Definitions of reflective practice

REFLECTION has many definitions, depending on the interests, assumptions, beliefs and purposes of different people. In simple terms, however, ‘reflection’ may be defined as deliberate and focused attempts to make greater meaning and understanding of our experience. We experience hundreds of events, ideas and feelings every day; mostly, we don’t stop to take time to think about or talk about these. Reflection is about creating time and opportunity to step back from some of these events, ideas and feelings and to spend time considering them, what we learnt from them and exploring possible alternatives and the consequences of these alternatives.

WHY REFLECT? There are at least six interrelated purposes for being a reflective professional and/or practitioner. These can be briefly stated as:

• Fidelity to rules, procedures or ends—in other words are we conforming to our own or someone else’s specified rules, procedures or ends in our decision-making;
• Solving problems;
• Developing a deeper understanding of our own practices and what underpins and informs our decision-making, including the impacts of the wider society;
• Informing our own individual and/or collective professional practice by understanding competing views and ideas;
• Reconstructing, reframing or rethinking our experience towards transforming our professional practice;
• Self-monitoring our practice.

This website will introduce you to three reflective practice frameworks to assist in understanding and recording your progress in demonstrable ways.

WHAT IS A REFLECTIVE PRACTICE FRAMEWORK? A reflective practice framework provides a structure for you to use in reflection. It helps you to focus, to evaluate and to learn through reflection. There are many different types of frameworks. For these resources, we have included three frameworks that have been trialed through research with good evidence of their effectiveness.

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