1. Critical Thinking and Reflective Learning
Critical thinking and reflective writing are essential element of personal, professional and academic development
What are they? Why important? Models?
Discuss application to academic writing
What is your experience of these?
NB Evidence based practice
Glenys Hook

2. Reflection
“…reflection in the context of learning is a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations”
Boud 1985

3. What is Reflective Practice?
Taking the opportunity to think about the work you are doing, as you do it, or after you have done it.
‘… looking back on an experience and making sense of it to identify what to do in the future.’
(Drew and Bingham, 2001 p221)
‘…do something, think about it what you did, come to conclusions about what you did and plan to try again.’
(Kolb 1984)

4. ‘ The art of writing things down helps you to clarify your thoughts and emotions, to work out strategies, and to focus on your development and progress…’
(Cottrell, 2001 p67)
This can be done in a ‘weblog’, or blog – you will need to:
reflect on personal, academic and professional development
For assessment, keep four entries
Start of module – expectations, skills
Report assessment experiences
Presentation assessment experiences
End of module – the full experience!

5. Why should you be reflective practitioners?
To enable professional development
The ‘knowledge’ economy
Continuous professional development
To maintain quality
Reflecting on what went wrong and why = improvement
Reflecting on what went well and why = good practice
Practitioners have considerable power derived from legislation
Practitioners make difficult professional judgments

6. Reflection
Reflection then includes hard systematic thinking and a soft initiative insight, leading to a plan of action based on critical evaluation of all the available evidence.
Don’t just think about what went wrong/well and why – also plan to improve skills if necessary, or to use those skills in future events

7. Assessment
A 'reflective practitioner' is someone who does something and is automatically reflective
Reviews what happened and asks 'why?', 'how?’, ‘where?’,’ what?‘
What skills can you take forward/ need to improve/develop?
How will I do this?
The best practitioners are constantly learning, evaluating and refining their practice, even after years of experience.
The next stage is to apply what you have learned from one situation to the next
'why?', 'how?’, ‘where?’,’ what?'
What did you do?
Why? / How?
What went well? Why? What skills can you take forward from this into further study?
What went wrong? Why? What skills do you need to improve / develop?
How are you going to do this, and by when?

8. What can reflective practice do for me?
Enhance your self awareness
Develop creative answers to difficulties
Enhance your problem solving skills
Enhance your ability to evaluate
Enhance your ability to action plan for success
Make you an effective manager
Challenge political and philosophical aspects of procedures and policies attempt to shape future policy and practice
Value engaging children in reflecting helping them to develop an insight into their world takes the rights of young children seriously
Developing the skills of a reflective practitioner
Developing critical thinking skills
Learning from observing other people’s practice
Learning through doing
Managing diversity and uncertainty

9. Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984)
Taking stock
What do I know?
Individual
Planning
How can I take my learning further?
Developmental
Reflection
What do I need to know?
Contextual
Current skills, knowledge, attributes ->effect progression
Feedback/ evaluation
How much and how well do I understand?
Relational

10. Reflection on Practice (Ghayle 1998)
Navel Gazing
Learning from the day’s chaos
Talking about what you do with others
Learning from experience
Reasoning
Remembering when
Being honest with yourself
Becoming more aware
Constructive criticism
Improving what you have done
Doing it after a lesson
Understand your feelings
Re-assembling what you do
Questioning yourself
Letting go of personal prejudice
Something done by reflective practitioners
Gaining confidence in your work
Hard work
The latest bandwagon
What you do academically
Dwelling on mistakes
Justifying what you do
Personal growth
Helping you to see what you would or would not do again and why
Good evidence is important
Carefully selected
Represent the standard
Demonstrate competencies of standard
Present professional
Personally meaningful
Paired and relevant
Insightful and relevant

11. Critical Thinking
“An investigation whose purpose is to explore a situation, phenomenon, question, or problem to arrive at a hypothesis or conclusion about it that integrates all available information and that can be therefore be convincingly justified” Kurfiss 1988
Characteristics of critical thinkers:
Active thinkers, knowledgeable of their bases and limitations, fair minded, willing to exert a conscious effort in a themed manner, good communicators, empathic, open minded, honest, independent thinkers, curious and insightful, humble, proactive, organised, systematic, flexible, team players, realistic, creative and committed to excellence Paul 1993
CT can be seen to have three interrelated phases (Brookfield 1990)
Identifying assumptions
Scrutinising accuracy and validity
Reconstituting to make more inclusive and integrative
Continual asking/ questioning of assumptions and facts -> effective as a SCPHN in rapidly changing environment
Synthesis new knowledge -> PH practice
Build on existing practices
CT is a cognitive activity. Learning to think in critically analytical and evaluative ways means using mental processes such as attention, categorisation, selection, judgement

12. CT as a process (Cottrell 2005)
Identify other people’s positions/ arguments/ conclusions
Evaluate the evidence for alternative points of view
Weigh up opposing arguments/ evidence fairly
Read between the lines
Identify false/ inaccurate assumptions
Recognise techniques to make certain positions appealing
Reflect on issues in a structured way, bringing logic to bear
Draw conclusions- valid/ justified
Present a point of view
Identify other people’s positions/ arguments/ conclusions
Evaluate the evidence for alternative points of view
Weigh up opposing arguments/ evidence fairly
Read between the lines, seeing behind the surfaces
Identify false/ inaccurate assumptions
Recognise techniques to make certain positions appealing than others, eg false logic and persuasive devices
Reflect on issues in a structured way, bringing logic to bear
Draw conclusions- valid/ justified, based on good evidence and sensible arguments
Present a point of view in a structured, clear, well reasoned way that convinces others
Ennis (1987)
Ability to reflect sceptically
Ability to think in a reasoned way

