Notion Of Reflective Practice Research Articles

Possible influences of Arabic-Islamic culture on the reflective practices proposed for an education degree at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates

This article critically examines the compatibility of United Arab Emirates culture and values with the assumptions of reflective practice currently being written into a new teacher education degree programme. The curriculum that is being developed relies heavily on the notions of reflective practice as a method of professional development. The local culture, political and public institutions are thoroughly inculcated with Arab-Islamic values that may not accord with the assumptions underlying such practices. The author’s concerns are discussed about the trainee teachers’ lifestyle and experiences that may hinder engagement in their own learning processes, as well as the Arab-Islamic codes of behaviour that may pose serious obstacles to the implementation of reflective strategies, especially interactions between men and women and between superior and subordinate within educational settings. The author concludes that reflection, as conceived and implemented in the West, may not be in the best interests of the student teachers if they wish to teach in local schools.

Achieving change through reflective practice: closing the loop

This paper draws on a small scale, exploratory study which was conducted in the clinical area in the early 1990s (Page 1992). The study drew on the principles of reflective practice in order to enable practitioners to identify learning needs in relation to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures. Whilst considerable benefit from the reflective sessions was noted, one unanticipated and unpalatable outcome was what might be termed professional apathy. This was manifest in several ways, most importantly in that issues ‘for action’, identified through reflection, were not prioritised or acted upon. Whilst partial responsibility for this may lie with the somewhat naive way in which the reflective process was facilitated, some responsibility also rests with the nurses in question. One possible explanation is that, for changes in practice to occur, the planning and management of change should form an integral part of the reflective cycle. This point has been largely absent in the reflection literature to date.Such concerns are reviewed here in the context of nurse education’s ongoing involvement with the notion of reflective practice and the role of the educationalist in the clinical area. The current political backdrop of ‘quality initiatives’ to create and demonstrate high standards of clinical care may be useful in advancing the debate.

Reflective Practice in Physiotherapy Education: A critical conversation

Physiotherapy, like many other professions, has adopted the notion of reflective practice as a desirable and necessary attribute of the competent practitioner. This article describes how reflective practice is currently conceptualised and interpreted by practising physiotherapists and undergraduate physiotherapy students. The research, which took the form of qualitative interviews and workshops, highlights both contextual differences in patterns of reflection among practitioners and practical differences in modes of reflection of practitioners and students. Findings are contextualised by reference to the demands of the task-oriented culture characteristic of the current National Health Service. The potential of reflective practice as a social and political tool for practitioners in the workplace, if reconceptualised as a dialogical process, is examined. Although these issues are debated and illustrated with reference to physiotherapy practice, they are likely to have wider relevance for other professions and subject areas within higher education.

The Reflective Practitioner and Teacher Education: an answer to critics

Abstract This article is an attempt to answer some of the criticisms of the notion of reflective practice in teacher education. It is argued that in a democratic society personal autonomy is an important ideal of education, including teacher education, and that therefore the notion of reflective practice should have a central place. The relationship between autonomy and the reflective self is clarified with reference to different models of the self. In the light of this, the purpose of teacher education for autonomy is defined in terms of the nature of the committed as well as the reflective aspects of the self. The argument is further illustrated and elaborated by examining Schb'n's attempt to reintellec‐tualize professional practice through an analysis of the reflective practitioner as artist. In addition to facilitating self‐analysis and reflection, teacher education should raise awareness of the need to produce and reproduce the milieu of democratic reform. In conclusion, the role of the disciplines i...

Qualitative Research, Professional Development and the Role of Teacher Educators: fitness for purpose

AbstractThis paper focuses upon the purposes, prejudices, practices and contexts of those who teach education in all its forms within higher education and schools. It examines some of the difficulties and challenges those in education departments whose significant history is school teaching face in extending their own learning opportunities as part of their moral purposes as professionals engaged in the ‘betterment’ of education, and it will suggest routes for research which might contribute to their thinking and action and thus, ultimately, to the education of students and pupils. There are, of course, examples of tutors in higher education engaging in development through ‘reflective practice’ and of pre‐service teacher education courses which are based upon notions of reflective practice. The purpose of this paper, however, is to examine the roles and responsibilities of teacher educators through an analysis of their historical, social and psychological contexts and, through this, to propose a particular partnership model of qualitative research and development which appears to ‘fit’ closely to purpose.

Models of therapeutic practice amongst first year students: A problem for educators in the health professions?

This paper presents evidence that first year students in the professions allied to medicine come to their course of study with well formed and fiercely defended models of therapeutic practice. These models are essentially traditional, skill based and contingent upon an ethic of cure and they reflect the “technical rationality” of which Schon (1992) speaks. It is argued that such models, which form the students' cognitive schemas, act as a filter or block through which the students accept or reject topics and concepts offered to them. In particular notions of reflective practice, negotiation and partnership and their predicates, psychology, medical sociology and methods of enquiry, may simply be too sophisticated for the student at this stage. It is further argued that reflection does not come naturally and must be introduced at an appropriate time, and carefully instilled and supported in training during initial clinical exposure.