Reflective Tool Research Articles

Recovery Colleges (RCs) are increasingly implemented worldwide, with a fidelity measure recently developed in the United Kingdom (UK). However, RCs may vary based on their operating contexts. In the Netherlands, a key deviation is that RCs are often peer-run rather than co-produced with mental healthcare providers, as outlined in the fidelity measure. This study assessed the measure's suitability in the Dutch context, leading to the development of a reflection tool (Phase 1) which was subsequently evaluated (Phase 2). The development phase involved focus groups with peer facilitators and coordinators from 16 RCs (N = 29) to capture critical elements of Dutch RCs. The tool was piloted (N = 5) and evaluated more broadly (N = 24). The tool provided valuable insights, highlighting shared values among RCs internationally and conceptual differences between Dutch and UK models. The findings raised questions about the boundaries of fidelity in co-created contexts such as RCs.

ABSTRACT This article explores speculative storytelling as a participatory method for digital placemaking, drawing on the Future Huyton project in the UK. Combining creative workshops with augmented reality (AR) and transmedia design, the project invited local residents to imagine alternative futures for their town, using narrative as a low-threshold, culturally resonant medium for civic engagement. The study examines how participants’ lived experiences and aspirations were expressed through fictional stories that contributed to a collective reimagining of place. Emphasizing the role of storytelling as both a creative and reflective tool, the project highlights how communities can engage with digital placemaking beyond consultation, through processes grounded in local identity and vision. Through this lens, the article contributes to emerging debates on participatory design, co-creation, and the integration of narrative methods in community-led urban innovation.

The article examines the manifestation of visitors’ media competencies at the Arkaim Museum-Reserve through photography practices and interaction with the memorative landscape. The empirical basis of the study includes data from a visitor survey conducted during expeditions in 2023-2024, supplemented by thick descriptions from participant observation. The methodology incorporates visual analysis of photographs of Arkaim, correlated with respondents’ answers. The aim of the work is to identify how media competencies are manifested and curtailed in a sacred space.The analysis reveals that visitors’ media practices are predominantly personal rather than communicative. Photography serves as a tool for reflection and preservation of an emotional connection to the place, rather than for creating content for subsequent publication and dissemination. Respondents’ visual attention is focused on panoramic natural objects (mountains, steppe, sunrises), rather than archaeological or social scenes. Within the memorative landscape, media competencies manifest through a conscious limitation of communication, turning photography into a practice of enhancing personal memory rather than public representation.

Enjoyment is key in primary school physical education (PE), yet ensuring enjoyable PE experiences for all children is challenging. Reflection may help teachers improve lesson quality and foster PE enjoyment. This cross-sectional study explored Dutch primary school teachers' perspectives on enjoyable PE and reflective practices. An online questionnaire was completed by 173 teachers (70.5% PE specialists, 29.5% generalists) who teach at least one PE lesson per week. Teacher type differences were analyzed using Chi-square tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and logistic regressions. Perspectives on reflective practices were similar among teacher types. Generalists reported more teacher- and policy-related barriers to providing enjoyable PE, while specialists cited child-related challenges. Most teachers reflected internally, with limited use of written reflection or feedback from children and colleagues. Specialists used professional networks and peer feedback more. Time constraints and low prioritization were key barriers to reflection. Schools should allocate time and promote reflection tools. Generalists could benefit from coaching and targeted professional development. For specialists, teacher education might foster reflective practices using video and child feedback to improve child outcomes like PE enjoyment. Tailored strategies are needed to strengthen reflection and improve PE quality to foster children's PE enjoyment.

Ongoing professional learning and engaging in practitioner-based research are characteristic qualities of teachers’ transformative professionalism. Autoethnography may align with the objectives of promoting autonomous adult learning through systematic reflection to enhance professional practice. Through an autoethnographic method, I generate a vignette disseminating my experiences as a public school teacher engaging in autoethnography as a reflective professional learning strategy to bolster my pedagogical/collegial practices. Findings generated via my reflective inquiry demonstrated that autoethnography may advance teachers’ transformative professionalism through autonomous exercise of knowledge and self-directed learning, and may bridge the gaps between theory and praxis in educational contexts. However, my vignette further revealed the confining tensions in which organizational professionalism ideology may simultaneously control and impede the scope, content, and dissemination of teachers’ autoethnographies, resulting in subtle forms of self-censorship. Further, this study generates new methodological insights into the procedural construction of a teacher’s autoethnography, specifically revealing the ethical challenges I navigated as a teacher engaging in autoethnography, a process that necessitated difficult decision-making regarding my own willingness to be occupationally vulnerable and measures to safeguard students’ confidentiality. Consequent to this inquiry, I generated practical recommendations to guide teachers interested in engaging autoethnography as a learning reflection tool and outline considerations to ensure authors’ physical, emotional, and occupational safety.

