoming aware of our value
judgements. These are often embedded within such things as our upbringing
and can act as a guide to finding out more about our assumptions. So, what
kind of value judgments might I be making?
5 Conceptual Reflectivity – questioning the constructs we use when we think
about other people. So, why do I think of this person or these people in this
particular way?
6 Psychic Reflectivity – recognising our prejudices and stereotypes that can
make us quick to make judgements about people, often on the basis of
limited information and even ignorance. So, am I just jumping to
conclusions?
7 Theoretical Reflectivity – realising that the reason we make quick
judgements about people is because these are based on our cultural and
psychological assumptions. So, what are my assumptions about this person
based on and in the light of this, should I be making such assumptions?

By exploring our thinking at each level, we can question our assumptions, in

particular whether they are valid or not. This puts us in a stronger position to
challenge our assumptions where we feel we cannot justify them and to reframe
them where appropriate. Reaching the deepest level of Theoretical Reflectivity
means that perspective transformation can happen. In other words, at this level I
can begin to think about things differently.
 Like many other theories, Mezirow’s work has been criticised. In the same
way as learning cycles can be critiqued by asking such questions as ‘do things
always happen in this particular sequence?’, it is also legitimate to ask whether
or not evidence for these levels can be found and whether the particular
sequencing of them is accurate. In particular, Illeris (2014) argues that
Mezirow’s approach places too much emphasis on a cognitive, even logical
process, which does not pay sufficient attention to the impact of feelings and
values on professional practice. He argues that a holistic process of ‘see – feel –
change’ enables us to challenge our assumptions rather than a purely rational
one.
Equally, being aware of our assumptions does not then automatically imply
that we take action to challenge them – as we know, taking action also involves
choice. We cannot expect to be aware of our thinking at these seven levels on a
daily basis, but they could give us some very useful insights into particularly
challenging experiences or circumstances.
In his later work, Mezirow (2006) incorporates critical self-reflection of
assumptions as a key aspect of perspective transformation. Also, by this time, he
uses the helpful phrase ‘habits of mind’ to illustrate that our ways of thinking are
often so ingrained that they have become habitual. Habits, as we know, can be
very difficult to break, but not impossible. Positive habits of mind, including
being open minded, seem particularly important in relation to learning and
professional practice.

Reflective activity 7.6

Now think about areas of your work and development where it is
particularly important to be open minded. How might you challenge your
assumptions in these particular areas?

Case study 7.5

Julia is a counsellor who has been working with a woman for a number of
months. In the recent past the woman has suffered from domestic violence
by her estranged husband. Julia has worked hard to build a positive
relationship with the client in a congruent and non-judgemental way, but
 she finds it very difficult when the client says that she still loves her
husband, that he is now a reformed character and that she is thinking of
living with him again. During the session, Julia begins to feel anxious and
irritated by the client’s apparent acceptance of her abusive husband.
Following the session, Julia explores her feelings and the assumptions she
thinks she might be making. She questions whether or not she is jumping to
conclusions and whether her previous experiences of working with clients
in situations like this means that she has just got into the habit of thinking
‘this won’t work’. Ultimately, she knows that the client is responsible for
her own life, but decides that during the next session she will help the client
to examine the advantages and disadvantages of living with her husband
again. Julia hopes that this will help her to reflect on what she could gain
and lose in her current situation.

A model for challenging limiting assumptions

When we think about the effect our assumptions have on our practice, it is easy
to see that they can serve to restrict the way we view people and situations. If
they are based on negative stereotypes this can be particularly detrimental and
even damaging to clients. Challenging the assumptions we hold that limit the
way we see things is an important element of learning and development and is a
vital part of becoming and remaining an effective professional practitioner.
The Career Thinking Session (CTS) model (Bassot, 2015) offers a framework
for challenging our limiting assumptions and can be used in supervision (see
Chapter 9) or with a trusted colleague. It is a helpful approach to use when
thinking about your career and professional development. The CTS itself
involves intense listening (the term Listener is used for the person who carries
out the session) to the person who wants to learn more about their career and
professional development (the Thinker). The Listener poses the open question at
the beginning of each step and then waits until the Thinker has finished saying
all they wish to say, interjecting with statements such as ‘that sounds interesting,
tell me more about that’ or ‘I’m interested in why you said that. Can you please
elaborate a bit more?’ and so on.
Adapted from the work of Kline (1999) the CTS has the following six steps.
Step 1 – ‘What do you want to think about?’ Here, the Thinker expresses the thoughts and issues they
have brought to the session. These might relate to things that the Thinker has found challenging in
their professional practice, or something that has troubled them. Equally, it could be something that
they feel very positive about that they would like to build upon. In Step 1 it is very important that the
Listener does not rush in and move forward with the first idea or issue that the Thinker raises, as it is
likely that anything raised initially might be (but will not always be) at a fairly superficial level of
thinking. The Listener also needs to resist the temptation to try and solve the Thinker’s problem or
issue by offering advice or by moving too quickly to solutions. Such solutions are likely to come from
the Listener’s perspective and not from that of the Thinker and would probably result in little or no
change. Once the Thinker has finished speaking and has nothing else to add, they are ready to move on
to Step 2.

Step 2 – ‘What do you want to achieve from the rest of the session?’ This is an opportunity for the
Thinker to express what they would like to focus on in the CTS. Again, it is important that the Listener
waits for the Thinker to respond. Examples of many possible responses from Thinkers in relation to
issues of career and professional development could include such things as ‘to understand more about
the difficulties I face in this area of my work’, ‘to understand more about why I find certain scenarios
challenging’, ‘to explore how I can be more confident in my practice’ or ‘to think about adjusting my
work-life balance’.

Step 3 – ‘What are you assuming is stopping you from moving forward in your development?’ This
encourages the Thinker to begin to think about their limiting assumptions. Kline (1999) identifies three
types of limiting assumptions: facts such as ‘I don’t have the relevant qualifications’; possible facts
such as ‘colleagues would not support me’; and bedrock assumptions about self and how life works,
such as ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘I’m not talented enough’. Bedrock assumptions are deep rooted and
will often (but not always) take time to come to the surface and can be likened to Brookfield’s (1995)
paradigmatic assumptions (see page 80). Often, they act as barriers to career and professional
development and undermine someone’s confidence and self-esteem. These assumptions are deep and
develop over long periods of time, often from early childhood. They are so significant that they inform
our beliefs and what we see as ‘truth’. Reaching the bedrock assumption and articulating it is vital. In
Step 3 the Thinker needs time to identify and articulate the bedrock assumption and may in some
situations be reticent to do so. The Listener needs to recognise it and remember it.

Step 4 – ‘If you knew that . . . what ideas would you have towards your development?’ The ultimate
goal in Step 4 is to enable the Listener to design the Incisive Question in relation to their bedrock
assumption. As part of this process, the Thinker is asked to find the positive opposites to their limiting
assumptions. Some of the positive opposites in relation to the examples used in Step 3 could be, ‘if you
knew you could study to get the required qualifications’ (fact), ‘if you knew that your colleagues
would support you’ (possible fact), ‘if you knew you were good enough’ (bedrock) or ‘if you knew
you were talented enough’ (bedrock). These questions encourage the Thinker to challenge their
limiting assumptions by ‘turning things on their head’ and can help them to begin to think differently.
It is important to emphasise that whilst the Listener can encourage the Thinker to pose relevant
questions, the Thinker needs to articulate these questions in their own words. Limiting assumptions are
particular to the individual concerned and are based on how they see the world, not how the Listener
sees it. The Listener then asks the Thinker to identify the positive opposite to their bedrock assumption
and to state this in relation to their further development. This is the Incisive Question (IQ), and is
described as such because it cuts through the limiting bedrock assumption, serving to remove it,
replacing it with a new, freeing assumption, which liberates the Thinker to think positively about their
future. So, for example, the IQ for someone who says ‘I am not talented enough’ could be ‘How can I
best use my talents?’ The IQ has cut through the limiting bedrock assumption, enabling the person to
 focus on their talents and to think about how they can use them.

Step 5 – Writing down the Incisive Question. The Incisive Question is very important and needs to be
written down at the beginning of Step 5. Otherwise the danger is that it will be forgotten; the CTS
could lose its focus and its positive impetus. Again, it must be written in the Thinker’s own words. The
Listener then asks the Incisive Question a number of times until the Thinker has voiced all their new
positive ideas in relation to their future development.

Step 6 – Appreciation. This is unusual and could be unexpected for many in professional practice. We
must always remember that sharing limiting assumptions is sensitive and challenging and demands
trust and openness on both sides. Kline (1999) argues that the last step of appreciation keeps people
thinking and asks both participants to share a positive quality they have found in each other and that
they have valued during the session. This encourages the Thinker to continue to focus on the positives
in relation to themselves and their future and to keep thinking past the session itself.

Reflective activity 7.7

What are your initial thoughts on the CTS model? Could the model be
helpful, and if so, how? Is there someone that you could ask to help you to
try it out?

Conclusion
In this chapter we have considered a range of issues related to assumptions. It is
important to remember that challenging our own assumptions is rarely easy and
can be uncomfortable. However, if we are seeking to evaluate our practice,
doing this will form a vital part of our ongoing learning and development. In the
next chapter we will focus on the role of feedback in this process.

References

Argyris, C. (1982) Reasoning, Learning and Action: Individual and

Organizational, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Argyris, C. and Schön, D. (1974) Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional
Effectiveness, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bassot, B. (2015) ‘The career thinking session: challenging limiting assumptions
in career counselling’, in M. McMahon and M. Watson (eds) Career
Assessment: Qualitative Approaches, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D. (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience into
Learning, London: Routledge Falmer.
Brookfield, S.D. (1995) Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Illeris, K. (2014). Transformative Learning and Identity, Abingdon: Routledge.
Kline, N. (1999). Time to Think, London: Ward Lock.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mezirow, J. (1978) Education for Perspective Transformation: Women’s
Reentry Programs in Community Colleges, New York: Centre for Adult
Education, Columbia University.
Mezirow, J. (1981) ‘A critical theory of adult learning and education’, Adult
Education, 32(1), 13–24.
Mezirow, J. (2006) ‘An overview on transformative learning’ in P. Sutherland
and J. Crowther (eds) Lifelong Learning Concepts and Contexts, Abingdon:
Routledge.
Moss-Racusin, C.A., Dovidio, J.F., Brescoll, V.L., Graham, M.J. and
Handelsman, J. (2012) ‘Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favour male
students’, in M. Wyer, M. Barbercheck, D. Cookmeyer, H.O. Ozturk and M.
Wayne (eds) Women Science and Technology: A Reader in Feminist Science
Studies, New York: Routledge, pp. 3–14.
8 The role of feedback in professional
development

‘There is no failure. Only feedback.’

(Robert Allen, 2012)

Introduction
In this chapter we will examine the vital role of feedback in professional
development. We will begin by exploring the need for feedback and why this
whole area can be problematic. The role of critical friendship will be discussed
along with some strategies for finding someone who will be able to carry out this
role in a constructive way. This will be followed by an exploration of
supervision, including some theoretical models that can help us to engage with
this process to the benefit of our learning and development. The model of the
Johari Window will then be introduced and the chapter will move on to look at
the arguments of Eraut in relation to the important part feedback plays in critical
reflection and professional effectiveness and the places where it can happen. The
chapter will conclude with some final words on mentoring.

The need for feedback in professional development

It is important to consider why we need feedback and the role that it plays in our
professional development. In Chapter 2 we explored the concept of the
‘metaphorical mirror’ and how we view our practice in different ways by
looking into different kinds of mirrors. In particular, the ideas of using ‘wing
mirrors’ to see things that are just out of our view and being aware that we can
sometimes look at our practice using ‘funfair mirrors’ both serve as pointers to
the need for feedback as a vital part of the process of enabling our professional
development.
Reflective activity 8.1
Think of some specific areas where you feel that some feedback would be
useful for your development.

So why is feedback so important? Here are some reasons:

• It stops us from just ‘navel-gazing’ which will limit our understanding of our
practice.
• It prevents us from operating in some kind of vacuum.
• It helps us to see things from the perspectives of others, e.g. our colleagues,
clients, managers.
• It challenges our critical thinking.
• It helps us to question our practice, including alternative approaches.
• It helps us to avoid complacency and feeling that our practice is ‘good
enough’.
• It prevents stagnation.
• It promotes creativity.
• It prompts deeper levels of thinking and analysis.
• It helps us to process our emotions.
• It helps us to challenge our assumptions.
• It keeps our practice ‘sharp’.
• It is an opportunity for our practice to be affirmed by others.

Without feedback we risk the possibility of practising in some kind of ‘bubble’

or vacuum where we only see things from our own viewpoint. This can be
limiting and in some cases even damaging. Being open to feedback is vital for
professional development, but it is also important to understand that not all
feedback is good feedback. Poor feedback is problematic; Table 8.1 shows
characteristics of good feedback and contrasts this with poor feedback.
It is clear that good feedback enhances growth and professional development,
and is constructive and supportive whilst being challenging at the same time. So
how can we identify good feedback when we see or hear it? Table 8.2 details
some words and phrases that can act as indicators of good and poor feedback.
Good feedback is given by people who listen a lot and talk a little. Their
language is clear but somewhat tentative, often phrased as an open question so
that the person can respond by putting across their view of events. So, ‘How did
you feel about this situation?’ followed by ‘Perhaps you could . . .’ as distinct
from ‘That obviously went wrong didn’t it?’ followed by ‘You need to do better
next time by doing this’. Constructive feedback always includes development
points to be considered for action – often, replacing the word ‘but’ with the word
‘and’ can make a big difference to how feedback is received. For example, ‘I
thought you handled the situation quite well but you should also have . . .’
sounds negative and the person might not hear the suggestions, whereas ‘I
thought you handled the situation quite well and you could also consider . . .’ is
more positive whilst leaving the way open for the person to think about the
possible suggestions.
It is always important to examine the feedback you receive and to assess its
validity to help you to make decisions about the actions you feel you need to
take. Here are some criteria you could use:

• Do you respect the person who is giving you feedback?

• Do they practice and behave in a way that inspires you?
• Do they have some kind of ‘axe to grind’?
• Do they have your development interests at heart?
• Do they have their own agenda?
• Are they open to feedback themselves?

Table 8.1 Feedback

Table 8.2 Good and bad feedback
Reflective activity 8.2
Now think of times when you have received some feedback. How would
you describe the quality of the feedback and why?

Case study 8.1

Shirley is training to be a nurse and is finding her placement on a medical
ward difficult. She is working closely with a qualified nurse, but finds that
she is very critical of everything Shirley does. Shirley feels that she is
continually being told off and it gets to the point where she feels that she
can’t do anything right. During a particularly difficult shift, Shirley
becomes upset when the nurse speaks to her in a very offhand way. Later,
one of the patients seems upset and says to Shirley ‘she shouldn’t speak to
you like that’. The following day Shirley decides to ask the nurse at the
beginning of the shift if she can give her some feedback on the things she is
doing well as well as all the mistakes she is making. The nurse is surprised
and says ‘No one ever gives me any positive feedback, that’s why I get so
discouraged’. Shirley and the nurse decide that they will give one another at
least one positive feedback point each day when they do something well.
This helps Shirley to build a much more positive relationship with the nurse
and the placement becomes easier.

