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Theories in relation to professional discussion, Early Years Educator

Good evening, Im Shannon, currently studying my Level 3 for the Early Years Educator. As part of my Early Years Educator course I have been asked to research theoretical perspectives on reflection to professional development and share the summary of my findings with others on an online forum. I have chosen to write about Kolb’s learning cycle and Gibbs reflective cycle.

What are your thoughts on these? Do you have any other theories that would help in relation to professional development?
Reply 1
Hi, my name is Summer and I work in an Early Years setting in London. I am nearing the end of my CACHE level 3 Early Years Educator Course and would love to engage in discussions about the main theoretical perspectives on professional development. I have been learning about the reflective practices of Kolb and Gibbs and am curious to hear other viewpoints and/or theories on reflective practice. Here is what I know so far:

Kolb
Kolb suggested that for effective learning, four processes need to take place:

Concrete Experience - The doing (for example, recently I taught my class how to play a game)

Reflective Observation - Reviewing and reflecting (I then thoughts about the elements of the game worked well and which didn’t work so well as the activity wasn’t completely successful)

Abstract Conceptualisation - Developing new ideas (I then came up with new, more effective ways of teaching game, for example I simplified it, making it more age appropriate for the class)

Active Experimentation: Putting the new idea into practice (I then played the game again with the new changes. The children were able to understand and enjoy the game better this time)

Even once changes are made, we may need to continue to reflect in order to make it as successful as we can. Kolb’s learning style is described as a cycle because it is good practice to repeat the cycle to continually learn and improve practice as highlighted in the EYFS.

Gibbs
Gibbs adapted Kolb’s cycle to create a more structured approach which helps adults to reflect on their responses to situations. It guides adults through two more stages and helps adults to come to a conclusion about how they can respond and act differently to the same situation in the future.

The stages are:
DESCRIPTION - What happened? Give an objective account.
FEELINGS - What were you thinking and feeling before and after the event? How did you feel at the the time?
EVALUATION - What was good/bad about the experience? What did I and others around me contribute to the situation?
ANALYSIS - What sense can you make of what happened?
CONCLUSION - What can you conclude from this? What can be learnt from the experience. During this stage, changes to working practice are considered to obtain a positive outcome in future.
ACTION PLAN - What are you going to do now to change the way you work? This could form part of a professional development plan.

Both of these theories are certainly useful in improving professional development and practice. Personally I prefer Gibbs’ reflective cycle as it encourages you to reflect deeper and take accountability for your actions within a particular scenario. It also gives support in enabling you to gain closure on a situation and move forward, bringing to light where you can improve and develop your practice.

What are your views? Are there any other theories that you prefer which relate to reflection in professional practice?

I look forward to reading your responses,
Summer
Hi both,

I am about to finish my level 3 and am looking for a discussion for this question also. Below are my thoughts on the main theorists with regards to professional development and how they impact my practice.

In any role not just in the early years sector it is of great benefit to regularly reflect on your own work and look in depth and analyse certain areas so strengths and weaknesses can be identified. This analysis allows one to think about all of the elements to the practice and what can be changed to improve this overall. The two theorists that are of interest talk about a reflective practice in a learning cycle. This allows for changes to be made and these changes reviewed and reflected on and changed yet again to continually be working on improving ones professional development.
The two theories that have influenced and helped people to understand reflective practice are as follows.
*David Kolb suggests that learning is an integrated process where each stage becomes mutually supportive of and feeds into the next stage. Kolb believes it is possible to enter the cycle at any stage and follow it through it’s logical sequence. Kolb’s model of learning consists of 4 stage.
Stage 1 Concrete Experience: the first stage of learning is to have a learning experience.
Stage 2 - Observing and Reflection: Here learners are encouraged to reflect on what they learnt, how and why they learnt it and whether the experience could have been improved on.
Stage 3 Forming Abstract Concepts: using other experiences as a form of reference, and using other modes and models of thinking to inform your ideas.
Stage 4 Testing the Learning in New Situations: this is the final stage and involves the placement of the learnt material into context within own life. If this doesn’t happen it is likely that the new knowledge will be forgotten quickly. The learner should also think about implementing the knowledge and how they can make the next learning experience more beneficial.
*Graham Gibb’s reflective cycle is a process which involves six steps.
1. Description what happened?
2. Feelings what did you think and feel about it?
3. Evaluation what were the positives and negatives?
4. Analysis what sense can you make of it?
5. Conclusion what else could you have done?
6. Action plan what will you do next time?
The reflective learning cycle is a never-ending process, therefore the learner does not stop learning and continues to reflect on their practice.
In my role I use these models in my day to day practice, each time I do an activity with the children I reflect on what went well, what I could have done differently and what I would change if it was repeated. At our setting we are always looking at ways we can make the setting a better place for the children and our families so using these models will help me become a better early years practitioner and improve daily practice.

Summer you said that you prefer Gibbs theory as it encourages you to reflect deeper. I prefer Gibbs cycle also as I feel it is a simple cycle to follow in day to day practice compared to Kolbs. It is a good introduction to self reflection if you are not used to doing it. It is universal and can be used in any situation and can be done at your own pace.

Schon is another theorist who did a model for reflecting in action and reflection on action. When we are in the middle of an activity we will reflect at the time thinking about what we are doing then and there. Later on after the activity when there has been time to reflect we then 'reflect in action' and think about would we could have done differently to improve practice.

If you could comment on my thoughts and let me know what you think of this method it would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading
Jo

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