Abstract In an era marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, organizational leaders, researchers, and practitioners are increasingly called upon to navigate difficult dialogues that can shape workplace culture and performance. This manuscript introduces the ORANGE framework—a practical, reflective tool designed to foster psychologically safe environments for addressing challenging conversations in adult learning and professional settings. ORANGE is an acronym for Observe, Respect, Assume, Navigate, Generate, and Empower, each representing a stage in a facilitative process that promotes empathy, shared understanding, and constructive problem-solving. Grounded in adult learning theory and supported by reflection prompts, the framework invites users to engage with interpersonal tensions through a lens of curiosity and collaboration rather than judgment or avoidance. This article outlines the theoretical foundations and practical applications of the ORANGE framework, shares lessons learned from leadership development contexts, and offers actionable guidance for instructional designers, faculty, administrators, and graduate students who aim to foster more effective and responsive learning and working environments. The discussion concludes with implications for advancing professional practice within organizations and educational institutions.

ABSTRACT The present study aims to explore the author’s identity formation as an Iranian transnational teacher educator (TE) over two years of residence in Istanbul, Türkiye. Data were collected from 12 critical autoethnographic narratives (CANs) written by the author in the given period. The data analysis was conducted using the transnational ecological framework in which three layers emerged: micro-transnational, meso-transnational, and macro-transnational. The results revealed that his identity construction was influenced by different factors in three levels of the transnational ecological framework. The results of this study can motivate transnational TEs to identify commonalities with the concepts explored in this study and record their lived experiences as a tool for reflection. There are also implications for transnational TEs’ professional development, encouraging reflection on their identity formation, and providing a model for the creation and collection of their own CANs to enhance their understanding of diverse cultural and educational contexts.

This article presents findings from an observational study of Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) practice carried out in an urban Local Authority within England in 2016, exploring decision making during Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 assessments. Themes identified included the ways in which AMHPs navigate the complexities of the role and the impact contextual pressures can have on AMHP resilience and wellbeing. The findings lend themselves to a pictorial aid that can also be used as a reflective tool to explore AMHP practice. This tool is presented as the analogy of a journey, with an accompanying narrative setting out the nuances and complexity of the AMHP role. It is argued that this reflective tool supports practice, providing opportunity for AMHPs to reflect on their role. It can also aid an understanding of the challenges experienced by AMHPs which can inform workforce development and the support that organisations put in place for practitioners.

A zine, pronounced ‘zeen’, is a small-circulation, self-published, often free, inexpensive, or traded print booklet (Bindery, n.d.). Through this creative track, art media project, the artist, zinester, LIS educator and scholar, Dr. Abigail Phillips, provides space for exploring themes of identity, representation, advocacy, and epistemological justice. Zines and zine-making – the unconventional openness, joyful self-expression, and revolutionary spirit – will encourage attendees to scrutinize how LIS pedagogy ignores the voices of marginalized communities (Zine Librarians Interest Group, n.d.). Zine collections are common to find in school libraries, academic libraries, public libraries, community archives, and digital libraries (Queer Zine Archive Project, n.d.). This creative track project, Decoding the Catalog, invites attendees to interrogate how traditional cataloging schemes, classification, and related practices often reinforce structures of power, privilege, and exclusion (Wrekk, 2020). The collection itself will be composed of 7 to 10 zines, forming an interactive print media art exhibit during which attendees can handle, read, pass around, photograph, and generally engage with the zines. Copies of each zines within the collection will be available for attendees to freely take and share. In combination with the collection itself, an area will be set up for those at the session to create a zine(s) to further explore the focus of the presented zine collection, the conference theme, or whatever they are inspired to create. The DIY, activism driven, and introspective nature of zines, zine making, and zine culture help motivate action, critique, discussion, and brainstorming as part of LIS courses, scholarship, and our field broadly. The beginnings of this movement librarianship, library work, and education, including zine making and sharing, are already underway (LIS Mental Health, 2023). Emerging LIS scholarship, teaching, and advocacy demonstrates ongoing discussions around support and change—a momentum reflected in the 2025 ALISE conference theme. Viewing zines as tools for critical reflection, deconstruction, unlearning, and creative expression contributes to evolving LIS pedagogy into more equitable, accessible, and empathetic practices.