One model for structuring feedback is called the ‘praise sandwich’. This begins
with some positives, then the focus moves to some areas for development or
things that could be improved and finishes with a summary of the positives. It is
always important to remember that it is very difficult for someone to move
forward in their development if they only ever receive negative messages;
everyone needs positive things to build on.
Feedback given in the form of the ‘praise sandwich’ can boost confidence,
build someone’s self esteem and helps them to see where they could improve. It
is fair to say that confidence is a very delicate and intangible thing – difficult to
gain and very easy to undermine or even destroy. It is always worth
remembering this whenever you are giving or receiving feedback.
 The ‘praise sandwich’ is not without its critics, of course. For example, its use
can become obvious and as a result people can either focus on the positive and
forget the criticism, or do the opposite and focus only on the praise and fail to
hear any development points. If too much praise is given with too little emphasis
on development, people can get the idea that everything was fine when this
might not be the case. This is an easy trap to fall into if you need to give some
challenging feedback to someone at any point, as it is always much easier to say
positive things. If too little praise is given, the praise can be seen as tokenistic
and appear superficial or even insincere, and is likely to be ignored. Feedback
that involves praise followed by development points using words like ‘as well
as’ and ‘you could develop this by . . .’ and concluding with more praise is
supportive, constructive and developmental.
One final point to remember is that body language is important too, both on
the part of the person who is giving feedback and for the person receiving it.
Keeping your body language open will ensure that communication flows
effectively both ways, and avoiding things like folding your arms and crossing
your legs will show that you are ready to listen and are open to what is being
said.

Case study 8.2

Tracey is training to be an English teacher and is interested in working with

students with challenging behaviour. She is doing a placement in an
inclusion unit in a large secondary school. At the end of each day staff in
the unit meet together for a debriefing session; they discuss things that have
happened during the day, how situations were handled and what can be
learned for the future. Tracey finds these sessions very helpful and can see
the ‘praise sandwich’ being used effectively. She realises that staff are very
good at being aware of what they do well. She also notices that people
spend time discussing the challenging situations they have had to deal with
during the day and people are keen to hear about alternative approaches
that could have worked more effectively. Towards the end of the session,
the Inclusion Manager asks each person to share their highlight of the day
and the meeting always ends on a very positive note. Sharing different
approaches that are working well helps everyone to feel that they are
succeeding in their practice and overall most members of staff are well
motivated in spite of the very challenging students they are working with.
The role of critical friendship
Some programmes of professional training ask people to work with a critical
friend as part of their learning and development. A critical friend is someone
who will help you to engage with many aspects of your development,
particularly in relation to self-awareness. Working with a critical friend will help
you to give and receive valuable feedback on your practice and it will be
important to choose a critical friend carefully. As a term, critical friendship can
appear as a contradiction in terms in that a friend would not usually be defined
as someone who is critical. However, it is a true friend who will sensitively point
out where we might be going wrong – someone who will let us know tactfully
that we have ice cream round our mouth or broccoli in our teeth!
A good critical friend is someone who you know and can trust and who puts
you at ease. They are a good listener and someone who is not afraid to pose
questions in a sensitive but challenging way. They act with integrity and you can
rely on them to keep the issues you discuss confidential. They are positive,
encouraging and always constructive. They do not shy away from negatives or
areas for development and offer critique rather than negative criticism.
The core qualities of critical friendship are as follows:

• Mutual respect.
• Trust.
• Openness.
• Honesty.
• A good relationship and rapport.
• Unconditional positive regard (Rogers, 1951).

One vital aspect of effective critical friendship is a sensitive and questioning

approach. It is not the role of a critical friend to be negative or destructive, but to
sensitively offer critique to help their friend to examine their approach and
actions in particular situations. Using open questions that begin with ‘what’,
‘when’ and ‘where’ are good places to start as they give the other person the
opportunity to speak freely, for example, ‘What made you respond in that way in
that particular situation?’ Hypothetical questions can be especially useful, such
as ‘How would you feel if you were the client?’ and ‘If this had happened in a
different setting how might you have responded?’ These can help someone to
see things from a different perspective.
Critical friendship can be a very effective way of giving and receiving
feedback that can enhance our learning and development. It is important to
spend some time thinking about who your critical friend could be and it is worth
remembering that it might not be your best friend. It will be someone upon
whom you can rely to be open and honest. They may not always say what you
want to hear and ultimately this will be more valuable than working with
someone who finds it difficult to help you to probe the more challenging aspects
of your practice.

Case study 8.3

Roger is training to be a Careers Adviser and as part of his reflective
practice module he is asked to work with a critical friend. The tutor is clear
that in order to help clients with their career decisions it is vital that Careers
Advisers have high levels of self-awareness, particularly in relation to any
prejudices they might have, which can cause them to stereotype people and
thereby restrict clients’ aspirations. Roger asks one of his fellow students to
be his critical friend because he knows he can trust him and feels that they
can both be honest with one another without being harsh. During their
course their critical friendship helps Roger to consider some significant
issues, particularly in relation to his fears of working with clients with
disabilities. His critical friend asks what experience he has had with people
with disabilities and Roger soon realises that many of his fears come from
being very inexperienced in this area. Roger’s critical friend encourages
him to visit a local special school as part of his placement activity and
offers to discuss it with him afterwards. During the discussion they focus
on what Roger has learned and how his views have changed. As a result
Roger feels more confident about the possibility of working with students
with additional needs in mainstream schools in the future.

The role of supervision

In some professional areas (for example counselling, social work) supervision is
seen as important for two reasons. First, it enables practitioners to reflect on their
practice in a regular and deep way by helping them to view things from a
number of different perspectives. Second, it protects the client from practice that
might not be in their best interest or could even be oppressive and damaging.
Bearing in mind some of the sensitive and extremely challenging situations that,
for example, a social worker might face, the idea of a safe space where practice
can be discussed openly and in detail is vital in helping practitioners who find
themselves faced with the evitable question, ‘Did I do the right thing?’. This is
particularly the case when there is no single ‘right thing’ to do, but only multiple
actions that could justifiably be taken.
The term supervision is a difficult one to define because this varies depending
on the particular professional context. If you have access to supervision, it will
be important to check the meaning of supervision within your particular work
setting. This kind of supervision should not be confused with performance
related supervision usually provided by a line manager. This focuses on the
achievement (or otherwise) of goals and targets that have been set beforehand.
One somewhat thorny issue raised within the literature of supervision is whether
or not it should be done by a line manager, or whether this restricts what can
then be easily discussed. Some professions would argue that this kind of
supervision should be carried out by someone not involved, even by someone
outside the organisation if possible. Others would argue that it can be helpful to
have a manager’s perspective. In many circumstances there is simply no choice.
It is also important to understand that supervision is not always open to
everyone who feels they need it or could benefit from it. In the early days of a
new job, it is good to check out the possible opportunities for supervision and to
consider making use of them wherever possible.
Like feedback, we cannot assume that all supervision is good supervision.
Good supervisors often have many of the qualities of good teachers and good
practitioners and show many of the characteristics discussed earlier in relation to
good feedback. They show respect for their supervisee and demonstrate
empathy. They take a questioning approach as distinct from a didactic or
directive one and have finely tuned listening skills. A sense of humour is
important too on both sides. It is worth remembering that supervisors need good
feedback too, and this can help to build and maintain a healthy working
relationship.
There are several theoretical models that explain the concept of supervision
and one of the most well known is that of Proctor (1986). Proctor uses the
following three terms to describe the purpose of supervision.
Normative – this involves monitoring the work of the practitioner to make sure that they are practicing
effectively, competently and ethically. This includes checking that the relevant code of practice is
being applied consistently and appropriately. The main question being asked from this perspective is
‘Is the practitioner meeting the norms of their particular profession?’

Formative – the focus here is on professional development and the aim is to help the practitioner to
develop their skills, professional knowledge and appropriate attitudes and values. This leads to a
greater and deeper level of reflection and self-awareness. The main question being asked here is ‘How
can this practitioner develop themselves further?’

Restorative – this is sometimes referred to as supportive and is concerned with the support
practitioners need when facing challenging situations. Such situations can cause stress and sometimes
distress and it is important that practitioners have the opportunity to process their emotional responses
(see Chapter 6). The main question being asked here is ‘How can this practitioner be supported in
these challenging situations?’

Effective supervision can only happen in a safe space and supervisors and
supervisees both have a responsibility to ensure that it can take place effectively.
The following points are worth bearing in mind:

• The setting for supervision is important. It should be comfortable, private

and away from interruptions.
• A high level of trust between supervisor and supervisee needs to be built.
• The discussion is confidential – nothing is disclosed to another party without
the permission of the discloser and only if they or their client are at risk of
harm or are violating the law. Specific details of clients do not need to be
shared to avoid bias and preconceptions.
• Be clear about why supervision is needed and who has asked for it to take
place.
• Set aside some specific time and keep it free.
• Be mindful of the seating arrangements – easy chairs at the same height
around a low table conveys a more relaxed equal discussion.
• Both supervisor and supervisee should spend time preparing for the session,
thinking about what they wish to discuss and gain from the session. Time is
precious and time spent in supervision should be time invested in
professional development.
• In an initial session be sure to agree some ‘ground rules’ regarding what will
and will not take place during supervision. These can provide some helpful
 boundaries to the supervisory relationship.
• Always be sure to follow up any action that you agreed to take in the
previous session.
• Be prepared to be open and to reflect at a deep level about such things as
your emotions, attitudes, beliefs and values.
• Be appreciative of one another – appreciation keeps people thinking.

Case study 8.4

Shakira is training to be a social worker and has regular supervision as part
of her course, which she finds very helpful. Shakira has built up a good
relationship with her supervisor, who helps her to examine a wide range of
issues regarding her work placements, particularly when she finds
situations troubling. During the early days of meeting with her supervisor,
Shakira often used the sessions to offload how she was feeling, which
helped her to become less anxious about her work and to feel supported.
After a while, Shakira recognised that she wanted to begin to develop her
practice further and began to ask her supervisor to discuss specific
situations that she was finding challenging at the time. This helped Shakira
to see those aspects of her practice where she was becoming competent and
those where she needed to do more work. From this, she was able to devise
an informal action plan for her further development.

Reid and Westergaard (2013) argue that supervision is a parallel process. This
means that the interpersonal skills used in professional practice (like empathy,
congruence or genuineness and active listening) are mirrored in the supervision
session by both people. Supervision is often recognised as an important process
for people in the helping professions because it enriches practice and reduces
stress.

Johari Window
The Johari Window was developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham and is a
model that can help us to gain some useful insights into how we relate to other
people; this can give us greater self-awareness regarding how we communicate
with others both individually and in groups.
The Johari Window is a square-shaped window with the following four panes:

1 Top left – the Open area, sometimes called the Arena. This includes the
things we know about ourselves and the things others know about us. This
includes such things as our skills, knowledge and behaviour, which together
form our ‘public history’.
2 Top right – the Blind area. This contains things that we do not know about
ourselves but that others know, and things that we cannot see about ourselves
but that others sometimes can. This can include simple facts, but also other
more intangible and deeper things. For example, we may lack confidence in
certain areas which others may be able to see, but that we cannot. We may
lack self esteem and feel inadequate, but cannot always see this ourselves.
3 Bottom left – the Hidden area. This includes the things we know about
ourselves but that others do not know about us. In any professional context it
is important to remember that the things we disclose with others will have
valid limits to them. For example, we will usually disclose more of ourselves
to family and friends than to colleagues and clients.
4 Bottom right – the Unknown area. This contains all the things that we do not
know about ourselves and that others do not know.

The model shows how feedback (Ask – running across the top of the square) and
self-disclosure (Tell – running up and down the vertical side of the square) can
help us to gain greater self-awareness. In general terms, in order to know
ourselves better, we need a larger Open pane in the top left of the square. This
can be achieved in two ways. First, we can ask for feedback from others, which
moves the vertical line in the middle of the window across to the right, reducing
our Blind area in the right hand corner. In addition, we can tell others more
about ourselves, thereby moving the horizontal line down and making our
Hidden area smaller. In particular, being open to receiving feedback from others
and engaging with it enables us to become more aware of things that others
know about us and see in us, but that we do not necessarily see in ourselves. This
is particularly helpful in relation to learning about ourselves at a deeper level.
Good feedback can build confidence and self esteem. Similarly, being willing to
disclose to others will enable them to get to know us better and will encourage
open two-way communication.
All professionals need to be open to feedback for their professional growth
and development. In addition, the Johari Window model can help us in our
professional relationships with those we are supporting. For example, the right
amount of self-disclosure at the right time can build empathy. But it is important
to remember that in any professional situation, whether in a feedback situation
with a colleague or client, self-disclosure always involves a choice and you
should never disclose something unless you are comfortable doing so. Indeed, in
some professional settings, self-disclosure can be seen as problematic, as it could
distract from the needs of the person you are supporting. So self-disclose should
only be done with caution and care.

Case study 8.5

Richard is a podiatrist who enjoys building good working relationships
with his clients, some of whom he sees regularly over a period of time.
Richard is keen to get feedback from his clients as he finds it helps him to
meet his clients’ needs more effectively. Working with one particular client
has become difficult recently as the woman concerned no longer seems to
want to talk to him very much during their sessions. Richard decides to ask
her for some feedback to see if there is anything he can do to restore her
trust. The client says that she sometimes finds the sessions painful and feels
that at times he can be a bit heavy handed. As a result she has started to
dread coming to the sessions and cannot wait for them to be over. Until
now Richard has had no idea of this; he thanks the client for her feedback
and explains how valuable her feedback is in enabling him to give the best
possible care. He also talks to her about appropriate pain relief.

As discussed previously, giving and receiving feedback always involves an

element of risk taking, so an atmosphere of trust is vital. It is well worth
remembering that it is possible to be too open and to disclose too much. In
professional practice it is right that some things remain in the Hidden area. Some
things are disclosed more appropriately only in supervision or with a more
experienced colleague and others only with family or close friends.

Eraut on feedback
Having established that feedback is an important vehicle for professional
development, Eraut (2006), writing in the context of education management,
usefully describes four different settings where feedback can occur. They are as
follows:

• Immediate and in situ – this is feedback that is given during or immediately

following an event and is given by a colleague or someone who witnesses it.
It is usually specific and focuses on the factors that had an impact on the
particular situation, which can easily be forgotten later.
• Informal conversations away from the workplace or place of study –
feedback here can be planned or unplanned and relies on the learning culture
with the given context.
• Mentoring and supervision – here, feedback is more formal and can also be
related to performance (Eraut uses the word supervision here in the
management sense of the word). The mentor or supervisor will not
necessarily have direct opportunities to observe the work they have to
supervise.
• Appraisal – this is more formal and less frequent feedback, which relates to
the achievement of goals and objectives set previously.

Eraut is clear that receiving feedback will not always be easy and may not be a
positive experience. At times it can even be distressing. But unless we are open
to it we can fool ourselves into thinking that ‘I did the best I could in the
circumstances’ or ‘I must have misunderstood what was required. If things had
been clearer, I would have known what to do’. He also points to the need to
process feedback and to take appropriate action on it, rather than passively
receiving it. Again, this highlights the issue of choice; listening, taking some
time to process the feedback and acting upon it when we feel it is justified and
appropriate always involves making decisions. This could alter our perspectives
and help us to begin to see ourselves and the situations we encounter differently.

Some final words about mentoring

The value of mentoring newly qualified teachers is very well known and widely
researched (Heikkinen, Jokinen and Tynjälä, 2012). This often involves an
ongoing relationship with someone you trust and respect and can be an excellent
way of helping you to develop your practice further. In relation to mentoring, the
phrase ‘Get One and Be One’ is useful to remember; people in all walks of life
can benefit from support from experienced colleagues, whilst experienced
practitioners can also learn from the enthusiasm and ideas of people who are
new to a profession. Your developing skills of facilitation and communication
will equip you to be a mentor to others even if you might not have lots of
experience at the moment.

Conclusion
In this chapter we have explored several aspects of the vital role of feedback in
professional development. We have discussed what characterises good and poor
feedback and the role of critical friendship. The value of supervision was
explored and the model of the Johari Window presented. The chapter concluded
with some insights from the work of Eraut and some final thoughts on
mentoring. In the next chapter we will focus on reflecting in groups.

