Hello everyone, I too am undergoing my level 3 early years educator and am looking at the importance of reflection in relation to professional development. This is my research:
There are two main theoretical perspectives on reflection in relation to professional development. They are Kolb's learning cycle and Gibbs reflective cycle.
Kolb's learning cycle
Kolb's learning cycle consists of a four stage learning cycle, where the following four processes need to take place for you to effectively learn. These are:
Concrete experience: This is doing something in the setting, for example teaching the children the words and actions of a new song.
Reflective experience: This is where you review and reflect on the experience created. What worked well about the song and actions and what elements were not successfully, how did the children respond.
Abstract conceptualisation: This process is about developing new ideas. Using the reflection experience, ask yourself what can you change in the experience to keep the children engaged and interested.
Active experience: This is where you put the previous processes into practice, carrying out the activities using your new ideas.
This cycle allows for professional development as you are continuously reflecting on ideas, once one cycle is complete you will repeat the cycle again. If there were ideas that you as a Practitioner needed further training or knowledge to complete your cycle of learning, the next cycle would then be influenced by that training, therefore creating professional development.
Gibbs reflective cycle
Gibbs was inspired by Kolb, adapting the learning cycle to create a more structured cycle, known as the cycle of reflection. The cycle has six steps including;
Description - Describe what happened in the incident.
Feelings - What were you thinking and feeling at the time of the incident.
Evaluation - Evaluate what was good and bad about the incident. Was your own practice good or bad?
Analysis - Analyse the incident.
Conclusion - What conclusions have you made about your practice during the incident.
Action Plan - Create an action plan which will prevent an incident like this happening in the future, this may include training or supervision that may be needed to support personal professional development.
The reflective cycle is a more structured approach for the practitioner to reflect on how a situation was handled. The cycle can be used for a positive or negative incidents, as the adult is reflecting on their own practice and feelings.
Kolb's learning cycle helps the practitioner think about how opportunities and activities are successful or not. The cycle helps you reflect, plan and change future activities making them better and more interesting for the children. This may be using different equipment or resources however through abstract conceptualisation, you could conclude that undergoing training, further research or visiting another setting is needed to develop your practice. Gibbs' reflective cycle, reflects on your own behaviour/practice or the children's behaviour and how to react appropriately next time.
P Tassoni early years educator 2014
https://www.silkysteps.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21322