Reflection for career practitioners

Reflection is a core skill practiced by many in social service roles, including career development. It "is conscious, experientially informed thought, at times involving aspects of evaluation, criticality, and problem-solving, and leading to insight, increased awareness, and/or new understanding. As such, reflection can be contrasted with ‘impulsive’ or ‘routine’ decision making that reinforces and embeds current perceptions or practices" (Anderson, 2020, p. 1).

Like the diagram accompanying this post (Wegner et al, 2014), reflection is designed to connect how we feel to theory, then link us out into our practice (Korthagen & Nuijten, 2017). We must remember that our “practice and theory are fundamentally linked” (Robinson & Mogliacci, 2019, p. 17); the routine-ness of our daily practice can erode our connection with theory over time. A good dollop of refresher training usually helps to remind us that we may be in a rut!

Why should we reflect? Because it "is a practice that [we, as] professionals can use to improve practice and [cl]ient care through lifelong learning[, and for our] own professional development. Critical reflection allows [us] to use experiences - our practical knowledge (Wegner et al., 2014) - to create new knowledge that can be used to resolve problems encountered in practice" (Aaron et al., 2021, p. 130). In other words, we use theory to link to our experience and out into our practice (Wegner et al., 2014).  

That is not to say that we are just patching problems with reflection: we need to ensure that the reflection is an authentic process. We could define “authenticity [a]s a commitment to [our] relationship with truth. The authentic […] experience, or person is truthful about” the experience or ourselves (Bialystok, 2017, p. 3), and that translates into authenticity in reflection. In reflection we aim to avoid superficiality, or ‘downloading’ and just going for a fast fix to a perceived problem (Korthagen & Nuijten, 2017), because that will not develop us in our practice. It is, as previously mentioned, just a patch. 

In order to make change we need to go deep: into our motivations; into our barriers; into how we may have contributed to a situation. By undertaking honest “reflection, [we] become aware of [ou]r sense of self, [ou]r beliefs, emotions and strategies of coping with different challenges” (Beauchamp, 2019, p. 13). To learn, we must get personal, to allow our emotions, and to be realistic. We need to bare ourselves to ourselves; to take off our layers of masks.

It takes time to peel back those layers, and to let go of our ego. It is hard to become a beginner again, when we have known mastery. But being a beginner allows us mistakes, it allows us to grow.

And I think all of us want to grow. 

Sam

References:

Aaron, L., Hicks, J., McKnight, A., & Andary, J. (2021). Reflection as a Tool for Personal and Professional Development. Radiologic Technology, 93(2), 130-140. PMID: 34728575.

Anderson, J. (2020). Reflection. ELT Journal, 74(4), 480–483. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa039

Beauchamp, C. (2019). An Exploration of Evolving Approaches to Teacher Identity Revealed in Literature on Teaching from 2010 to 2018. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-20). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.485

Bialystok, L. (2017). Authenticity in Education. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-35). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.168

IAEVG. (2018). International Competencies for Educational and Vocational Guidance Practitioners. International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance. https://iaevg.com/competencies

Korthagen, F. A. J., & Nuijten, E. E. (2017). Core Reflection Approach in Teacher Education. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-17). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.268

Niles, S. G. (2014). Chapter 41 Training Career Practitioners: Opportunities and Challenges. In G. Arulmani, A. J. Bakshi, F. T. L. Leong, & A. G. Watts (Eds) (2014). Handbook of Career Development: International perspectives (pp. 727-740). Springer.

Robinson, M., & Mogliacci, R. J. (2019). Conceptions and Models of Teacher Education. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-25). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.571

Wegner, C., Weber, P., & Ohlberger, S. (2014). Korthagen's ALACT Model: Application and Modification in the Science Project" Kolumbus-Kids". Themes in Science and Technology Education, 7(1), 19-34. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1131057.pdf