References
Allen, Robert (2012) No Such Things as Failure, NLP World. Available from
http://www.nlpworld.co.uk/no-such-thing-as-failure/. Accessed 7 May 2015.
Eraut, M. (2006) ‘Feedback’ in Learning in Health and Social Care, 5(3): 111–
118.
Heikkinen, H.L.T., Jokinen, H and Tynjälä, P. (2012) Peer-Group Mentoring for
Teacher Development, Abingdon: Routledge.
Luft, H. (1984) Group Processes: An Introduction to Group Dynamics,
Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
Proctor, B. (1986) ‘Supervision: a co-operative exercise in accountability’ in A.
Marken and M. Payne (eds) Enabling and Ensuring: Supervision in Practice,
Leicester: Leicester National Youth Bureau/Council for Education and
Training in Youth and Community Work.
Reid, H.L. and Westergaard, J. (2013) Effective Supervision for Counsellors: An
Introduction, Exeter: Learning Matters.
Rogers, C. (1951) Client-Centred Therapy, London: Constable.
9 Reflecting in groups

‘And time for reflection with colleagues is for me a lifesaver; it is not just a nice thing to do if you
have the time. It is the only way you can survive.’

(Margaret J. Wheatley, 2012)

Introduction
In this chapter we will explore the area of reflecting with others in groups. If
reflection is purely a solitary activity we can become immersed in our own point
of view, seeing things only from our perspective, which inevitably is narrow,
limited and even biased. Reflecting with others enables us to gain insights from
them and to question our thoughts and actions in the light of these. The chapter
begins with a discussion in order to define what a group is and how the term will
be used. The different types of groups we might encounter in professional
practice will then be identified and the benefits of reflecting in groups will be
discussed. Some key principles of effective group facilitation will then be
explored and the importance of ‘ground rules’ and a positive environment
emphasised. The dangers and difficulties of reflecting in groups will then be
considered with some pointers for overcoming them. This will be followed by a
series of exercises that can be carried out in groups in order to promote critical
reflection.

What is a group?
On the surface this seems to be a simple question, but it might be more complex
than it first appears. In addition, the terms group and team can be used in
literature to mean the same thing, which can be confusing. The term group
suggests that more than two people are involved and that they have some kind of
common purpose. This is also the case for a team, but being involved in a team
usually implies that individuals have a certain role or roles to play. A simple
example to illustrate this point is that a sports team cannot succeed if every
player wants to play in the same position. A team is organised in a particular
way to enable it to achieve its goals, whereas a group is more fluid and flexible
in nature. Forsyth (2006: 2–3) defines a group as ‘two or more individuals who
are connected to one another by social relationships’.
In this chapter the term group is used to mean a collective of people, usually
three or more, who are connected by a common purpose. In this case the purpose
is to critically reflect on practice. Groups of this kind often have between five
and eight members; a group of more than eight can have a tendency to begin to
split into two as some individuals might feel that they do not have enough space
to talk and others might feel less comfortable speaking with a large number of
people present. Two people meeting together would be described as a dyad or
critical friendship as discussed in Chapter 8.

Types of group
Different professions have different kinds of groups to help practitioners to
reflect on their practice and to critically evaluate the work they are doing with
clients. Some of these are as follows.

Peer support groups

These offer a space for practitioners to meet as equals and discuss their practice.
They tend to be fairly informal and are not necessarily led by one particular
member. Members come along with ideas of what they want to discuss with
colleagues and are given time and space to put their views forward while group
members listen and offer insights but without offering solutions. The atmosphere
is one of listening and reciprocal support. Peer support is also used in schools,
where students are trained to support one another in order to alleviate stress
(Cowie and Wallace, 2000).

Action learning sets

Often used in the area of leadership development, the focus of action learning
sets is on problem solving and these can be a very useful way of developing
practice, particularly if there are difficulties identified in specific areas (Revans,
2011). Action learning is built on the relationship between reflection and action;
time in the action learning set is given over to questioning and critical reflection
and identifying action to follow. In an action learning set a small group of
practitioners meets together to analyse the issues and problems that the
individuals bring and each group member is given time to air their views and
explain their problem. The group helps each person to consider a range of
perspectives in relation to the problem and action is then planned with the
structured support of the group. The group is responsible for the selection of the
topic(s) and/or problem(s) discussed which are real rather than hypothetical, and
this can be an effective group method for reflecting on experience. Action
learning sets function well in an atmosphere of trust, friendship and support
where members can feel safe to express their concerns freely.

Triads
A triad is a group of three people who meet together to discuss their learning and
development and also to practice a range of different interpersonal skills. Triads
can involve role play of different situations or scenarios with one person acting
as the practitioner, another the role of the client, whilst the third person acts as
an observer who leads discussion and feedback on what has taken place
following the activity. The use of triads is common in the training of counsellors
(Bager-Charleson, 2010), but can also be a useful approach for people in other
professions. The scenarios can be taken as examples from practice or can be
hypothetical.

Guided reflection groups

This is a small group of student practitioners (approximately 10) who meet
together regularly and are facilitated by a mentor (Johns, 2013). Each student
brings along at least two experiences that they have reflected on – one positive
and self-affirming and one problematic (see Chapter 5). They refer to relevant
theory as appropriate and the students keep an ongoing reflective journal. The
mentor facilitates a space for curiosity and reflection so that the students can
build their confidence and find their own way through the situations they are
facing.

Group supervision
The area of supervision was discussed in Chapter 8, where the focus was on one
to one meetings with a supervisor. Supervision can also be done effectively in
small groups led by an experienced practitioner, when the same models can be
applied.

Reflective activity 9.1

How helpful would you find reflecting with others in a group? If so, how?
Is there a group that you could join?

Case study 9.1

Sophie works in the international office in a university and she is
undertaking a leadership programme. As part of the programme she is part
of an action learning set which meets to discuss issues relevant for people
in the group. At the meeting, each person is allocated 30 minutes; during
the first five minutes the person describes what they want to discuss and for
the following 25 minutes, group members pose open questions to help the
person to think things through at a deeper level. Sophie decides that she
would like to discuss the possibilities for her future and whether or not she
should stay in her current job or move to a new one. The group members
ask Sophie a number of open questions, such as ‘What do you enjoy about
your current job?’, ‘What do you dislike?’ and ‘How would you like to
develop in the future?’ During the discussion Sophie begins to see that she
does not find her job as satisfying as she used to and, in particular, that she
now finds all the travelling she has to do very draining. She realises that she
needs to give much more thought to her future in order to examine her
options more carefully. She plans to discuss her development with her
manager, update her CV and start to search for job vacancies on two key
websites to see what is available. She asks people in the group if they could
meet again in a month’s time to discuss her progress.

The benefits of reflecting in groups

Reflecting in groups has many benefits and, often, practitioners welcome the
opportunity to discuss their practice in some depth with their colleagues.
Discussion develops our understandings, and having a supportive space to
explain and explore aspects of practice with colleagues helps us to sharpen our
thinking and critique our ways of working. Reflecting with others can be useful
for the following reasons.

It prevents isolation
The work of some practitioners is relatively isolated. For example, a teacher in
her classroom, a counsellor in his counselling room, a school nurse in her clinic
or a social worker visiting families may spend much of their time working alone
albeit with their clients. Some may then return to an office or centre where they
have contact with colleagues whilst others might work more independently from
home. In such circumstances it is easy to feel isolated and for professional
practice to become blinkered. The opportunity to reflect with colleagues in a
group can prevent feelings of isolation.

It prevents burn out

Meeting with others and sharing experiences gives us the opportunity to
‘offload’ and to externalise our thoughts and feelings. Without this we risk the
possibility of only looking inwardly, which, for some, can lead to mental
exhaustion and even burn out.

It offers different perspectives

Perhaps most importantly, reflecting with others gives us the chance to see our
practice from different perspectives. Each individual client and practitioner is
different and discussion helps us to gain valuable insights from others into what
we did and why, how things worked or otherwise and how we might be able to
approach things differently to greater effect.

It develops our understanding of practice

Professional practice is constantly changing, and discussing a range of issues
with other professionals (if possible with those outside our own profession as
well as those within it) can help us to gain new understandings of effective work
in supporting people.

It helps us to be creative
Gaining new understandings can lead to creativity in our practice as we try out
new ideas and approaches in our work. These can then be discussed with others
following their implementation.

It prevents stagnation
Without discussion our practice can become stale and we risk operating on
‘autopilot’. We can become bored and ultimately could stagnate; this is bad for
us and bad for our clients too.

It helps us to process our emotions

In Chapter 6 we explored how professional practice prompts an emotional
response and showed us that we all need opportunities to process our feelings.
Many practitioners find discussion helpful as part of this. As individuals we can
be ‘tied up’ in our own emotions, particularly when we experience difficult
situations and are trying to support challenging people. In such circumstances
other people can often offer a more objective perspective; they will not have
such an emotional response because they were not personally involved in the
situation. In addition, their perspectives will be different because they are
individuals who have had different experiences from us and have different
memories of their past. All of this means that they can be more objective than we
can about the situation. However, we must always remember that because of
their own previous experiences, no one can be completely objective.

It helps us to question our assumptions

In Chapter 7 we examined the whole area of assumptions in professional
practice. Discussing these can be challenging but plays a vital part when
working in an anti discriminatory way.
It helps us cope with stress
To say that professional practice is stressful seems like an understatement. We
all need strategies to help us to cope with stress as practice becomes more and
more demanding, and discussion with colleagues can be one such strategy.

Reflective activity 9.2

For you, what are, or would be, the main benefits of reflecting in a group?

Facilitating effective groups

In order for a group to work effectively it needs to be facilitated well, otherwise
it is likely that conversations will be lengthy, albeit very interesting and often
stimulating. People who work with people usually like discussing their practice
at length! Unfortunately, this can mean that the focus and direction of the
discussion is quickly lost as group members become immersed in detail,
comparing their own practice with that of others in the group. Discussions can
become very protracted as group members remember things that they have
experienced and phrases like ‘That also happened to me when . . .’, ‘I know what
you mean, when that happened to me I . . .’, and so on can regularly be heard.
The role of the facilitator is to work with the group to keep it ‘on track’ and to
ensure that the group works effectively to achieve its purpose.

Table 9.1 Key differences between facilitation and leadership

 At this point it is important to understand the difference between the terms
facilitator and leader in the context of working in a group. A phrase that is often
used to describe this difference is that leadership is done to a group and
facilitation is done with a group. Whilst leaders also need to be good facilitators,
facilitators are not asked to take a leadership role. Table 9.1 highlights some of
the key differences between facilitation and leadership.
Facilitating a group effectively is a highly skilled task and, therefore, is most
often done by experienced practitioners. However, when this is not possible
(which can often be the case in busy professional practice), less experienced
people need to be ready to take on this role from time to time. So it is important
not to be taken by surprise if you find yourself in a situation where you need to
facilitate a group, even if only occasionally. You will be able to use many of the
interpersonal skills you are learning in your professional practice as they are
eminently transferable into this role (Culley and Bond, 2011; Thompson, 2011).
Like many other areas of professional practice, the skills of group facilitation are
best learned through experience.
Here are some important aspects to bear in mind when facilitating groups:

• You are not an expert. Remember that your primary role is to enable the
discussion to keep its focus and to guide effective communication. If
something comes up in discussion and people look to you for an answer, ask
the group members for their views. In all instances, be honest about the
limitations of your knowledge. If there is something you do not know, say
so, and ask the group to do some research on this afterwards rather than
 offering to do this for them. This hands power and control over to the group
and promotes group learning.
• At all times resist the temptation to push your own agenda or to offer advice.
This will only discourage people from speaking and will subsequently close
the discussion down. Before you know it, the focus of the group will be on
you, which will not help group members to reflect on their own practice.
• Work towards an atmosphere of trust. Trust is intangible and is difficult to
build and therefore takes time to foster and maintain. By contrast, it can be
destroyed in minutes or even seconds. It is important to welcome comments
and observations, particularly if someone is new to a group. Be positive
about all contributions (particularly when it is clear that these have been
difficult or sensitive to make) and never ‘put anyone down’. Comments such
as ‘Thank you for sharing that with us’ and ‘That must have been very
difficult for you’ can go a long way to affirm people and to encourage them
to continue to be open, which will help communication to flow.
• If a group is new, it is very helpful to set some ‘ground rules’ during an early
meeting in order to be clear about what is expected within the group. This is
best achieved through discussion where group members are involved in
deciding how they would like to work together. This could cover such issues
as where the group will meet, at what time and for how long. It is good to
include a discussion on issues of confidentiality, respecting one another’s
views and trust, as well as such things as listening and not talking over one
another. The facilitator should make a record of the ground rules and suggest
that the group returns to them if any difficulties are experienced. In addition,
it is usually helpful to review the ground rules periodically to make sure that
they continue to be fit for purpose.
• Be aware that disclosure in a group always involves taking a bigger risk than
sharing something in a pair or with your critical friend. This means that it
will take time for people to reach the point where they feel safe and
confident enough to disclose things about themselves and their practice. In
the early days of a group consider asking people to take part in some warm
up activities to help them to get to know one another better. Be sure to have
breaks so that people have an informal opportunity to speak to one another to
build their relationships.
• It is important to consider the location of group meetings; if at all possible it
must be convenient for all group members and if this is difficult (for
example, if group members work at some distance from one another)
consider rotating the venue in order to be fair to everyone. A suitable room
 will be needed that is comfortable, with easy chairs all at the same height and
with facilities for hot and cold drinks. Whilst this might sound like basic
etiquette, it is surprising what a difference such things can make to effective
communication.
• Be ready to challenge contributions in a positive way in order to encourage
everyone to think at a deeper level. Sensitive challenging is done best by
posing a tentative open question, such as ‘I’m interested in . . . What made
you say that in particular?’ and ‘How might you want to respond to that
situation now?’ These can help people to think at a deeper level and
challenge themselves. This is often much more effective than being
challenged by others via comments such as ‘If I were you . . .’
• Listen, listen and listen some more. The importance of listening cannot be
over emphasised and it can be very tiring! Unless you listen attentively to
each contribution, you will not be able to reflect on what people are saying
and pose questions to make them think more. You will also miss important
things that people are sharing.
• Show people that you are listening through your body language. Open body
language (for example, being careful not to fold your arms) shows that you
are open to hear what people have to say. In turn, they are likely to then
mirror this in their body language and communication will flow more
effectively.
• Maintain some eye contact with group members. The key here is not too
much and not too little.
• Consider having an observer: someone who will observe the group and give
feedback on how people are communicating with each other. This role can
be rotated effectively so that each group member takes a turn in observing
the group and then giving feedback.
• Be a people watcher. You might notice that one or more group members
keep their body language closed, for example by crossing their legs. It might
be difficult to have any eye contact with them and communication might be
rare and sparse. In such instances it is usually best to speak to them
individually after the session, again by posing a tentative question like ‘I
couldn’t help but notice today that you seemed uncomfortable. Is this
something you would like to talk about?’ Of course, the individual has the
right to say no and this should always be respected.
• At all times remember to consider any relevant ethical dimensions,
particularly regarding any disclosures of unprofessional behaviour and how
 these will be addressed. The identity and details of all clients needs to remain
anonymous.
• Remember that everyone can learn and that nobody is perfect, including you.
Group facilitation is a difficult task, so do not be discouraged if you feel you
have got some things wrong. It is rare indeed for someone to get everything
right as none of us are perfect.

Case study 9.2

Chen is a learning mentor in a primary school who has recently completed
a degree in supporting children and young people. Through the course he
has got to know several learning mentors from different local schools. Now
that the course has finished, some of the students suggest meeting together
each term to discuss their practice. Chen is keen to do this and has always
got on very well with everyone. As a result, several members of the group
have asked if he will facilitate the group. Chen explains that he has never
done this kind of thing before, but that he is prepared to have a go and see
how he gets on. Before the meeting, Chen asks everyone about a location
for the group and they decide to meet in a different school each time to
make things fair for everyone. Chen asks the host of the first meeting to
arrange for a room with easy chairs and to arrange for hot drinks and water
to be available. During the first meeting, Chen asks the group to discuss
how they want to work together and agree some ground rules. Following
this preparatory work, the group decides what they would like to discuss
next time (safeguarding issues) and where they would like to meet. The
group is keen for Chen to continue in his role as facilitator. He is happy to
do this too, but suggests a review and evaluation after the third meeting.