13. Benefits Stimulates enquiry, increases self awareness.
Improved attention and observation
Integration of theory and practice
New and expanded knowledge
Safe and effective practitioners
Protection of the public
Context of practice
Changing needs
Ownership and responsibility
Ability to identify key points in a text/ message
Stimulates enquiry,
increases self awareness.
Develops analytical skills
Encourages learning
Assists practice teachers in analysing the quality of the student’s competencies
Implications for future practice.
Focused reading
Ability to respond to appropriate points in a message
Active experience- always developing
Observations and reflections are interpreted and translated through cognitive processes to become new and expanded knowledge, thus leading to safe and effective practice in ensuring that the protection of the public is assured
Learning through reflection is always in the context of practice and in recognising that reflective processes lead to a fuller understanding of the work environment and barriers that limit potential
Development of a sense of ownership and responsibility -> responsive and resourceful
Role models of PTs/ PEs- observe, across professionals, settings, different groups -> critically review own practice
Benchmarks
Learning through doing

14. Barriers to Critical Thinking (Cottrell 2005)
Misunderstanding of what is meant by criticism
Over estimating personal reasoning abilities
Lack of methods, strategies, practice
Reluctance to critique experts
Affective reasons
Mistaking information for understanding
Insufficient focus and attention to detail
Misunderstanding of what is meant by criticism- criticism does not equate to negative comments. Critical evaluation = identify positives as well as negative aspects- what works as well as what does not. ‘unpleasant’ person... NB Feedback that can lead to improvement
Over estimating personal reasoning abilities. Thinking is often automatic. Humans are not always rational beings. Winning an argument does not always mean we have presented the best case – perhaps a poor case not recognised. Imprecise, inaccurate, illogical thinking does not help to develop the mental abilities required for higher level academic and professional work
Lack of methods, strategies, practice. With practice, most people can develop their skills
Reluctance to critique experts. Natural anxiety. It is difficult to be asked to offer criticism of practitioners/ authors who they know to be more expert than themselves
Affective reasons. More than one way of looking at anything. In academic contexts, the implications of a theory can challenge deeply held beliefs and long held assumptions. Difficult to accept irrespective of intelligence
Mistaking information for understanding. Learning is a process that develops understanding and insight. Students can misunderstand teaching methods, preferring facts/ answers rather than skills
Insufficient focus and attention to detail. Precision and accuracy which requires good attention to detail. Focus on task in hand
Which of the above affect your CT abilities?
How do you manage these and will in this year?

15. Models Critical Analysis (Edwards 1998) Re-evaluation (Boud 1985)
Reflection in and On Action (Schőn 1987)
Gibbs 1998
Driscoll 1994
Johns 1995
Many
Critical analysis- Edwards 1998: agreeing, presenting new point of view, conceding, reformulating, dismissing, rejecting, reconciling, retracting, choosing, originality
Re-evaluation Boud 1985: association (relating new data), Integration (seeking relationship), Validation (determining authenticity), Appropriation (making knowledge one’s own) ,

16. Reflecting in and on Action (Schőn 1987)
In Action:
practising, influences decisions and care at that moment,
Promotes skilled and flexible responses of the expert practitioner
On Action:
After the event, views different interventions, adds knowledge
Promotes development of professional skills and knowledge

17. Gibbs reflective cycle ( 1998)
Description – what happened?
Feelings- what were you thinking and feeling?
Evaluation- what was good and bad about the experience?
Analysis: what sense can you make of the situation?
Conclusion- what else could you have done?
Action plan- if it arose again what would you do?

18. Driscoll’s model of reflection ( 1994)
WHAT?
Returning to the situation
SO WHAT?
Understanding the context
NOW WHAT?
Modifying future outcomes

19. Barriers Matter of choice Adoption of a reflective approach
Organisational structure which inhibits rather than encourages reflection
Resistance to change
Lack of time
Past negative experiences/ presumptions
Lack of self awareness/ intervening skills
Other’s expectations
Negative factors which impede learning

21. References and Bibliography
Boud D, Keogh R& Walker I edit (1985) Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning. London Kogan Page
Cottrell S. (2005) Critical Thinking Skills. Basingstoke. Palgrave Macmillan
Edwards SL (1998) Critical thinking and analysis: a model for writing assignments. BJN 7(3)
Gibbs G (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. London FEU
Driscoll JJ (1994) Reflective Practice for Practise- a framework of structured reflection for clinical areas. Senior Nurse 14 (1) 47-50
Ghaye A & Ghaye K (1998) Teaching and Learning through Critical Reflective Practice. London Fulton Publishers
Johns C (1995) The value of reflective practice for Nursing. JCN 4,

22. References and Bibliography
Johns C (2000) Becoming a reflective Practitioner. Oxford Blackwell Science
Kolb DA (1984) Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey Prentice Hall.
Moon J (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning: theory and practice. London Routledge Falmer
Osterman K& Kottkamp R () Reflective Practice for Educators. 2nd edit. California Corwin Press
Palmer AM, Burns S& Bulman C (1994) Rrflective Practice in Nursing: the growth of the professional practitioner. Oxford Blackwell Science
Scaife J (2010) Supervising the reflective Practitioner: an essential guide to theory and practice. London Routledge
Schőn DA (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco Jossey Bass.
Thompson S& Thompson N (2008) The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan