[Wisher83]

Hi good evening,

I’m also currently on the Cache Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Workforce (Early Years Educator). The last assignment question I have to complete the course requires me to discuss, using an online forum, theories about reflection.

I’d like to begin by sharing the theory of David Kolb, an American educational theorist. In 1984 he developed an ‘Experiential Learning Cycle’. This cycle consisted of 4 stages and suggested that we learn from our daily lives and the experiences they entail. By using reflective observation on a regular basis, we would learn from our experiences. The stages he developed came as follows:

• Experience – this is where our everyday lives occur. The ‘concrete’
stage happens when we do something that may be new to us for
example an EYP and their first experience with a SEN child

• Reflection – the ‘reflective’ stage by which we look back on, and think
about what we actually did. How did we treat the child? Were we able
to identify their needs?

• Conceptualise – this rather ‘abstract’ stage is where we make
generalisations and create meaning for the new experience. Did I feel
challenged? Why?

• Plan – this is the ‘active’ stage by which we test drive our
generalisations, and use the conclusions we have drawn to actively plan
for the next experience we may encounter

The suggestion is that once we have completed the entire cycle, the experience can be classed as ‘new’ and we can then learn from it.
Influenced by David Kolb was Graham Gibbs, an American Sociologist and Psychologist. Like Kolb he also had a staged theory about reflection but with 6 stages. Instead of using new experiences to learn, Gibbs believed in learning through repetition (Iterative learning). Like the EYFS he suggested that it was important to explore new ways to do things, combine thinking with actions and always try to improve. His stages were as follows:

1. Activity - This includes the who, what, where and when
2. Feelings – during the activity, what were your thoughts about what was
happening? Was it expected? Did those feelings change?
3. Evaluation – this is where you would look into your strengths and
weaknesses, and good/bad points of the activity. Did you encounter any
barriers? How could you overcome them?
4. Analysis – this involves comparing the theories which led you to the
activity, to the outcome. Did practice prove theory?
5. Conclusion – how do you feel it went? Could you have made any
improvements?
6. Action plan – if you were to do this again would you do it differently? If
so, how?

Going through this cycle forms the basis of learning through repetition, much like studying for an exam. The more times you go through something, the easier it will be to understand. It is also very similar to the reflection process that has been used at the end of each session sheet for this course, helping me to build on each experience, just tweaking areas as I have gone along. Continuing to improve our work can only be beneficial in becoming reflective practitioners, benifitting ourselves, the children and their families and the settings we work in.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.