A model for effective group participation

A measure of the effectiveness of any social relationship is the amount of
communication between the different people concerned. In an effective one to
one relationship we would expect the two people to communicate roughly in
equal measure, so fifty per cent each. In a group of three or more, each member
will listen more than they speak if everyone is going to have an opportunity to
share their thoughts and views. When thinking about effective communication in
groups, the Listen Observe Speak (LOS) model is useful.

Listen
It is important that all group members listen attentively to what each person says.
Effective listening underpins all effective human relationships and as human
beings we all need to be listened to as this makes us feel valued as people.
Active listening means listening with a purpose and showing that you are
listening. It includes reflecting, paraphrasing, restating and summarising what
people have said (Culley and Bond, 2011). All of these responses help people to
know that they have been listened to and need to be done tentatively by using
phrases like ‘You seem to be saying . . .’ and ‘It seems to me that . . .’. This
gives people the opportunity to disagree with your interpretation when
appropriate, for example by saying ‘Not really, what I meant was . . .’. In
particular, summarising is a very useful skill in helping to keep a discussion
flowing and ‘on track’.

Observe
All groups demonstrate different group dynamics and as a group member or
facilitator it is important to observe how people interact with one another.
Observing and listening are done concurrently, and observing how people speak
and act gives important clues regarding how they might feel and how important
certain issues are to them. Observing body language is particularly important, as
through this we can gauge how comfortable people are in the discussion and can
identify times when they seem to ‘shut down’ by folding their arms, crossing
their legs or gazing out of the window. Being careful to observe also means we
are thinking before we speak rather than simply speaking straight away.

Speak
It goes without saying that in order to listen effectively others need to
communicate with us. So the questions posed need to be open, in order to give
people the room to speak freely. Open questions start with words like when,
where and how. Starting a question with why needs to be done with caution to
ensure that it is not accusatory. Here, the tone of voice is all important; in a harsh
tone, ‘Why?’ can easily become ‘Why (on earth)?’ It will be important to avoid
closed questions, for example those that start with ‘Do you . . .’ as these demand
an answer of yes or no and give people little opportunity to speak. However,
they can be useful if particular group members are dominating a discussion.
Hypothetical questions can be a very powerful mechanism to use in
challenging and sensitive situations and can help you to avoid offering solutions.
Hypothetical questions can serve to remove the personal nature of a question and
can help people think things through from a range of different perspectives. For
example, questions such as ‘Let’s imagine we are the client. How would we
feel?’ and ‘If we came across this again, how would we like to react?’ can help
us to step back and analyse a situation at a deeper level.
In challenging everyday practice, it is important to remember that we all need
an opportunity to ‘offload’, but as a group member it is important to make sure
that our contributions are relevant to the discussion and that we do not drift off at
a tangent. Watching ourselves is a skill that we can develop to ensure that we are
not either dominating a conversation or offering too few contributions.

Reflective activity 9.3

When you are next part of the group, try to practise using the LOS model.
What do you notice about how the group communicates?

Case study 9.3

A group of student nurses decide to meet together to support one another in
their studies. They meet each week and find it helpful in the following
ways. By listening, they hear the perspectives of other people and, because
there are a variety of people in the group with different strengths, they find
they can help and support one another in areas where they feel they are
weaker. This is particularly helpful when sharing their lecture notes as,
invariably, different group members have noted down different things.
They enjoy observing the dynamics of the group and make sure that
everyone has the opportunity to participate. They all speak freely and take a
questioning approach to debate relevant issues. This helps them to develop
 their skills of critical thinking, and they make sure that no one dominates
the discussions.

Dangers and downsides

In any group situation issues and difficulties can arise. Here are some common
ones and some suggested strategies for dealing with them.

• One person always dominates discussions – ask for contributions from other
people in the group, whilst being appreciative of what everyone says. A
phrase like ‘It would be good to hear what others think’ can be useful. If the
person still wants to say more, offer to have a discussion after the session so
they feel that their views are valued.
• Certain individuals never seem to participate – divide the group into pairs
and be sure to put the quieter people together. That way they will have to
speak to one another and will also have to share with the whole group when
you ask for feedback.
• One person seems to feel very uncomfortable – speak to them individually in
a break or at the end of the session. Remember to be tentative by using
phrases like ‘You seem to be uncomfortable today. Is there something you
would like to talk about?’ Again, if they say no, this must be respected.
• The whole group is very quiet and reserved – many quiet people find it easier
to talk in a pair or three, so again splitting into smaller groups can be helpful.
• The whole group will not stop talking – asking the group to take some time
to write some reflections on relevant chosen areas can calm things down. If
this becomes a pattern during meetings, asking group members to write
things down before the meeting and to bring notes with them can help to
achieve a sharper focus.
• The group is distracted and wanders off into other topics – remind them of
the original question or area for discussion to guide them back to their focus.
At times you may simply have to ‘call a halt’ to very lengthy discussions and
move on to the next topic.
• Someone makes an offensive comment (for example racist, sexist) – take a
sensitively challenging approach and ask a question such as ‘I’m wondering
what made you say that. Can you please elaborate on that?’ makes the person
think far more than ‘That’s offensive . . .’
• You find that you dislike one group member – remember you are human and
nobody likes everyone. The same applies to any group member that you feel
does not like you.
• Sessions that last too long – be very clear beforehand how long a session is
due to last and keep to it. If necessary, carry things over to the next meeting
rather than allowing the session to continue indefinitely.

Sample exercises
This section contains some exercises that can be used in groups to help people
reflect on their practice at a deeper level. Whilst discussion is good, a well
planned exercise can enable a sharper focus and prompt deeper reflection.

• Prompt questions – a general question that helps people to reflect on their

practice. For example, ‘Since we last met, what have you been most proud of
in your practice?’ and ‘Which particular situation has challenged you the
most?’
• Quotes – find an appropriate quote and ask people to discuss it. There are
many websites that offer a wide range of useful quotes, such as
www.brainyquotes.com which organises quotes under themes.
• Presenting challenging cases – ask group members to write up a challenging
case and bring it to the group for discussion.
• Give group members a short piece to read before the session and discuss it.
• Ask the group to identify a theme that they would like to focus on and ask
one of the members to lead a discussion.
• Use role play to help people to develop their practice, for example by
focusing on listening skills or assertiveness.
• Ask group members to watch a video (for example on YouTube) and to
make notes. Then ask them to share their notes as a exercise in observation.
• Rosy glow exercise – give each participant a sheet of paper and ask them to
write their name at the top of it. Sitting in a circle, pass all the sheets round
clockwise person by person. Ask people to write a positive comment
expressing something that they appreciate in the person whose name is at the
top of the sheet and then fold the paper over so that no one else can read it.
Do this until each person has written on each of the sheets and the person
gets their own sheet back. Encourage people to take the sheet and to read it
 when they get home. They might want to keep it in the top drawer of their
desk or in their bag for the days when they feel like resigning!
• The talking stick – this is a very helpful technique to make sure that people
are heard and understood. The talking stick (this can be any type of stick or
even a pencil); only the person who holds the stick is allowed to speak. The
people listening can pose sensitive questions for the purpose of clarification
to make sure they have understood the points being made. When the person
speaking feels they have said all they want to say and have been understood,
they then pass the stick on to the person who wants to speak next.

Conclusion
In this chapter we have considered a wide range of issues in relation to reflecting
in groups. It is clear that we can learn a lot by reflecting on our own and with a
critical friend. Reflecting in a group can open up wider discussions and broaden
our perspectives. Group facilitation is a very skillful activity and something that
we can learn by observation and practice. In the next chapter we move on to
consider the area of managing change.

References
Bager-Charleson, S. (2010) Reflective Practice in Counselling and
Psychotherapy, Exeter: Learning Matters.
Cowie, H. and Wallace, P. (2000) Peer Support in Action: From Bystanding to
Standing by, London: Sage.
Culley, S. and Bond, T. (2011) Integrative Counselling Skills in Action, 3rd edn.
London: Sage.
Forsyth, D.R. (2006) Group Dynamics, 4th edn, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Publishing.
Johns, C. (2013) Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, 4th edn. Chichester: Wiley-
Blackwell.
Revans, R. (2011) ABC of Action Learning, Farnham, Surrey: Gower Publishing
Ltd.
Thompson, N. (2011) Effective Communication: A Guide for the People
Professions, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wheatley, M.J. (2012) ‘Is the pace of life hindering our ability to manage?’
Available from www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/the pace of life.html.
Accessed 7 May 2015.
10 Managing change

‘The only thing that is constant is change.’

(Heraclitus)

Introduction
In this chapter we will explore the nature of change and how it can be managed.
Some seminal theories of change will be examined, which can help us to devise
effective strategies for managing change. It is worth noting that these models can
also be used very effectively with clients as well as in our own reflective
development. The chapter will conclude with a model for action.

Why having an understanding of change is important

for professional practitioners
Change is a particularly relevant topic for many people who are working, not
only those who are in roles where they are supporting people. Many practitioners
say that they experience a lot of regular and ongoing change in their work. As a
result, they have to learn how to manage change and continuously adapt their
ways of working to suit new requirements. Many areas of professional practice
are governed by policy, and a change of government can spark wide-ranging
change in certain sectors (for example, in education). Having an understanding
of change theories can help us to identify why we can experience certain things
when we are faced with change. This understanding also helps us to see what
might happen next and enables us to plan more effectively for what we could
face in the future; many aspects of change are unpredictable, so the words
‘might’ and ‘could’ are particularly pertinent here.

Constant change and its effects

Many people agree that there are few things in life that stay the same. For many,
the pace and amount of change that they experience in their lives is great and, at
times, fast and furious; it can even be overwhelming. If you work, or hope to
work in any professional area supporting people, you can expect your own
practice to be subject to change on a regular basis. In addition, you may well
find yourself working with clients who are experiencing significant change in
their lives. Understanding the effects of change and the ways that change
manifests itself in the people you are seeking to support is vital for effective
professional practice.
Change is often difficult, because inevitably it involves loss. Most of us are
‘creatures of habit’ and feel safe and secure when we know what we are doing
and thereby know what to expect. By contrast, when we experience change we
can feel insecure and anxious. If we see a particular change as positive, we might
overall find the process of change easier, but even then we can long for things to
be familiar. Conversely, even when we perceive a situation as being very
negative, we can still prefer the security of knowing the current situation to the
uncertainty of not knowing what the future might bring. As a result, change and
stress often go ‘hand in hand’. The topic of stress is examined in some detail in
the next chapter where the subject of ‘mindfulness’ is explored. However, we
will inevitably touch on issues of stress in this chapter too as it is often (but not
always) a manifestation of people’s experiences of change.
It is important to understand what causes change in professional practice and
here are some of the main reasons:

• People change – in all areas of professional practice, people change as they

learn and develop. Good people have a habit of moving on (and sometimes
up too), so if you currently work with an excellent practitioner or manager,
you may find that before too long they move on. This is likely to be both
disappointing and challenging at one and the same time.
• Circumstances change – a wide range of things can affect our circumstances
and we may suddenly find that we have challenging things to deal with in
our personal and professional lives. The Holmes and Rahe (1967) Social
Readjustment Rating Scale ranks the changes in our lives that cause us most
stress with bereavement and divorce being the highest on the scale and
holidays and Christmas being surprisingly high!
• Work changes – over a number of years we have seen fundamental changes
in the labour market that have had a marked effect on people’s experiences
 of work. The impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
has been profound in many areas of working life, and many of us are
expected to be ‘self servicing’ in areas like administration when this might
not be our particular strength. ICT also means that work can no longer only
be done in our place of work, and remote desktop working from home or
from ‘hot desks’ has become commonplace for many professionals. Whilst
this can have many positive aspects, it also means that the boundaries
between work and home life have become blurred, which can lead to a
struggle regarding work/life balance. In addition, the advent of compulsory
competitive tendering in the public sector in the early 1980s meant that many
services were outsourced. Jobs that had once been seen as secure became
subject to things like short-term employment contracts, consultancy activity
and regular contract renewals, the latter often involving individuals having to
‘apply for their own jobs’.
• Professions change – particularly when professions are led, or at least
heavily influenced by government policy, change can be rapid and extensive.
For example, the latest statistics on achievement in schools can affect
education policy as governments strive to be seen to do better than their
predecessors. The latest child protection case to ‘hit’ the media can force
governments and local authorities to act swiftly and decisively, putting
practitioners under immense pressure to get things ‘right’.

Having an understanding of theories of change can help us to gain insights into

what we see, think and feel when we experience change.

Adams, Hayes and Hopson’s model

There are a number of theories that seek to describe and explain the process of
change and one of these is Adams, Hayes and Hopson’s (1976) transition model.
Adams et al. (1976: 7) define transition as a ‘discontinuity in a person’s life
space’, which can be either expected or unexpected. Their transition curve offers
a clear explanation of what happens to people when they experience change and
is used in a variety of settings, including bereavement counselling. The curve is
depicted as a wave – viewed from left to right, it is drawn as a line that rises
initially, falls steeply and then rises again on the right.
As we experience transition it is common to experience a range of different
feelings as we progress through this process. In their seminal work, Adams, et
al. (1976) describe the following seven stages or phases of the transition process:
Stage 1 – Immobilisation (the curve rises). As the process starts and we begin to get used to the idea of
change, we can have feelings of being overwhelmed by the enormity of what is happening. This can
mean that we ‘freeze’ and become unable to take any action. We might not know which way to turn as
we try to take in the whole idea of change.

Stage 2 – Reaction. As we begin to realise that change is happening, we can react to it in two different
ways. If we see the transition as being positive, we can feel elated and even excited. If we feel negative
about the change we can have a sense of despair. Either way, we then begin a process of minimisation
(a form of denial) where we consider that the change may not be as big an issue as we initially thought.
For example, if we feel elated because we have been offered a job, we come back down to earth when
we begin to see that we will now have to do the work. If we feel disappointed because we haven’t been
offered a job, we question how much we really wanted it anyway.

Stage 3 – Self-doubt (the curve starts to dip). As the transition becomes more real, our thoughts turn to
self-doubt and as our feelings continue to dip, we start to ask ourselves questions such as ‘Can I really
do this?’ and ‘Do I really want this?’ The challenges presented by the change and the implications of it
become ever more apparent and we can experience feelings of anger or apathy.

Stage 4 – Acceptance and letting go (the base of the curve is reached). Much of the focus of the
process so far has been on looking back. As we reach the base of the curve and begin to accept that the
change is happening, our thoughts begin to turn to the future and we start to let go of the past.
However, the future is still very uncertain and we can feel as if we are stepping into the unknown. This
can sometimes feel like a steep climb out of the base of the curve.

Stage 5 – Testing (the curve begins to move upwards again). As we begin to get used to the new
situation, we try out new ways of doing things. This is all part of a process of finding coping strategies
for managing the new situation and we probably feel more energised.

Stage 6 – Search for meaning. This is a period when we spend some time reflecting on what has
happened in order to explore what the change means for us. It also helps us to think about how we
managed the transition, and from this we learn how we might manage the next one that comes along.

Stage 7 – Integration (the end of the curve is reached). In this stage the transition is internalised and
change is accepted fully into our everyday lives.

Over the years this model has also been critiqued, raising questions such as
whether the stages can be identified as specifically as claimed and whether
individuals make specific plans for change as suggested. However, it is clear that
this model shows us that we often go through highs and lows over a period of
time as we experience change. It is important to understand that people will
often experience the stages on the curve more than once, going backwards and
forwards several times re-visiting certain stages. Some people will not complete
the curve, but will remain in self-doubt at the base of the curve and fail to accept
the change or let go of the past. Others will continue to test out new strategies or
search for meaning and not everyone will reach the stage of integration. This
particular model is very helpful in describing the transition process and can be
used very effectively with clients to help them to understand this process too.
Showing clients the transition curve and discussing their experiences of change
in relation to it can help them to see where they are in relation to the stages and
what they might expect in the future.