Background/Aims High maternal mortality for women from ethnic minorities has been partly attributed to a lack of education and training in cultural competency. This study's aim was to examine student midwives’ perception of cultural awareness, knowledge, skills and comfort in caring for patients and families from diverse populations. Methods A modified clinical cultural competency questionnaire was completed by 143 student midwives at 49 UK universities. The data were analysed using descriptive inferential statistics, multivariable linear regression and thematic analysis. Findings Overall, 93% of participants classified anti-racism training as ‘very important’, although 89.5% reported no awareness of resources to support understanding of anti-racist behaviours. Black Caribbean/African students were more likely to report higher cultural competency compared with White British students. Conclusions This study demonstrated training gaps in UK midwifery education in relation to cultural competency. Greater efforts are needed to ensure a workforce that provides equitable care and reduces health inequalities. Implications for practice Midwifery educators should be trained to facilitate cultural competency and anti-racist conversations and educate students holistically. They also need to be aware of how to use reflection tools and inclusive training. Training should be part of continued professional development for midwives throughout their career.

In the debates about late peripheral modernisation, Roberto Schwarz established the objective form (1991) as a construct that provides the rhythmic and invisible links between the socio-historical and aesthetic domains. According to Schwarz, it consists of a form that encompasses "a practical-historical substance" (1991) or, as he would later say, that acts as the "social nerve of the art form" (1997). By connecting the preexisting social experience and the aesthetically constructed form, the objective formfunctions as a social contract legitimising the aesthetic form. Socially and historically commissioned by a collective and impersonal subject, this construct distinguishes itself from postmodern eclecticism model, which does not connect itself to the historical process. The objective formoffers critical intelligibility before the historical-social matter only if and when, taken as an intrinsic form within the aesthetic sphere; in other words, the problem of the aesthetic condensation of social rhythms reasserts itself concretely and incessantly — in production and reception — whenever it is necessary to retrace the reciprocal links between artistic and socio-historical forms. Thus, the exercise of aesthetic intuition and critical reflection, in interaction with artwork materials, is crucial to the objectification and explicitness of the synthesis with the socio-historical matter — which, otherwise, is ungraspable in the intrinsic connections of perception and reflection with historical objectivity and dynamics. In short, some things only emerge in art, making it an indispensable tool for dialectical historical reflection. In this sense, this work seeks to revisit some critical responses that Brazilian art and architecture (Antonio Dias, Amilcar de Castro, and Mendes da Rocha) provided to the civil-military coup of 1964 and the accelerated late modernisation that followed. Finally, it also reexamines the contemporary installation Roda Gigante(2019, Carmela Gross) — a negative architectural construct that synthesised the tragic Brazilian moment under the ultraright rule with rare clarity and epic poignancy.

Abstract Background Despite growing concern over mental health challenges and suicide risk among students, these topics remain underrepresented in public health education. This workshop addresses the lack of structured, inclusive, and practice-oriented teaching on mental well-being and suicide prevention. It builds on a successful pilot at University College Dublin (UCD), where 64 postgraduate students from 28 countries engaged in experiential learning rooted in neuroscience, stress physiology, and resilience-building. This model directly aligns with Domains 2 and 3 of the ASPHER Core Curriculum for Public Health. Objectives 1. Present a flexible, ASPHER-aligned framework for embedding mental well-being and suicide prevention in public health curricula. 2. Demonstrate selected experiential practices (e.g., guided breathwork, reflective tools) used in the UCD pilot. 3. Engage participants in small-group reflection on priorities for integrating mental well-being into teaching. 4. Explore opportunities for institutional adaptation and co-development. Added value This is the first ASPHER-relevant skills-based workshop that brings together public mental health, emotional resilience, and suicide prevention in an academic context. It offers a unique dual approach: combining validated tools (PSS-10, WHO-5) with embodied practices and lived student experiences. The format supports participants to critically reflect on curricular needs while gaining exposure to practical strategies they can adapt. Its flexible model supports multicultural, international, and trauma-informed learning environments. Coherence The workshop flows from insights drawn from the UCD pilot into a brief theoretical framing of experiential pedagogy. Participants then engage in a guided practice, followed by small-group co-design of module components. This sequence evidence, experience, and collaborative design mirrors the original UCD model and concludes with a call for institutional collaboration. Format The session opens with two concise inputs: first, an overview of the UCD pilot highlighting the integration of mental well-being into postgraduate public health education; second, a framing on why experiential learning is essential in suicide prevention and resilience teaching. Participants then engage in a guided neuro-resilience practice (e.g., breathwork or grounding) to experience a core method from the pilot. They then form small groups to co-design what a mental well-being and suicide prevention module could look like in their own context-exploring elements like practical tools, theory-application balance, and cultural relevance. Groups share key insights in a final plenary. The session concludes with takeaways and an open invitation to collaborate with the lead facilitator to adapt the model locally, contributing to broader efforts to embed mental well-being in public health education across Europe. Key messages • Suicide prevention and emotional resilience are teachable skills and should be embedded in every public health curriculum. • Experiential and inclusive learning approaches are key to building psychological safety in global classrooms. Speakers/Panellists Jwenish Kumawat University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Mary Codd University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Karl F Conyard University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland

