Cpd23 - Thing 5 - Reflective Practice



Reflective Practice:

So it's Thing 5 time already (although everyone else seems to be on Thing 7 already!).

 bamagirl - Morguefile

Generally, I don't think I'm too bad at reflecting on my work. In the last two years I have completed the Level 3 Diploma in Line Management for the Chartered Institute of Management, completed a Preparing to Teach (PTTLS) course and have embarked upon Chartership - these have all involved reflective writing to some degree.

My problem with reflective writing is that there isn't time to write everything up so I have to make a choice about which events are important enough to get the time.

Another problem I find myself having is rarely going back to my reflections. When I have done, I've realised that I had noticed an issue which could have been dealt with but then wasn't. I perhaps need to remind myself on occasion to look back over what I have written but how often and how far back? When does reflection become living in the past?

When I started my Chartership I made a conscious effort to write up absolutely everything I did - just in case it was needed as evidence. I think in future, as this is just not sustainable time wise, I may just write up events, training and projects I have been involved in. The good thing is that I have now got into the habit of writing up events, such as the Library and Information Knowledge Exchange (LIKE), that I can report back much more easily to my colleagues and pass on my notes to those that may benefit from them, even months later.

To keep me on track when I am reflecting on an event, I use the following process:

• what happened?
• what's my response to it?
• what am I going to do with what I've learned?

If I'm feeling particularly brave I will also set a deadline.

I think reflective writing is very useful - it helps get the most out of every event, it really helps when writing up annual reports and most of all it helps when you get to the end of the year and wonder 'where did it all go so fast?!'