Reflective activity 10.1

Now think about a transition you have been through recently. Can you
identify the stages of this model in relation to what you experienced? Now
think about someone you are working with who is experiencing change.
Can you identify aspects of their feelings and behaviours that show the
different stages of the model?

Case study 10.1

Igor is a social worker who works with families who are hoping to adopt
children. He can see the prospective parents he is working with going
through the various stages of the transition curve and he finds it helpful to
explain this to them so that they know what they might expect in the future.
Igor himself is currently experiencing transition as his service is being re-
organised in the light of recent announcements about public sector cuts.
Igor feels that his future is uncertain, but is also keen to look at his options
for the future. Over the next few weeks Igor makes some notes in his
journal under the headings of the transition curve to try and clarify what is
happening in his life.
Stage 1 – Immobilisation. I suppose I felt a bit numb when the cuts were announced today. My
life is on hold again. Better not book that holiday after all.

Stage 2 – Reaction. Well, I got through it last time, so I guess I can do it again. It can’t be that
bad really.

Stage 3 – Self-doubt. So now they’ve announced how many posts there will be and it’s scary. I
haven’t been here that long, so it’s easy and cheap to get rid of me. I’m not sure I can cope with
this again. How can they do this to us? It’s so unfair. We do a good job and how can they
expect us to do more than we are doing already? We have so many needy children who need
 good homes.

Stage 4 – Acceptance and letting go. So the posts have been advertised and I now need to apply.
I’ve started looking for other jobs too – better to be safe than sorry. I do enjoy my work and
I’ve decided I do want to continue if I can. It’s all really quite scary.

Stage 5 – Testing. They’ve offered us some support with job applications and interviews, so
I’ve booked myself onto a course. My friend who works in HR in another authority has also
offered to help me. We are going to have a mock interview together. Hopefully things are
looking up.

Stage 6 – Search for meaning. So I went for interview and have just heard that I was successful.
Thank goodness I went for that help with my applications. Several people I know have not been
appointed and some of them are good workers. They didn’t seem to take the process very
seriously though. This is a real lesson for when (and I mean when) this happens again.

Stage 7 – Integration. My new post starts in a few weeks time. I’ll be in a different team with a
new manager and it will take me a while to get used to it. But it feels like I’m coming out on the
other side. Time to book that holiday!

Bridges
A simpler, but no less useful model of transition is a three-stage model put
forward by Bridges (2004). Bridges argues that all transitions start with endings
and end with beginnings, and in his model all three stages overlap. Stage one,
‘endings’, implies that we experience loss at the beginning of the process as we
let go of what is behind us. This is followed by stage two, ‘the neutral zone’,
which can be an uncomfortable place where we can feel anxious and uncertain
about what lies ahead. Bridges argues that we need to spend time here so that we
can discover what we should do next. Often we will feel as if we are in some
kind of ‘limbo’. The final stage is ‘new beginnings’ as we move forward into the
next phase of our lives.

The work of Kurt Lewin

Taking an analytical approach to change can help us to understand more about it
and how we might cope with it. As a result of his work on organisational
development, Lewin developed two very useful theories that serve as analytical
tools to help us to understand how change can be managed.
The first of these is Lewin’s (1951) field theory, often referred to as force
field analysis where he used a scientific approach and applied it to social
situations (see Figure 10.1). In all situations he identified that there are forces at
work that promote change (he called these driving forces) and those that resist it
and even work against it (restraining forces). Each of these two forces pulls
against the other in opposite directions. A situation or circumstance is then held
in balance in the present (the status quo) by the tension caused by the interaction
between the two forces. Lewin calls this balance ‘quasi stationary equilibrium’,
which is constantly in a state of flux.

Figure 10.1 Lewin’s field theory

Movement towards what Lewin calls the ‘desired state’ involves change and
this can happen in one of two ways. Either the driving forces need to be
maximised or the restraining forces need to be minimised to prompt change.
When both happen together the amount of change achieved is greatest.

Reflective activity 10.2

Now think of a situation you have experienced recently where you have
needed to make a change in your professional practice. Using Lewin’s field
 theory, what were the driving forces and where were the restraining forces?
Which were strongest and what was the result?

Viewed alongside these ideas of a force field, Lewin (1951) also developed his
three-step model to describe organisational and other types of change. The three
steps are as follows:
Step 1 – Unfreezing, here the ‘quasi stationary equilibrium’ needs to be de-stabilised before old
behaviours can be discarded. This is a difficult process and can involve us becoming aware of such
things as complacency and habit. Lewin saw change as a profound psychological and dynamic process
and in this first step we can expect the restraining forces to be at work as they try to prevent us from
engaging with change.

Step 2 – Moving, or encouraging the development of new ideas. This is often achieved through an
iterative process of action research where current scenarios are analysed in order to identify how
change can be promoted and best achieved. Focusing on maximising the driving forces and minimising
the restraining forces is important at this point in order to achieve change.

Step 3 – Re-freezing, this involves stabilising the changes into the new state of ‘quasi stationary
equilibrium’. Lewin recognised that change could be short-lived if it was not reinforced, and unless
this happens it is easy to slip back into old practices.

Reflective activity 10.3

Consider again the situation you identified in Reflective Activity 2 and
examine it in relation to Lewin’s three-step model. Can you identify the
three steps?

Case study 10.2

Steven is a primary school teacher who has been working for the past three
years with children in Year 1. He enjoys his work very much and feels
settled in his current role. Steven knows that the Head Teacher has a policy
of moving staff round the different year groups to enhance their
professional development. He also knows that several teachers are leaving
this year and that the school will be short of teachers in Year 6. When the
Head asks Steven to teach a Year 6 class next year he feels very unhappy
and annoyed. He makes it clear that he would like to stay where he is, but
 the Head says that this needs to happen and assures him that it will be good
for his overall career development. Steven is still unhappy when he says
goodbye to the children on the final day of term, and over the summer he
begins to dread the start of the next term. Going back to school is difficult,
but Steven finds that working in a team with teachers in Key Stage 2 is
different, particularly as each of them has a specialism. This gives Steven
more time to spend teaching PE, which he enjoys. By Christmas Steven is
feeling more settled and is enjoying interacting with older children and
having conversations with them about transferring to secondary school.

Lewin’s models remain very helpful tools for analysing our own responses to
change, but also those of colleagues and clients. Lewin’s theories, particularly
his three-step model, have been critiqued in relation to their currency – whether
they can be applied in their entirety today is questionable. For example, the
concept of re-freezing could suggest the kind of stability that our fast paced and
ever changing world never seems to have and is unlikely to have in the future.
However, many argue that Lewin’s theories have become seminal in the field of
organisational behaviour and that aspects of them remain useful in today’s
world. Lewin’s concept of the ‘felt need for change’ is also worthy of
consideration and is closely linked with the next theory of change that we will
now move on to examine.

Readiness for change

Being ready for change has a big impact on whether or not we engage with it as
a process. Lewin identified that when there is a ‘felt need for change’, change is
much more likely to happen. In many respects this is what makes enforced
change particularly difficult to deal with, as when this happens we simply might
not be ready for it.
In the same vein, Prochaska and DiClemente’s (1983) work on change also
identifies a number of stages in the change process, and includes stages when
change is unlikely to happen; these are particularly worth noting. Their work has
become prominent in relation to health and well being (for example in the area
of addiction) and is frequently referred to as a transtheoretical model because it
draws on a number of different theories of psychotherapy. The model has the
following stages:
1 Pre-contemplation – here, the individual is not considering change in the
near future and may be unaware of the need for it. They might be happy with
their current situation or unhappy with it. Either way, they are not prepared
or ready for change at the moment. In this stage the advantages of change are
often minimised as the individual focuses their attention on all the
disadvantages, thereby making change seem just too difficult to even think
about. Often, this stage is characterised by the well-known phrase ‘ignorance
is bliss’.
2 Contemplation – now the individual is beginning to get ready for change.
The balance between the pros and cons for change has become much more
even, causing a degree of ambivalence as they try to make a decision for or
against change. This ambivalence can cause procrastination, and here the
individual can put off making a start in the change process.
3 Preparation – here, the person is ready for change and will start to take action
soon. They begin by taking some small helpful steps forward like telling
family and friends of their intentions but they also commonly experience a
fear of possible failure.
4 Action – the individual is now fully engaged in the process of change and is
working hard to continue their new behaviours. They are learning how to
strengthen their commitment to change and identifying ways of resisting the
urge to fall back into old habits.
5 Maintenance – the change in behaviour is now becoming embedded, but the
person is still learning about those situations that can tempt them back into
their old habits.
6 Termination – the change process is now complete. The individual is secure
in their acceptance of change and their new behaviour has become somewhat
automatic. They feel sure that they will not return to their old ways of doing
things.

Whilst presented as a sequence, individuals are often seen travelling back and
forth through the stages above. Often, this is as a result of ‘slipping back’ into
old habits or ways of doing things. It is also clear that not everyone reaches the
Termination stage, but can experience a sixth stage called Relapse as they
resume their former ways.

Reflective activity 10.4

 Now think of an example from your practice where Prochaska and
DiClemente’s model might offer a good description of your experiences.
Describe it and identify each of the stages. Did you reach Termination? If
so, what helped you? If not, what got in the way?

Case Study 10.3

Stephanie is starting the final year of her nursing degree and doesn’t want it
to end. She has made so many good friends and feels that she will lose
touch with many of them as they all go their separate ways. As her friends
start to apply for jobs, Stephanie feels ambivalent about looking for a job
and prefers to wait until later in the year. But as the year progresses, people
start to receive job offers and Stephanie begins to feel a bit left behind. She
starts to look for vacancies on relevant websites but feels anxious about
what the future holds. Following a few applications and three interviews,
she is offered a job in a hospital; she is pleased about this as she knows one
of her friends will be working there too. She hopes they might be able to
share a flat together and begins to look forward to feeling settled in her new
surroundings.

Having examined some theoretical models of change, it is clear that they each
have similarities but also that they have their differences. Table 10.1 compares
the models of Adams et al., Lewin and Prochaska and DiClemente to highlight
these.

Table 10.1 Theoretical models of change

Strategies for managing change
If change is inevitable, it is very important to have a number of strategies for
managing it as effectively as possible. This is not meant to imply that change is
something that we can all approach purely clinically or logically; very often our
emotions will be involved in the process and a rational approach will only be
helpful to a certain extent. Recognising change as it is happening can help us to
cope with it better and, in addition, we can take some practical steps that might
help too. Here are some suggestions:
• Remember that change always involves loss, so do not be surprised by a
sense of sadness, even when you see the particular change as a positive one.
• Try to find out as much information as possible about the change in question.
The famous phrase ‘forewarned is forearmed’ reminds us that knowledge is
useful and can reduce our anxiety levels.
• If possible, find out the reasons for change. Understanding why things are
happening can help us to cope with them better.
• Seek out support from other people, for example colleagues, friends and
family.
• Where possible, try to become involved in the process of change. Having
change ‘done to you’ can make you feel vulnerable and as if things are out of
control. Taking an active part can help you to feel more in control.

Tschudi’s (1977) ABC model can be a very effective tool for helping us to be
clear about how we feel about change and the meaning we apply to it. It involves
drawing a table with two columns; on the left hand side is the current scenario
and on the right the preferred or future scenario. The table then asks us to
identify the respective advantages and disadvantages of the proposed change.
Table 10.2 illustrates how it can be used and the change in question is a change
of job or work role.

Table 10.2 Tschudi’s ABC model

Reflective activity 10.5
Now use the ABC model to analyse a change that you have experienced.
Make notes in each of the columns. What does this show you about how
you manage change?

Back to assumptions
In Chapter 7 we examined the whole area of assumptions and, when considering
change, this too is something that we can often make assumptions about. In the
field of education and from a management perspective, Fullan’s (2001) work on
managing change has been particularly influential and his ten assumptions about
change are worthy of note. They are as follows:

1 Do not assume that your version of what the change should be is what could
or should happen.
2 Assume that change involves a certain amount of ambiguity and
uncertainty; this can be, and often is, unsettling. People need to work out
their own meaning, which will come about in a process of clarification
through reflective practice.
3 Assume that conflict and disagreement are inevitable and, indeed,
fundamental. If these are not evident, it is likely that little is changing.
4 Assume that people need pressure to change; most people are happier with
the status quo simply because it is familiar.
5 Assume that effective change takes time. Successful change requires a high
level of commitment.
6 Do not assume that a lack of change implementation means that the change
itself has been rejected. There may be other reasons like inadequate
resources or that insufficient time has elapsed for the change to become
embedded into practice.
7 Do not assume that everyone will change or expect them to do so.
8 Assume that you will need a good plan for change to happen effectively.
9 Assume that you will never know everything, or even enough, to make a
decision regarding what action you should take.
10 Assume that changing the culture of an organisation is at the heart of the
change process, not just implementing particular innovations.

Reflective activity 10.6

Which of Fullan’s ten assumptions do you find the most applicable to your
situation and why?

Conclusion
In this chapter we have explored the area of managing change. Having examined
a number of theoretical approaches can help us to recognise various aspects of
change and to understand more about our responses to it. In the next chapter we
will move on to explore reflective practice as a way of being, including the area
of mindfulness in professional practice.

References
Adams, J., Hayes, J. and Hopson, B. (1976) Transition: Understanding and
Managing Personal Change, London: Martin Robertson.
Bridges, W. (2004) Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, Cambridge,
MA: Da Capo Press.
Fullan, M. (2001) The New Meaning of Educational Change, 3rd edn, London:
RoutledgeFalmer.
Holmes, T.H. and Rahe, R.H. (1967) ‘The social readjustment rating scale’,
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11(2): 213–18.
Lewin, K. (1951) Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers,
New York: Harper and Row.
Prochaska, J.O. and DiClemente, C.C. (1983) ‘Stages and processes of self-
change of smoking: toward an integrative model of change’, Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3): 390–5.
Tschudi, F. (1977) ‘Loaded and honest questions: a construct theory view of
symptoms and therapy’, in D. Bannister (ed.) New Perspectives in Personal
Construct Theory, London: Academic Press.
11 Critically reflective practice as a
way of being

‘Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more
effective action.’

(Peter Drucker, 2011)

Introduction
At this point in our journey it is time to revisit the overall purpose of the book
and its structure. We began by examining some of the fundamental tenets of
reflective practice and learning from experience. As we have progressed towards
an understanding of critically reflective practice, we have explored issues of
coping with our emotional responses and challenging our assumptions. We have
also considered the role of feedback in professional development and how we
can reflect in groups. The previous chapter looked at the management of change
and now we are moving on as we seek to embed critically reflective practice into
our everyday work and lives.
This chapter will begin with a review of the term critically reflective practice
and will include a discussion of the term reflexivity. We will then explore some
key elements of the work of Johns and return to some of Brookfield’s work, both
of which help us to examine how we can reflect at a deeper level in an ongoing
way. The chapter will conclude with an exploration of the area of managing
stress, mindfulness and Covey’s useful concept of ‘sharpening the saw’.

