There are numerous ways in which practitioners might reflect on their practice, with many models of reflection being firmly embedded in the reflective landscape: such as Kolb’s (1984) cyclical model of experience, reflect, conceptualise, experiment, experience; and Gibbs’ (1988) model, also cyclical, of description, feeling, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.
Engaging in reflective activity enables a close look at the motivations, thoughts and feelings that have informed every action, and explores what has shaped that understanding and who or what has tried to influence that thinking. What reflection should not be is a mechanism for criticising. All too often, reflective activity can start a cycle of self-criticism that is unhelpful; asking oneself what did not go well and why that might be makes practitioners anxious and they can begin to lose their confidence.
We asked leaders to think about challenges they had recently faced in their leadership.
Jacky: The importance of emotional well-being
Jacky uses her reflection to explore an often ignored aspect of leadership: the importance of the emotional well-being of the leader.
Research on reflective practice has shown that many professionals do not see the relationship between theory and practice (Ruch, 2002; Saltiel, 2003), meaning that knowledge becomes divorced from experience – what Schön (1983) calls technical rationality where values, prejudices and assumptions go unnoticed and unchallenged. Poor practice, even dangerous practice, may well ensue as no-one has taken the time to reflect, think and plan, and thus their decision-making process may be flawed and ineffective. Had Jacky not used the theoretical frameworks she chose to employ, her action plan may have been quite different and may have been less appropriate and helpful to the children and staff.
Jacky’s account
‘A few years ago, I found myself in a situation where the group of children attending my practice were unsettled and I couldn’t identify the reason. I had a feeling that the sessions could have gone better (my reflection on action skills kicking in). I found the answer, quite unexpectedly, in a book I was reading about a year in the life of an experienced teacher. The book described the teacher’s feelings about her class at different points in time. Reflecting on this, I made a connection between my nagging doubts and the Stages of Group Development, identified as forming, storming, norming, performing and mourning, a construct that I had encountered on a previous training course.
‘My feelings of unease were from the dynamics of a new group of children coming together, finding out about each other and testing the boundaries of the practice. My awareness of this challenging stage was heightened because it followed the calmer “forming” stage at the beginning of term, during which the children were finding their way in a new environment. Looking back, I also identified that my thoughts were influenced by my experiences of the previous group of children. During the summer term the group had progressed to the “performing” stage; they were a happy group that worked well together, creating a rich and fertile learning environment. My current children were not yet at this stage.
‘In due course all groups will move into the “norming” stage, where teamwork, respect and collaborative experiences begin to emerge. This then develops into the “performing” stage, that wonderful period where the children “own” their learning and development, shaping and directing their play through creative thought and independent selection of resources. Each of the stages of group development is important to the children’s learning and development.
‘The challenge for the practitioner is to refrain from wishing that the valuable “storming” stage will pass quickly. In “child time”, which always seems to pass more quickly than standard time, the norming and performing stages fly by, and all too quickly “mourning” arrives. This is the transition period into formal schooling which should be marked as a celebration of the children’s progress.
‘Understanding potential flashpoints in practice and potential periods of high challenge helps you to develop coping strategies.’
Sue: The interrelatedness of principles and action
Sue has a different method of reflection – using a visual map to help her see what is important in her setting.
As Sue is new to the setting and unsure of the quality of the relationships she has made with a staff group who have been used to a very different leadership style (previously a directive manner rather than her democratic style), her visual reflective diagram is useful to communicate the idea of an underlying thinking about and creation of a forum for discussion and, ultimately, full ownership of the changes that need to happen.
Sue’s account
‘I believe very strongly that outside play should be available to children every day and one of the challenges I was faced with when I first became manager was how to ensure this. Under previous management, the outside areas were only made available to the children at set times of the day and quite often only in fine weather.
‘For me, free-flow play is a better way of supporting children to pursue their own interests and so I wanted to establish it as soon as possible. In my previous setting we had a large outside space which children could access directly from the classroom and so free-flow play was easy to support. In my new setting, accessing the outside space is rather more problematic. There are three areas in total with only two of them being accessible from the main building and only one of them directly from the classroom. The third area available to us is the church garden, but it can only be accessed by taking the children out of the main premises.
‘I began by seeking the opinions of the team and was pleased to discover they were unanimously in favour of change, but were concerned about the reactions of parents, some of whom did not like their children getting dirty. We decided to send out a letter explaining the changes being made and the reasons, quoting research evidence for the health benefits of outside play. I drew up a plan for how I thought we could best use the different areas to support the different groups of children, and then we opened the doors and let the children go.
‘Almost immediately problems began to occur. The children loved having free access to the outside and for two weeks I do not think I saw a single child inside the building, but the adults found this new way of working very stressful. We also had complaints from parents about the state of their children’s clothes and from members of the church because they now did not have free access to the back door to the church. It also became evident that the equipment for outside learning was not suitable for the children currently in the setting. I began to realise that my initial decision was based on incomplete information and that I needed to have a rethink.
‘In order to understand the problem more fully, I decided to look at each of the issues that had arisen as a single piece of a larger puzzle. By doing this, I began to see that one of the mistakes I had made was in approaching the task in a linear manner. By looking at the problem in terms of a puzzle, I can now see that many of the issues are linked and therefore will need to be tackled simultaneously.
‘Four themes began to emerge, the first of these being the need to think more carefully about how to meet the needs of the three groups of children: the two-year-olds, the three- and four-year-olds, and the children with additional needs. At the same time I will need to think about how to promote outside play with the parents and ensure the children and adults are dressed appropriately for the weather. These two issues are clearly connected but also link to the issue of keeping the building warm while still keeping the outside accessible to the children. The third and fourth aspects that I need to think about are safety and resourcing.
‘At the moment, free-flow play is on hold while we work through the issues I have highlighted above. The staff team is still fully on board with the idea, especially having seen the reaction of the children, but they are finding the lack of certainty quite challenging.’
FURTHER READING
This is an edited extract from Quality and Leadership in the Early Years:
Research, Theory and Practice by Verity Campbell-Barr and Caroline Leeson (2016, Sage Publications).
Use the code UK16AUTHOR for 25 per cent off at https://uk.sagepub.com, valid until 31 August.
