Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuouslyimproving the quality of service providedProblem Solving Challenge

Reflective practice is: the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process

of continuous learning.'

What it means is that you as a worker should be able to look back on, or 'reflect'

on your own work and capabilities during any given situation.

The reflective cycle could be considered to be:

What happened?

How do I feel about it?

What could I have done differently?

What will I do next time it happens?

Reflective practice, and its link to lifelong learning, is important to anyone who works

with children and young people, because it allows you to learn new ways of doing

things - better, more improved ways of working - while you are working.

When something happens - good or bad - the more skilled you are at looking back

at situations that have occurred before, the better equipped you will be at handling

the new event in a positive way.

It is not about how good your memory is, but how well you learn from your own

experiences.

Reflective practice is 'practice' for a reason, however. You are not expected to

instantaneously learn all the lessons from any and every situation that occurs.

Instead, you are encouraged to create new habits that enable you to learn more

easily from real life/real work situations.

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These habits include activities like keeping a reflective journal, and participating in

regular supervision sessions with your manager.

The Reflective Cycle.

The Long-Term Result of Reflective Practice

The quality of service that you provide when you go to work is built up through a

number of different ways, from the lists of requirements found in your job description,

to the standards laid out on the NOS website. However, without your own reflective

practice, the entire framework may fall short.

You have to know yourself and be self-aware and mindful at all times, and reflective

practice is key to all of these things. It takes practice, and it is a practice. The more

you reflect and record or discuss your reflections, the easier you will find it to be

mindful and self-aware. As you become more practiced at it, you will find that you

become reflective in action, as well as reflective on action.

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Reflection in action is recalling your previous experiences in other situations, and the

lessons you learned with those, at the time when something new but similar

happens.

The long-term result of reflective practice is improved quality of service at all levels -

departmental and organisational, not just personal. As you and all your colleagues

improve your working practices, based on the information you learn through working

your jobs, the work your department does will improve. As all departments continue

to improve because the people who work within them improve, so the organisation's

service quality will improve.

The value of reflective practice can also be seen away from work, and you will

find that this type of working permeates every area of your life.

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