Critically reflective practice and reflexivity

The concept of reflective practice has been subject to criticism in a number of
ways. Some suggest that it is obvious that we need to think about our practice
and so discount the notion of doing this in a deliberative way, whilst others point
to the difficulties that practitioners experience in trying to take a reflective
approach in their busy professional lives (Finlay, 2008). It is also easy to see that
the term can be used by different people to mean different things to suit their
own circumstances. Writing from the context of teacher education, Loughran
(2002) suggests adding the word effective before the term reflective practice.
More recently some writers have added the word critically before the term
reflective practice (Thompson and Thompson, 2008). This suggests that it is not
enough simply to reflect on our experience, but that we need to take a critical
approach too. It is important to remember that this does not mean that we only
focus on negative aspects of our practice, but see the positives too. In this way
we formulate a critique of our practice (like the food critic in Chapter 3) and do
not fall into the trap of becoming weighed down by negative criticism and any
kind of idea that we are never good enough.
Critically reflective practice is underpinned by reflexivity, as the term
reflexivity has the potential to be confusing. Initial thoughts might lead us to
assume that reflexivity is about our reflex actions or those things that we do
automatically; however, the opposite is in fact the case. Until fairly recently the
term reflexivity was used in the context of research – meaning the ability to see
the things that are influencing our thoughts, behaviours and actions (Fook and
Askeland, 2006). This is particularly important in research because, without
reflexivity, we can fall into the trap of simply seeing what we expect to see, and
our conclusions then become predictable. In professional practice reflexivity
means that we are aware of how we think, feel and act and the assumptions we
might be making. In addition, reflexivity also makes us aware of issues of power
in relationships and organisations. Hence, the chapters in this book have been
presented in a particular order to take us on a journey from reflection on
experience, processing our feelings and questioning our assumptions in order to
prompt critical reflection and reflexivity. It is also important to remember that as
our focus broadens from simply being aware of ourselves (see Chapter 2) to
being aware of our social and political context, we become mindful of issues of
power evident in all social relationships. It is only when we recognise and
understand these issues that we can seek to work in an anti discriminatory way.
Reflexivity is not only being mindful of ourselves and the part we play in the
process; Fook and Askeland (2006) remind us that it also involves being clear
about our context and the impact this can have on our practice. In all
professional relationships it is important to have an understanding of issues of
power and how these are played out in our working environments. In relation to
working with clients, we need to remember that issues of power will always be
present and that clients usually feel that the power lies with the professional
practitioner and not with them. Indeed, in some areas of professional practice
(such as teaching and social work) it seems clear that this is the case. For
example, in classrooms, teachers need to maintain a positive learning
environment for all students, which can involve applying sanctions for those
who are reluctant to engage in the learning process. Social workers can be seen
to hold the power when it comes to such issues as child protection and work with
vulnerable adults. However, whilst recognising this, we also need to question our
overall aims and what we are ultimately trying to achieve. For example, if young
people in schools are going to progress to higher education, allowing them
greater independence in the later years of schooling will prepare them well for
their future studies. The social work profession recognises the need to be very
cognisant of issues of power and its potential misuse, which can lead to
discriminatory and even oppressive practice (Thompson, 2012). Issues of power
can particularly be seen at work within certain professions. For example, Johns
(2013) argues strongly that as part of a profession dominated by women, many
nurses experience patriarchal attitudes and practices that can oppress them. In all
of these cases an argument can be made for the handing over of at least some of
the power that practitioners hold.

Reflective activity 11.1

Now think about your own workplace and consider the issues of power that
are evident. How might you want to try and influence some of these for
change? What difficulties might you expect in trying to do this?

Case study 11.1

Adam is head of the sixth form in a large comprehensive school. Many of

the students go on to study at a range of different universities, locally and
nationally and Adam feels it is important that they are well prepared for
their further studies. Adam remembers struggling when he went to
university as he no longer had the support from his school teachers that he
had come to rely on. He is keen for the students to become more
independent in their learning and development so that they can thrive in the
sixth form and in their further studies. Adam decides to work with his team
 of tutors to design a programme of sessions to help the students to manage
themselves better, which should be beneficial for them now and in the
future. The programme includes sessions in tutorial time on a range of
relevant topics including time management and meeting deadlines; a range
of study skills such as effective reading, note taking and referencing in
academic work; managing stress and coping with change. In order to
achieve the overall goal of students becoming more independent learners,
the students are asked to work together in small groups to prepare one of
the sessions, to give a presentation and to lead a discussion on it. They are
also asked to put together materials for all students to use on the school’s
virtual learning environment. Each group works with a tutor who acts as a
facilitator; the tutors are asked to allow the students to work in ways that
suit them, handing over the responsibility for the sessions to them. They are
also asked to give feedback to the students on how they are working
together and the quality of the work they are producing both during their
preparation time and after they have delivered their session.

Being open to change

In Chapter 2 we discussed the notion that when looking at our practice in a
metaphorical mirror we might discover things that need to change. Whether or
not we then take action to make that change is a choice. However, maintaining a
position where we are open to change is vital in professional practice. Fay
(1987) discusses three important aspects of critical reflection: curiosity,
commitment and intelligence, which are considered by Johns (2013) and are
relevant to the whole area of critical reflection and change. Maintaining curiosity
in professional practice is vital if our work is to continue to stimulate and
challenge us. Posing questions such as ‘What is happening here?’, ‘What made
the person respond in that way?’ and ‘Was I as helpful to that person as I might
have been?’ help to make our practice sharp and keep us open to new
possibilities. Losing our curiosity means that we lose our creativity and run the
risk of our practice becoming mundane and even defensive.
Commitment helps us to maintain our energy for our practice and reminds us
of why we do the work we are engaged in. This is particularly important at those
times when, for good reasons, we can question why we continue working in our
particular sector. Whether this is because of increasing workloads caused by
budget cuts, managers that do not appear to be on our ‘wave length’, or simply a
number of very challenging clients we are working with at the time, we can, and
realistically should, expect our commitment to be challenged. This means that
we need to remind ourselves of our reasons for doing the work we do and re-
evaluating our position in order to incorporate any changes we might need to
make.
Intelligent practitioners are insightful and view every situation as an
opportunity for learning. They are slow to jump to conclusions and to dismiss
things without paying them adequate attention. In short, they are continuously
open to new ideas and will judge things on their merits rather than accepting or
dismissing things at face value.
Another word that Johns considers at various points in his work is that of
compassion. Many practitioners enter the helping professions because they want
to support people and feel that they are making a difference. They have a sense
of compassion, which enhances their curiosity and commitment and makes them
intelligent practitioners. In addition, it gives them a passion for their work. In my
own field of career development I continue to be excited by the potential of
people to fulfil and sometimes exceed their own and society’s expectations of
them. Without compassion this becomes difficult. However, compassion is not a
‘touchy feely’ term that only involves feeling sympathy, but rather a driving
force for social justice and emancipation.
Being open to change is not as easy as it might first appear and it is important
that we are not naïve. Johns (2013: 6) warns us of the power of embodiment,
which he describes as ‘the way people normally think, feel and respond to the
world in a normative and largely pre-reflective way’. In other words, in our
places of work we may well see practices that serve to accept the way things are
done currently and maintain the status quo, rather than opening up possibilities
for change. This can even be the case when things are not working well; this
might be because policy or legislation restricts what we can do, or sometimes it
is simply because it is the easiest option. In such situations change on the part of
the individual practitioner in their own work can be difficult to achieve.

The work of Johns

As a writer and researcher, Johns is a good example of someone who has
continually been open to change and who, as a result, has developed his thinking
over a number of years. In his recent work (Johns, 2013), some key concepts
stand out in relation to critical reflection and reflexivity that are worthy of
consideration here.

Enlightenment, empowerment and emancipation

Johns sees reflection as an action-oriented, day-to-day reality and certainly far
removed from any kind of ‘navel gazing’. In addition, reflection cannot be
neutral but is ‘a political and cultural movement towards creating a better, more
caring and humane world’ (Johns, 2013: 6). Such strong words remind us of the
importance of compassion and are far removed from a simple (or even
simplistic) approach that sees reflection as single loop learning (Kolb, 1984).
Reflection is seen as part of a continuous process of enlightenment where we
examine ourselves and our context and seek to understand why things are as they
are and why things happen as they do. Empowerment means that we then look
for ways of taking action on our new understandings, and emancipation happens
as situations are transformed for a vision to be realised. It goes without saying
that none of this is easy to achieve and such change can take time and a lot of
effort. However, it is important not to lose sight of our vision for our practice if
we are to maintain our levels of motivation and commitment (see Chapter 12 and
the work of Senge).

Aesthetics, artistry and practical wisdom

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy related to the study of art and, in particular,
beauty. It is a word that is not often associated with professional practice and
Johns also includes performance in his definition as he imagines a nurse going
about her regular duties. Johns (2013: 45) describes the following four
movements as ‘the aesthetic response’ for effective action. All four movements
involve looking back on a situation and here they are expressed as questions.

1 How did I appreciate/assess the situation and identify the focus for my
intervention?
2 How did I make the decisions to meet the desired outcomes?
3 How did I respond with appropriate and skilled action to meet the outcomes
and to remain in tune with my values?
4 Were the outcomes met and were these also in tune with my values?
The idea of artistry in professional practice is a reminder of its unique nature
involving a high level of skill. Any painter who is asked to reproduce a copy of a
particular piece of work knows that it is highly unlikely that it will turn out to be
exactly the same as the original. The original piece of art was created in
particular circumstances and influenced by such things as light, dark and shade
and the mood of the artist at the time. In the same way, highly skilled
professional practice cannot be reproduced at will, although undoubtedly many
students in training might wish that it could be!
Wisdom is a word most often associated with a person who has lots of
knowledge and experience. Johns uses the term ‘practical wisdom’ to describe a
practitioner’s ability to assess a situation and to gauge the likely outcomes based
on previous experience. This practical wisdom can be seen in practitioners who
have grasped their personal understandings (or praxis) of their work through
reflection. Such practitioners see their practice as fluid and constantly changing,
as each situation and client they face is unique.

Typology of reflective practice

Johns’ typology of reflective practice offers a useful summary of different
aspects of reflection. It is broken down into the following five steps, which move
from doing reflection to being reflective:

1 Reflection-on-experience – here, the practitioner reflects on a particular

experience after it happens so that it can inform their future practice. This
has resonance with Kolb’s (1984) cycle.
2 Reflection-in-action – here, the practitioner stands back and seeks to see the
situation differently in order to make progress towards a more desired
outcome. This resonates with Schön’s (1983) term, but helpfully includes the
use of the term ‘reframing’.
3 The internal supervisor – this is a dialogue that the practitioner has with
themselves whilst having a conversation with another person as part of a
process of making sense of the situation.
4 Reflection-within-the-moment – here, the practitioner is mindful of their
patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions and is maintaining a focus on
desirable practice.
5 Mindfulness – Johns describes this as seeing things as they really are without
any distortion.
It is clear that people who are in training or new to professional practice can
usefully start with reflection-on-experience as considered in the early chapters of
this book. Mindfulness as described by Johns involves being aware moment by
moment, and whether or not it is achievable seems questionable. However, as a
goal it is certainly something that we should continue to strive for in professional
practice.

Reflective activity 11.2

Consider some of the experienced practitioners you have worked with.
Which of John’s concepts do you see in evidence? In what ways?

Case study 11.2

Ola is an experienced nurse who works in a hospice. She faces many
challenges in her work and regularly spends time reflecting on her practice.
Ola is known as an excellent practitioner who is compassionate towards her
patients. She sees patients as individuals and always seeks to make them as
comfortable and relaxed as possible. She also offers vital support to
relatives and friends, making them feel welcome, but always keeping an
eye on how the patient is feeling as they are her major concern. Ola
regularly spends time reflecting on what she has done each day; she does
this on her own and in discussions with her critical friend. In many
situations she thinks about things from different perspectives (particularly
those of the patient) in order to continually work towards becoming the
kind of nurse she wants to be. She often finds that she has conversations
with herself in her head whilst working with patients and this helps her to
clarify what she is doing and why, and her previous experiences inform her
actions. Ola loves her work because of the challenges it involves. She is
always mindful of the patients’ condition and this means that she can be
calm and compassionate, whilst being realistic. This helps her to see the
limitations of what she can do and ‘keeps her feet on the ground’. She feels
this prevents her from becoming overly emotionally involved with every
patient she cares for and is then ready for the next challenge in her work.
Brookfield’s lenses
Brookfield’s (1995) work has become widely recognised for its insights into
critically reflective practice. In his book Becoming a Critically Reflective
Teacher he argues that there are four lenses through which we can reflect on
practice critically. They are as follows:

1 Our own autobiographies as learners (and teachers for those who are training
to teach) – this starts with an examination of our own stories and experiences
of learning from the past, which enables us to begin to examine some of our
deeply held values and assumptions about our practice and to begin to
question them.
2 The eyes of our clients – viewing our practice from the point of view of our
clients makes us more aware of issues of power in professional relationships.
3 The experiences of our colleagues – engaging in feedback processes can help
us to see things we were not previously aware of, or those things in our Blind
area (see the Johari Window in Chapter 8).
4 Theoretical literature – this can offer multiple explanations of phenomena,
which can help us to understand that sometimes we are not responsible for
things that happen in our practice.

Two particular lenses offer perspectives that we have not yet considered. The
first lens of our own autobiography reminds us that we all have previous
experiences of education and of life more broadly; these affect how we view the
world and give us insights into the actions we might take or fail to take in the
future. Narrative approaches argue that life is lived in story form; when we go
home and talk about the day we have had, we tell a story rather than simply
listing the things we have done. Narrative approaches have become influential in
a wide range of professional areas, particularly in counselling, and here the
argument is that looking back and telling our story then helps us to look forward
and make decisions about how we want to act in the future. The fourth lens of
theoretical literature reminds us that we can learn a lot from those who have
written about professional practice, but also from those who have written from a
theoretical point of view as well.
Brookfield argues for a deep level of critical reflection in the training of
teachers and it is clear that in order to engage with this process we need to be
ready to unearth things about ourselves that we may not find palatable; this can
make us feel vulnerable. For example, Klobassa (2014: 328) recommends using
Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire to break down barriers to
discussions on issues of racism in order to ‘encourage the trust and vulnerability
necessary to interrogating race in significant and meaningful ways’. In order to
make progress in our thinking about challenging issues, we need to make
ourselves vulnerable. This needs to be done in a sensitive way, often by posing
questions that help us to interrogate our practice fully. Brookfield argues that if
we are teachers we need to do this with our students too.

Reflective activity 11.3

Now think of times when you have engaged in critical reflection using each
of Brookfield’s four lenses. Which of the four do you find the most
helpful? Are there any that you are reluctant to use? Why might this be the
case?

Case study 11.3

Rudolph is training to be a Careers Adviser. As part of one of his early
sessions on his course he is asked to examine his own motivation for
joining the profession. The tutor asks the students to write their story of
how they came onto the course and Rudolph writes this.
At school I was always told I was bright, but I went to a really bad school where no one did any
work. It’s closed down now thank goodness. I managed to leave at sixteen with a few
qualifications and went to a local FE college. It was like a second chance for me and I loved it.
A lot of the students were adults who really wanted to work. Lots of them had had a bad time at
school too and had got stuck in dead end jobs. They had come to college to try and turn their
lives around. The atmosphere at college was completely different. I knew I wanted to go to
university if I could, and soon met the college’s Careers Advisers. They had a nice little office
where you could go and chat at any time. They also handled all the UCAS forms and gave you
lots of support in trying to decide what you wanted to study and with your personal statement. I
remember saying to one of them one day that I would really like to do their job and the Careers
Adviser gave me a lot of encouragement. I went on and did a degree and then applied for this
postgraduate course. So here I am again – like when I was at the FE college, I am younger than
most of the other students here, but this is good for me. I know I want to work with young
people in schools, particularly those who might not be doing so well. I want to help them to
achieve their potential and to give them the kind of support I received when I was trying to
decide what I wanted to do in the future. It’s great to know that I will be giving something back
 and I know from my experience that even if you feel you have had a bad start, you can go on to
better things.