People living in prison (PLP) face profound health inequities, with disproportionately high rates of mental health conditions, communicable diseases, and limited access to health-related knowledge. These challenges are exacerbated by social exclusion, institutional constraints, and a lack of training for custodial staff. This presentation explores a participatory intervention carried out in a correctional centre in Pisa, Italy, as part of a broader European initiative (EU-funded PARTNER project) to promote health literacy as a tool for agency, inclusion, and reflection. Using participatory co-creation methods, the programme created safe and inclusive spaces where participants could explore their own definitions of health, share experiences, and contribute to the development of culturally and contextually appropriate health education materials. These sessions prioritised relational reciprocity and fostered conditions for emotional and cognitive engagement, recognising participants not just as learners, but as contributors to a shared understanding of health. Through peer dialogue, storytelling, and interactive techniques, participants were encouraged to reflect critically on their present and imagine future trajectories. This process of personal and collective authorship helped restore a sense of continuity in environments often defined by fragmentation, disempowerment, and institutional control. The intervention also involved correctional staff, highlighting the importance of relational dynamics in shaping health behaviours and attitudes within carceral environments. By positioning health literacy as both a right and a relational process, this intervention shows how participatory methods can support empowerment and inclusion in structurally excluded settings. The experience highlights the transformative potential of engaging people not just as targets of education, but as active co-creators of meaning, identity, and care.

Abstract Managing unintentional insider threat (UIT)—inadvertent mistakes and errors that cause cyber breaches—remains a serious challenge to organisations and businesses. In previous work (Khan et al. in Cognit Technol Work 24:1–29, 2021) we developed a sociotechnical framework for UIT consisting of 45 elements arranged in six categories called ‘pillars’ (for e.g. technical cyber defences, user vulnerabilities, processes, knowledge sharing etc.). In the present paper we report the use of a web-based assessment tool that embodied this model and conducted a mixed methods study to examine its effectiveness as a tool for reflecting on these challenges and the consideration of future organisational responses. Senior leaders were invited to engage with the web-based assessment tool (hosted via a website) for a three-hour session to explore the application of the previously developed sociotechnical framework to identify where participants believed their organisation lay in terms of maturity. Attitudes were assessed through semantic scales and semi-structured interviews pre- and post-session that used the lens of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour to explore attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control around the cybersecurity issues identified. It was found that organisations view informal peer structures as beneficial and invest in individual development if it is relevant to the job function already being performed by individuals. Organisations also showed aspirations to continuously improve the state of their technical and sociotechnical defences through investing in people and better technologies. Potential areas for improvement of the assessment tool’s inputs were also identified. We conclude that the web-based tool that was developed from the framework is an effective intervention to change planned behaviour for safeguarding against UIT. More broadly, the work demonstrates how an empirically derived framework for understanding human behaviour can be extended as a tool for reflection and determining future actions to improve organisational safety and security measures.

This study explores the use of photovoice as a reflective practice tool for early childhood student teachers in a teacher preparation program. Reflective practice is crucial for professional growth, yet traditional journaling often feels disconnected from real-world experiences for student teachers. Photovoice, which encourages participants to capture and reflect on meaningful classroom moments through photography, offers an engaging alternative. This research investigates the aspects of student teaching that candidates find reflective, how their images express satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and how group discussions develop shared understanding. Using a constructivist framework, seven student teachers participated in a semester-long photovoice project. Data were collected through over 350 images, descriptions, and four group discussions. Findings reveal four key reflective themes: instructional resources, student engagement, classroom environment, and relationships. While photovoice enhanced critical reflection and community building, participants were hesitant to openly discuss negative experiences, reflecting challenges in developing self-assessment. The study concludes that photovoice holds significant promise for enriching reflective practice in teacher education by integrating visual analysis and group dialogue and recommends its inclusion in teacher preparation curricula as a strategy for fostering critical reflection and community building. Received: 2 February 2025 | Revised: 3 June 2025 | Accepted: 12 September 2025 Conflicts of Interest The author declares that she has no conflicts of interest to this work. Data Availability Statement The data that support this work are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author. Author Contribution Statement Amy Kelly: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration.