Figure 11.1 The stress curve

Managing stress
We all need a certain amount of stress in our lives in order to be able to perform
at our best. However, too much stress leads to a high level of anxiety and, in
extreme circumstances, to burn out. By contrast, too little stress can lead to
boredom and lethargy. For example, going into an examination feeling totally at
ease might mean that we lower our levels of concentration and fail to perform as
well as we should. But being overly anxious in such a situation means that we
might forget the things we know and again fail to do ourselves justice. Figure
11.1 illustrates the link between stress and performance.
In order to maintain effective performance, we need to remain in the centre of
the curve as much as possible, and to do this we need to understand what causes
us to experience stress. This will be different for different people, but some of
the most common causes of stress are as follows:

• The environment – workplaces can be stressful places due to the demands

they make on staff: for example, long and sometimes unsociable working
hours, unclear role specifications, poor communication, inadequate
 leadership and management and lack of support.
• The individual – I can put pressure on myself: for example having
unrealistically high expectations of what I can achieve and ‘beating myself
up’ when I fail to achieve all I want to, feeling powerless to influence my
working context, being passive and unable to say ‘no’ to the demands of
others.
• The group – it is good to work with colleagues, but just as teenagers can
often experience peer pressure, so in the same way peer pressure at work also
exists: for example, feeling the need to agree to things in meetings when you
want to disagree, being seen to achieve objectives and targets at the expense
of your values, not taking all your annual leave because those around you do
not take theirs.

Fontana (1989) highlights the following three groups of symptoms of stress:

1 Cognitive – stress affects our thought processes and too much stress can
mean that we find it difficult to concentrate and are easily distracted. Our
speed of response becomes slower and we make more mistakes. We fail to
organise properly as we cannot assess accurately how long it will take us to
do particular tasks and we can become confused and irrational.
2 Emotional – too much stress means that we cannot relax or ‘switch off’ and
we worry about things a lot of the time and generally feel anxious. We can
imagine that we are ill and our feelings of healthiness and well being
disappear. We might change as people; for example a tidy person might
become messy and a caring person could become cold and indifferent.
Things that we usually feel anxious about become exaggerated and lead us to
become over sensitive or defensive; this might lead to emotional outbursts.
In extreme cases this can lead to depression as our self-esteem plummets.
3 Behavioural – our interests diminish, we lack enthusiasm, become cynical,
our energy levels are low and our regular sleep patterns are interrupted.
Absenteeism from work increases, new information is ignored even when it
is helpful and we shift responsibilities on to others. We solve problems at an
increasingly superficial level and can become unpredictable. Drug, caffeine
and alcohol consumption can rise and, in extreme cases, suicide threats can
be made.

Recognising the symptoms of stress is vital if we are then going to seek to

manage it. It is equally important to recognise the signs of stress in our
colleagues and our clients so that we can support them effectively. Managing our
own stress levels can be done in a number of ways. However, it is important to
emphasise that there is only ever so much we can do to manage stress and it is
unlikely that we will be able to avoid it completely. The following strategies can
help us to manage stress and perform effectively in an ongoing way. Remember
that different things help different people and in all cases find what helps you
and take some appropriate action.

• Time management – this can certainly go some way towards alleviating

stress. If you ever feel that your work life is somewhat chaotic, Allen’s
(2002) book Getting Things Done offers a comprehensive time and self-
organisation system. But remember it is like ‘fishing by hand’ and could
work for a while, at which point you might then need to look for an
alternative. Don’t ‘beat yourself up’ if, or when, it stops working; look for
something else.
• Assertiveness – many of us experience high levels of stress because we are
passive, have strong Please People drivers (see Chapter 2) and cannot say
‘no’. Lindenfield (2001: 3) describes assertiveness as ‘behaviour which helps
us to communicate our needs, wants and feelings to other people without in
any way abusing their human rights’. She gives some very helpful strategies
to enable us to avoid being passive and to be more assertive without being
either aggressive or manipulative.
• Physical exercise – this uses up excess adrenalin, releases endorphins (our
‘feel good’ hormones), forces us to take some time out and provides a
distraction from whatever is making us anxious.
• Relaxation techniques – most of these involve breathing exercises and
relaxing each part of your body whilst lying down (see the next section on
mindfulness). It is commonly understood that 20 minutes of relaxation is
equal to two hours of sleep; hence this is a good option if you are finding it
difficult to sleep.
• Build your support mechanisms – make sure that there are people around you
who can support you. Remember that when they are feeling stressed you can,
and should, reciprocate.
• Have some ‘me’ time – especially for those in the helping professions, who
spend most of their time supporting other people. Try to take some time out
on a regular basis to spend do things you enjoy.
• Set yourself some new challenges – it can help to maintain your levels of
motivation if you aim to achieve certain things within a timeframe; this does
 not have to be related to work and, indeed, is probably better if it is not. If
you enjoy music, it could be listening to a new album every week, learning
to play the instrument that you have always wanted to, or reading books or
magazines for pleasure.
• Avoid unhealthy habits – most of us seek comfort in challenging times, but
can slip into unhealthy habits such as smoking, snacking and drinking
(including caffeine). This means that we can experience a ‘sugar rush’
followed by a dip in our levels of energy.
• Retain a positive outlook – remember those times when you have been
successful, appreciate the supportive people around you and change your
perspective.
• Understand what you can and cannot change – Niebuhr’s famous Serenity
Prayer states ‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot
change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the
difference’. It is worth remembering that time and energy spent trying to
change things that cannot be changed is wasted and wearing.

Reflective activity 11.4

Now think about your own levels of stress. What strategies could you use
to ensure that you remain in the centre of the stress curve?

Case study 11.4

Louise is a social worker in a leaving care team who is finding her work
increasingly stressful. She decides to discuss her situation in her next
supervision session where she explains some of the things she is
experiencing. Louise explains that she feels very tired a lot of the time. She
often stays late at work and finds it very difficult to switch off when she
gets home. She finds herself constantly thinking about all the things she
needs to do and then cannot get to sleep. This makes her feel more tired;
when she does finally get to sleep, she then wakes up early, often with a
headache. During her discussion with her supervisor she is able to identify
some strategies that she feels might help her. Louise feels that work is
starting to take over her life and she decides to try and re-establish some
 boundaries between her work and home life. She decides to check her
emails at specific times of the day rather than checking them constantly and
only checks at home when she is on call. She tries some relaxation
techniques to help her to sleep and she asks one of her close friends to meet
with her each week to do something they enjoy. They used to meet
regularly in the past until Louise said she didn’t have enough time
anymore. Over time Louise begins to feel the benefits of her actions and
her work/life balance improves.

Mindfulness
Having established that professional practice is often stressful and demanding,
an understanding of mindfulness and its benefits can be helpful. Unless we are
careful, professional life can become a kind of ‘pressure cooker’ where the
steam builds up and needs to be released or it will explode! Mindfulness
techniques can help some people to manage stress and take a more deliberate
and relaxed approach to their work and life, but like many other approaches it
does not offer a solution for everyone. If you are finding the demands of
professional practice in any way overwhelming, it is probably worth looking at
the area of mindfulness to see if you find it helpful. Whether you decide to adopt
it as a lifestyle, select parts that you feel are useful, or reject it completely is, of
course, an individual choice. Personally, it took me a long time to learn that I
achieve far more when I am relaxed and focused than when I am feeling stressed
and tense. At times of high stress I find it far too easy to succumb to feelings of
panic, which in turn make me forget things. It is particularly unhelpful when I
am panicking about doing something, only to realise I have done it already and
then forgotten. To find that I have done something twice at busy times is
particularly frustrating!
Williams and Penman (2011) discuss a wide range of issues related to stress
that can have an impact on our personal and professional effectiveness,
particularly as the demands of professional practice seem to continuously
increase. For example, they speak of ‘chasing our tails’; when we are very busy
we feel we should be doing more or coping better with our workload. As a
result, we stay late to try and cope with the volume of work, but when we go
home we find it difficult to ‘switch off’. We go to bed, but cannot sleep, so we
get up the next day and feel tired. Our level of tiredness means that we achieve
less at work and so the pressure mounts and our effectiveness decreases. Many
of us live our lives on some kind of autopilot as our minds operate in ‘doing
mode’. We have a lot to do, so we do many things automatically and habitually.
This way of living is important as it means that we do not have to think in detail
about each aspect of our everyday lives, which would be exhausting. However,
if we are in this mode all the time, we overlook the things that bring us pleasure
and make us content. We can ‘run around’ trying to do more and more to keep
up, caused, for example, by the guilt that comes from feeling that we are not
doing enough, and we omit the things we enjoy in our constant activity. Before
long we are living our lives on autopilot and in a metaphorical maze that we
cannot find our way out of; as a result, life literally can pass us by.
I have often been asked if it is possible to over think – my immediate response
to this is a definite yes. As someone with a strong Reflector style (Honey and
Mumford, 2000), I suffer from this frequently and can sometimes feel that my
head is literally full as my thoughts race around competing with each other for
my attention. Williams and Penman (2011) discuss this particular issue and
others in a number of ways in their work on mindfulness. They put forward their
model for Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which has been
developed during research in a wide range of situations with large numbers of
people, many of whom have found it helpful in the area of managing stress. One
of the many benefits of mindfulness techniques is the avoidance of over
thinking.
Williams and Penman’s (2011) mindfulness programme can be done on an
individual basis over a period of eight weeks. As part of it they include a number
of exercises in meditation to help individuals to slow down and take stock of
what is happening around them, along with ‘habit releasers’ to take them away
from their ‘autopilot’. The early part of the book emphasises the importance of
breathing exercises that help people to relax, and the suggestion is that these are
done each day at specific times, but also as and when needed. The programme
builds as the weeks progress; if at any point you feel exhausted and
overwhelmed by work, you might find this approach helpful.

‘Sharpening the saw’

In this final section we consider Covey’s (2004) important concept of
‘sharpening the saw’. Irrespective of your particular occupational sector,
professional life is always busy and demanding. As a result, it is important to
make sure that we take time for ourselves in order to ensure that we are able to
perform to the best of our abilities in the interest of our clients and colleagues.
In his best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey (2004) uses
the metaphor of ‘sharpening the saw’ to illustrate this point very effectively. In
short, no lumberjack would ever dream of trying to chop down trees without
sharpening their saw first. It would be too slow, too difficult and exhausting. In a
metaphorical sense, many professionals do just that; they try and manage busy
schedules and heavy workloads without taking any time for themselves to
‘sharpen their saw’.
Covey suggests that we pay attention to four key areas when sharpening our
saw:

1 The physical dimension – caring for our physical bodies, e.g. eating a
healthy diet, getting enough sleep, exercising on a regular basis.
2 The spiritual dimension – Covey describes this as our core, centre and
commitment to our value system. This is a very private area of life and very
individual. It involves spending time drawing on the sources that inspire and
uplift us.
3 The mental dimension – caring for our minds and keeping them stimulated,
for example reading, continuing in education.
4 The social/emotional dimension – taking time to work at relationships with
key people at home and at work.

We can hear many people saying things like ‘I would love to do X, but I just
don’t have the time’. Our lives are so full, however, so the only time we have is
the time we make.

Reflective activity 11.5

How do you ‘sharpen’ your ‘saw’?

Case study 11.5

 Alfred is a senior manager in a demanding role working for a local
authority. As part of his job he is asked to attend a three-day quality
management course where he meets people in similar roles. He confides to
one course member that he feels that his life is completely out of balance.
He says he works all the time, staying late in the office each evening and
taking work home with him at the weekends. He describes his life as being
in crisis. He senses that his marriage is breaking down and his teenage
children complain that he works all the time and never spends any time
with them. He says that he knows he has to do something and uses the train
journey home from the course to decide what to do. Three months later he
attends a review day and the person he confided in is keen to know how
things have been since their three-day course. Alfred explains that he went
home and explained to his family what he wanted to do. He said that from
Monday to Friday he would give his job that he loves his all. He would go
in early and stay late most days. However, at the weekends he would do no
work at all. Instead, they would do things together as a family, such as
watching his son play football, going to see a film and helping with the
food shopping and some housework. When asked what the impact of this
has been he said that it was unbelievable. He feels much better and his
family are all much happier too. But the thing that amazes him most is that
he now gets through more work. This is because he now feels refreshed
when he goes to work on a Monday morning instead of feeling exhausted.

Conclusion
This chapter began with a review of the terms critically reflective practice and
reflexivity. We then explored some key elements of the work of Johns and
Brookfield, an exploration of the areas of managing stress, mindfulness and
Covey’s concept of ‘sharpening the saw’. The next and final chapter summarises
some of the key perspectives in the book and looks forward to a continuing goal
of personal and professional effectiveness.

References

Allen, D. (2002) Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-Free Productivity,

London: Piatkus Books.
Brookfield, S.D. (1995) Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Covey, S. (2004) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, London: Pocket
Books.
Drucker, Peter (2011) High Time for Think Time. Available from
www.druckerinstitute.com/2011/high-time-for-think-time/. Accessed 7 May
2015.
Fay, B. (1987) Critical Social Science, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Finlay, L. (2008) ‘Reflecting on reflective practice’, PBPL paper 52, Milton
Keynes: Open University.
Fontana, D. (1989) Managing Stress, London: BPS Books with Routledge.
Fook, J. and Askeland, G.A. (2006) ‘The “critical” in critical reflection’, in S.
White, J. Fook and F. Gardner (eds) Critical Reflection in Health and Social
Care, Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education.
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (2000) The Learning Styles Helper’s Guide,
Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications.
Johns, C. (2013) Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Klobassa, V. (2014) ‘Activity XXII: Understanding and Attending to Classroom
Dynamics: Using the Critical Incident Questionnaire When Teaching Race’ in
K. Haltinner (ed) Teaching Race and Anti-Racism in Contemporary America,
New York: Springer, 328–30.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Lindenfield, G. (2001) Assert Yourself, London: Thorsons.
Loughran, J.J. (2002) ‘Effective reflective practice: in search of meaning in
learning about teaching’, Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 33–43.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Thompson, N. (2012) Anti Discriminatory Practice, 5th edn, Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Thompson, S. and Thompson, N. (2008) The Critically Reflective Practitioner,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Williams, M. and Penman, D. (2011) Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding
Peace in a Frantic World, London: Piatkus.
12 Review and looking forward

‘It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he
might have done.’

(Samuel Johnson)

Introduction
In this final chapter we will review our journey through this book, using the
Integrated Reflective Cycle (Bassot, 2013) to summarise some of the concepts
covered and to draw some of the key threads together. We will then look
forward to the kind of practitioners we want to become and how we might
achieve this. Central to this will be Senge’s (2006) concept of Personal Mastery
and the need to ensure there is creative tension in our practice to maintain
momentum and to keep us moving forward. The chapter will conclude with
some key questions for continued reflection.

Review and the Integrated Reflective Cycle

In this book we have made a journey from the foundations of reflective practice
to critically reflective practice where critical reflection is so integrated in our
professional lives that it becomes our way of being. We have examined a
number of theoretical concepts along the way and I hope that you have engaged
with some of the activities suggested in each chapter. Hopefully the case studies
have resonated with some of your own particular professional practice and have
also given you insights into the practice of people in other professions.
Our journey began with a discussion of what reflective practice is and the
need for practitioners to reflect on their practice. We then explored a range of
seminal literature on reflective practice, which helps us to learn from our
professional experience by evaluating it in order to develop and improve it. We
then progressed towards our destination of critically reflective practice by
examining the place of feelings in professional practice, followed by a critical
consideration of how we make assumptions and the importance of challenging
these in order to practice in an anti discriminatory way. We then looked at
learning from feedback and how we can reflect effectively in groups. As we
began to look forward we considered the management of change and how
critical reflection can be integrated into our lives as a way of being.

Figure 12.1 The Integrated Reflective Cycle

My own Integrated Reflective Cycle (Bassot, 2013) is shown above and draws
on some of the key literature covered in the book. It is always useful to compare
and contrast different theoretical approaches, as they often have their relative
strengths and weaknesses. In this cycle I have highlighted the strengths of a
number of theoretical approaches and have posed questions around the cycle in
order to help your continued thinking.

Reflective activity 12.1

Examine the Integrated Cycle – which theoretical approaches can you find
within it?

Taking a questioning approach to professional practice is an excellent way of

delving deeper into not only what you did, but why; this is a key feature of
critically reflective practice. Clearly The Integrated Cycle is not completely new
and this cycle (like many others that we have discussed) draws on the work of
Kolb (1984). It also uses some of the questions posed by Gibbs (1998) and Johns
(2009).
The cycle starts with an experience; we are encouraged to describe what
happened but also to think about the context of the experience. This, of course,
can have a major impact on how we view the experience and what we do in the
particular situation. It also asks us to examine the contributory factors, some of
which might stem from the past (for example, our previous experiences) and the
present.
We are then asked to reflect-on-action (Schön, 1983) in order to interrogate
our approach. This includes an examination of the feelings we experienced and
any assumptions we might be making. In addition, we are asked to think about
the possible consequences of these assumptions and how the client might have
experienced things too.
We then examine how this experience can contribute to our professional
knowledge; for example, what can we learn from it that we could later apply to
other similar situations. And what is new that we can add to what we already
know? What is different that we need to recognise and pay attention to?
The final step on the cycle asks us to look forward to see how we might use
this knowledge and experience in the future. Here, it is important to consider the
strategies that could be adopted next time.
Reflection-in-action is shown in the centre of the cycle; this emphasises that
this kind of ‘thinking on our feet’ is constant and needs to be done throughout
the experience.

Case study 12.1

Katy is a counsellor in private practice who values spending time reflecting
on her practice. She is currently working with a 17-year-old student (Amy)
who has been self-harming and, following one of her sessions, she uses the
questions on the Integrated Reflective Cycle to help her to examine her
practice.
 The experience – Amy seemed very distressed today. She told me that she has been self-
harming again. I suppose exam time is coming round soon, which always seems to put her
under lots of pressure. She always wants to do well and to make her parents happy. Deep down
she knows she is scared of failing.

Reflection-on-action – I want to support Amy and try to help her to see more of why she self-
harms. I felt really upset when she told me she had cut herself again, particularly as it’s been
quite a while since she’s done this. I suppose I’d assumed that she’d be all right, particularly
because we talked about the stress of exams coming up the last time we met. She’s such an able
student and I wish she could see how capable she really is. Instead, she always seems so hard on
herself. As soon as she walked through the door I could see that she was in a bad way. Her
whole demeanour was very subdued.

Theory – so what can I learn from all of this? I can see that self-harming is something that can
rear its ugly head again and again when people feel their life is getting out of control and when
they are overwhelmed by their emotions. Getting to know Amy is helping me to understand
more about the pressures young people can experience.

Preparation – Working with Amy has helped me to understand more about self-harming and I
can see that I need to read more about it. I’ve also seen a training day being offered by a charity
that specialises in supporting those who are self-harming, so I will register for that, which
should help.

Like any other model, The Integrated Reflective Cycle should be critiqued as it
also has its relative strengths and weaknesses. Critiquing any theory and in
particular its relationship to professional practice is always necessary in order to
identify its strengths and weaknesses. Strengths in theoretical approaches are the
things that help you to develop your understandings and to take your practice
forward; weaknesses are the aspects that could hinder your progress and which
you might want to discard. It is always important to be clear about the reasons
for your critique and to make sure that you can justify your arguments. For
example, using a model just because you like it might not be a decision you can
easily defend. In the same way, discarding something only because it takes you
into difficult territory is also questionable. It is important to remember that
critically reflective practice asks us to accept a level of ‘inner discomfort’ (Boyd
and Fales, 1983: 106) so that our practice can develop. You could critique The
Integrated Cycle by posing questions such as ‘Can I only start at the top of the
cycle, or could I begin at any point? The arrows only point in one direction;
could I travel round the cycle in the opposite direction, or even track across the
cycle?’

Senge’s concept of personal mastery

In his book The Fifth Discipline, Senge (2006) discusses his concept of personal
mastery, which is an enlightening way of considering our continuous
professional development. Personal mastery is more than being competent and
skilful and involves living life from a creative viewpoint rather than a reactive
one. Senge describes personal mastery as a discipline with two continuous
processes. First, we have to clarify what is important to us in our work; this
means having a vision for our practice. Without a vision, we do not know where
we are heading or what we are aiming for. Second, we should seek to see our
current reality more clearly, so that we can begin to move towards our vision.

Reflective activity 12.2

Now think about your vision for your practice and write down a statement
in a few sentences that encapsulates what you are aiming for in your
professional life and the kind of practitioner you would like to be. It is
useful to think of a vision as a destination. If this is difficult, imagine you
hear your colleagues talking about you in a very positive way. What do you
hope they would be saying?

Creative tension is the force between our vision and our current reality. Now
imagine stretching an elastic band between your two hands, with one hand above
the other. The hand above is your vision and the hand below is your current
reality. The elastic band stretched between the two represents the creative
tension between your vision and your current reality. This creative tension is
central to Senge’s concept of personal mastery as it is this force that moves us
forward towards our vision.
Tension is a word that usually has negative connotations associated with stress
and distress. Creative tension, however, is a positive term and is the source of
creative energy that we need to continue learning and developing. It enables our
practice to keep moving forward and is vital in retaining a high level of
motivation and commitment to professional practice.
In the image of the elastic band outlined above there are, of course, two
possible movements that can happen. First, I hold on to my vision, keeping the
upper hand in place, and my current reality then moves up towards my vision.
Or, second, I lose sight of my vision and the upper hand moves down towards
the acceptance of my current reality. It is also important to remember that, as my
current reality moves towards my vision, my vision must continue to move
forward or the creative tension will be lost. Vision, therefore, is not a permanent
or static concept but one that is continually changing and moving forward.
People who show a high level of personal mastery continually review their
vision in order to maintain the creative tension needed to move forward through
a continuous process of learning.
People who show a high level of personal mastery demonstrate the following
characteristics:

• They have a special sense of purpose that some would articulate as a calling.
• They see their current reality as an ally not an enemy.
• They work with the forces of change not against them.
• They are deeply inquisitive.
• They feel connected with others.
• They are aware of their uniqueness.
• They feel part of a creative process.
• They are always learning.
• They are aware of what they do not know and where they need to grow and
develop.
• They view mistakes as opportunities for growth.
• They are deeply self-confident.

Case study 12.2

Julian is an Economics teacher in a secondary school. He went into
teaching after a career in banking because he no longer found the work
stimulating. He felt that he would gain more satisfaction from working with
young people and wanted an opportunity to give something back to society.
Julian’s vision for his practice is to be an excellent, caring and
compassionate teacher who enables students to grow in their knowledge of
Economics and themselves. Ultimately, he wants his students to achieve
their full potential and to live successful (however they define success)
independent adult lives. He loves teaching Economics because it is a
practical subject that can help the students understand the way the world
and, in particular, business operates. Julian enjoys keeping up to date with
 current affairs and reads widely. He regularly discusses economic issues
with his students and is known as an inspirational teacher.

By contrast, Senge also describes two kinds of unconscious beliefs that many
people have which serve to work against personal mastery. The first is
powerlessness; we feel unable to bring about those things that we really care
about. The second is unworthiness: that we do not deserve to have what we
desire. Most people hold one of these and both work against enabling us to
achieve what we really want to achieve. Just as creative tension propels us
towards our vision, our feelings of powerlessness and unworthiness hold us back
from achieving our vision.

Reflective activity 12.3

Think about the two points above. Does either of them resonate with your
own experiences? What is holding you back from realising your vision?

Some final reflections

Having reached the final part of this book, it is good to reflect back as we
conclude. Professional practice can be demanding, but as a result is rarely
boring. Thinking back on the time since you began reading this book, it is
helpful to identify your major learning points. It is also useful to consider how
you can continue to move your practice forward. This usually involves
considering what you need to learn next. Support from others in your learning is
vital in helping you to achieve your potential, so it is worth making sure that you
have people around you who can continue to do this, as well as being mindful of
those whom you can support too – in my experience, we can learn a lot from
supporting others. Looking ahead can help us to think more about our vision,
which in turn fosters the creative tension we need to become the professional
practitioners we would like to be in the future.

Conclusion
In this chapter we have focused on The Integrated Cycle and Senge’s concept of
personal mastery. Senge’s work reminds us of the importance of continuing to
look forward to develop ourselves and our practice in order to achieve our
vision. Critically reflective practice enables us to be mindful practitioners who
accept nothing at face value. As we continue to examine ourselves and our work
in this way, we ensure that we meet the needs of our clients whilst maintaining
satisfying and fulfilling working lives.

References

Bassot, B. (2013) The Reflective Journal, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Boyd, E.M. and Fales, A.W. (1983) ‘Reflective learning: key to learning from
experience,’ Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 23(2), 99–117.
Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning
Methods, Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Johns, C. (2009) Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, 3rd edn, Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Schön, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Senge, P. (2006) The Fifth Discipline, 2nd edn, London: Random House
Business.
INDEX
Adams, J., Hayes, J. and Hopson, B. 119, 125–6, 128
Adams, J.S. 27, 30
Allen, D. 138, 142
Almond Effect 69–70, 71
anti discriminatory practice 6, Argyris, C. 59, 83–5, 64
Argyris, C. and Schön, D.A. 86–7, 92
artistry 113
assertiveness 115, 138, assumptions 2, 3, 6, 34, 36, 58, 59, 74, 79–92, 109,
127–8, 130, 135, 144, 145; challenging limiting assumptions 90–1
attitudes 3, 5–6, 10, 11, 100, 131

Bager-Charleson, S. 107, 116

Bassot, B. 39, 90, 144–6, 149
Bassot, B., Barnes, A. and Chant, A. 63, 64
benefits of reflection 13–14
Berne, E. 28, 66, 68, 78
Bolton, G. 35–6, 39, 41
Borton, T. 49, 56
Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D. 74–6, 78, 82, 92
Boyd, E.M. and Fales, A.W. 147, 149
Bridges, W. 121, 128
Brookfield, S.D. 4, 8, 80–1, 91, 92, 129, 135–6, 142
burn out 3, 71

change 4, 8, 9, 23, 28, 49–52, 54–5, 59, 62, 74–6, 87, 89, 90, 98, 117–128,
129, 131–3, 138, 139, 144, 148; managing 116, 117–28; readiness for
124–5
commitment 23, 74–5, 124, 128, 131–3, 141, 147
compassion 29, 50, 132–4, 135, 148
competence 6–7, 51, 81
confidence 2, 14, 21, 24, 38, 44, 51, 63, 74, 76, 91, 96, 101–2, 107, 127
continuing professional development (CPD) 17
Covey, S. 10–11, 14, 129, 141, 142
Cowie, H. and Wallace, P. 106, 116
creativity 3, 19, 28, 32, 48, 81, 87, 94, 108, 132, 137, 147, 148
critical friendship 21, 39, 77, 93, 97–8, 106, 111, critical incidents 16, 57–9,
135
critically reflective practice 2, 86, 129–43
Culley, S. and Bond, T. 110, 113, 116

diary/journal 12, 31–2, 35, 36, 38–9, 63, 76–7, 81, 107, 120
double loop learning 86–7
Driscoll, J. 49–50, 56, 58, 64
emancipation 132, 133

emotions 50, 58, 61, 65–78, 81–2, 88, 100, 108, 119–20, 126, 134, 138, 140,
144, 145, 146, 149; discomfort 55; engaging with 3, 34, 51, 64, 65–78;
ignoring 34, 36; impact of 89; processing of 94, 100, 109, 130; showing 29
empowerment 32, 133
equality 3
Eraut, M. 93, 102–3, 104
experiential learning 42–56, 59, 86; positive experiences 61–3, 72, 81, 91, 96,
130; problematic experiences 59–61

Fay, B. 131, 143

feedback 17, 34, 92, 93–104, 107, 112, 114, 129, 131, 135, 144
feelings see emotions
Finlay, L. 129, 143
Flanagan, J.C. 57, 64
Fontana, D. 138, 143
Fook, J. and Askeland, G.A. 130, 143
Forsyth, D. R. 105, 116
Freud, S. 66, 78
Fullan, M. 127–8

Ghaye, T. 61–3, 64, 72, 78

Gibbs, G. 71–3, 78, 145, 149
Goleman, D. 70, 78
groups 9, 63, 77, 101, 103, 137, 144; benefits of 108–9; dangers and
downsides 114–5; definition of 105–6; effective facilitation 109–14;
exercises 115–6; ground rules 105, 100, 112; reflecting in 103, 105–16;
supervision in 107; types of 106–7
habit 2, 7, 10, 12, 17, 53, 59, 74, 86, 87, 89, 118, 123–5, 139, 140–1
Harris, T.A. 68, 78
Heikkinen, H.L.T., Jokinen, H. and Tynjälä, P. 103, 104
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B. and Synderman, B.B. 26, 30
Holmes, T.H. and Rahe, R.H. 118, 128
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. 17–20, 30, 33, 41, 44–7, 74, 78, 141

Illeris, K. 50–1, 55, 89

Integrated Reflective Cycle 144–6

Jarvis, P. 51–4, 56, 59, 64

Jasper, M. 43, 56
Johari window 93, 101–2, 135
Johns, C. 2, 14, 107, 116, 129, 130–1, 132–5, 143, 145, 149

Kahler, T. 28, 30
Kline, N. 90–2
Knott, C. and Scragg, T. 36–8
Kolb, D. 43–7, 48, 49, 50, 51, 56, 59, 60, 64, 71, 86, 87, 92, 133, 134, 145,
149

learning styles 17–20, 28–9, 44–7, 74; developing the reflector style 20–1
Lewin K. 43, 121–4, 125–6, 128
Lindenfield, G. 138, 143
Locke, E.A. and Latham, G.P. 26–7, 30
loss 118, 121, 126
Loughran, J.J. 129, 143
Lucas, P. 1, 14
Luft, H. 101, 104

Maslow, A.H. 24–5, 30

McGregor, G. 25, 30
mentoring 103
metaphorical mirrors 15–7, 93
Mezirow, J. 88–9, 92
Mindfulness 134, 140–1
Moon, J. 32, 41
Moss-Racusin, C.A., Dovidio, J.F., Brescoll, V.L., Graham, M.J. and
Handelsman, J. 79, 92
motivation 24–8, 39, 71, 75, 133, 136, 137, 139, 147
Mueller, P.A. and Oppenheimer, D.M. 32, 41

Osterman, K.F. and Kottkamp, R.B. 17, 59–61, 64, 72

personal mastery 144, 147–9

perspective transformation 88–9
Pink, D. 27–8, 30
Prochaska, J.O. and DiClemente, C.C. 124–6, 128
Proctor, B. 99–100, 104
professional knowledge 4–5, 40, 48, 100, 145

reflection-in-action 9–10, 17, 47, 61–2, 66, 69, 134, 146

reflection-on-action 47–8, 61–2, 146
reflective space 13
reflective writing 31–41
reflectivity 2, 88
reflexivity 2, 88, 129–31, 132
Reid, H.L. and Westergaard, J. 101, 104
Revans, R. 106, 116
Riches, A. 69, 78
Rogers, C. 98, 104

Schön, D.A. 4, 9, 14, 17, 30, 47, 56, 66, 69, 78, 134, 145, 149
self-awareness 3, 15, 24, 97, 98, 100, 101
Senge, P. 133, 147–9
stagnation 2, 48, 94, 109
stress 100, 101, 106, 109, 118, 129, 131, 137–40, 147
supervision 3, 23, 99–101, 107
SWOT/SWAIN 21–4

tacit knowledge 9
Taylor, E.W. 50, 56
technical rationality 9, 66
Thompson, N. 2, 10, 14, 48, 56, 110, 116, 130, 143, Thompson, S. and
Thompson, N. 2, 14, 30, 143
time for reflection 2- 4, 10–11, 13–14, 20–21, 24, 33, 40, 54, 59–60, 75, 100,
103, 105, 134, 146
time management 5, 10–12, 23
Transactional Analysis 28–9, 66
Tschudi, F. 126–7, 128

values 3, 79–80, 87–9, 100, 133, 135, 137

vision 133, 147–9
Vroom, V.H. 26, 30

Williams, M. and Penman, D. 30, 65, 78, 140–1, 143

wisdom 133, 139