This study evaluates pre-service science teachers’ conceptual understanding of global warming using the Content Representation (CoRe) instrument. A descriptive design was employed with purposive sampling of second-year science education students. Data were gathered through eight CoRe prompts eliciting essential concepts, rationales, instructional sequencing, student considerations, decision factors, assessment strategies, and anticipated challenges. Responses were scored with a four-level rubric to derive profiles of strengths and weaknesses. Findings indicate overall understanding at a medium yet tending-to-low level; participants could identify core ideas and justify relevance, but struggled to organize coherent conceptual sequences, connect student context to instructional decisions, and articulate specific indicators of understanding. These results underscore the need to strengthen mechanism-based content knowledge, assessment literacy for conceptual understanding, and evidence-informed practice through microteaching and data-analysis tasks. The study recommends integrating CoRe as a structured reflection tool within teacher education curricula.

In many Indonesian EFL classrooms, students still rely on teacher-directed, exam-oriented routines with limited explicit instruction on self-regulated learning. Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies are critical for academic success, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In Indonesia, however, there remains limited research on the deep learning self-regulation strategies used by EFL learners and the impact of gender and academic grade level. This study explores the deep learning self-regulation strategies Indonesian higher education students use in learning English, focusing on gender and grade level differences. Using the Deep Learning Strategies Questionnaire (DLS-Q) and semi-structured interviews, the results show a moderate use of SRL strategies, with Basic Learning Strategies being the most frequent. These strategies involve task planning, goal setting, and self-monitoring. Summarizing and activating prior knowledge were more often utilized by male students through Basic Learning and Deep Information Processing Strategies compared to female students. On the other hand, females appeared to prefer Social Strategies such as group discussions and collaboration with peers. These, along with the lack of variation with grade level, were not significant from a statistical standpoint. This research proposes that employing Deep Learning Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies, using visuals and reflective tools, may enhance student engagement during EFL instruction.

Learning how Systems Engineers (SEs) make architectural design decisions in real-world settings is challenging due to the involvement of interdisciplinary stakeholders, shifting priorities, and multiple trade-offs often across extended project timelines. While interviews, observations, and participatory sessions provided valuable insights in our research, they fell short of capturing the nuanced decision-making patterns, challenges encountered, and strategies adopted by SEs. To address this gap, we developed “Decision Pathways” a board game designed to recreate realistic SE design conditions in a structured and observable environment. Decision Pathways is a team-based, one-hour game where participants take on the role of SEs tasked with designing a system architecture. Gameplay involves selecting a knowledge pathway, navigating stakeholder networks, identifying and purchasing knowledge cards within a limited budget, and adapting architectural designs in response to evolving constraints. All decisions are made under time pressure, and the game concludes with each team presenting a physical architecture canvas. The game is structured around the Octalysis framework to ensure player engagement through motivational drivers such as time scarcity, ownership, unpredictability, constraints, and collaborative challenge. Following iterative design refinement and a pilot with 10 cross-disciplinary PhD researchers, the game was implemented with 54 practicing Systems Engineers from high-tech industry. The sessions yielded rich data on decision-making patterns, organization-wide considerations, knowledge identification and use, and team dynamics including the challenges faced and strategies adopted. Participant feedback validated the game’s realism and identified its value beyond research as a training and reflection tool for both novice and experienced SEs. This paper details the conceptual foundations, design methodology, core mechanics, and empirical insights from "Decision Pathways." The research demonstrates how simulation-based board games can effectively support engineering research, professional development, and reflective practice while offering novel perspectives on complex decision environments. The implementation and results gives ideas for broader applications in systems thinking education and engineering design training.

ABSTRACT Background Acting in a changing world demands a holistic understanding of complex phenomena. Teacher education must therefore equip candidates with both knowledge and skills in integrative teaching and learning. Purpose This study investigates how integrative teaching and learning are reflected in the curricula of Finnish primary teacher education programs during the academic year 2024–2025. Methods The curricula of ten Finnish primary teacher education programs were analyzed using both data-driven and theory-guided content analysis. Results Five categories of courses reflect integrative teaching and learning: explicitly designed courses, subject-specific courses, integrative courses, studies in educational theory, and supervised teaching practice. These revealed four main approaches to integration: general integration, curriculum-driven integration, subject-based integration, and transdisciplinary integration. Conclusions The findings provide tools for reflection and curriculum development in primary teacher education.

Video recording as a data collection method in vulnerable populations - methodological and ethical considerations