TEY_10_1_2020

34 Teachearlyyears.com Effective ref lection Taking time to consider how you can improve your practice is essential, says Dr Helen Edwards – here are some tips to help you get the most out of the process… IT’S SIX MONTHS SINCE OFSTED’S Early Years Inspection Handbook framework was published and their focus on ‘intent, implementation and impact’ is increasing the attention on reflective practice. Reports regularly recommend reviewing and evaluating practice – for example, “Extend reflective practice and professional development to continuously maximise opportunities for children to increase their creativity and critical-thinking skills,” or “Review the organisation of routines and whole-group activities to make sure that children’s play, concentration and explorations are not interrupted.” I welcome the developments because reflecting on practice has a direct impact on improving the learning experiences and outcomes for children. However, it can be a challenge to know where to start and how to embed reflection into your practice. HOW DOES REFLECTIVE PRACTICE HELP? Effective reflective practice is about actively exploring and developing your professional skills. It encourages teams to come together to discuss and evaluate the quality of their provision, and it supports staff wellbeing as it provides an opportunity for everyone to contribute to the ethos of the setting. Reflective practice also helps staff to become more confident in discussing what they do and why. It’s a process of enquiry that supports professional development and helps staff to learn from an experience and explore it in depth – for example, How have we set up the science investigation area? Why did we do it this way? What do we hope the children will learn from this? WHAT DOES GOOD REFLECTIVE PRACTICE INVOLVE? Reflections can be made either by DR HELEN EDWARDS IS CO-FOUNDER OF TAPESTRY. an individual practitioner, or as a group. A good approach can be to think, Why am I thinking about this? What’s bothering me, if anything? Is it something to unpick and celebrate, rather than always being a problem we need to solve? Reflections require the ability to articulate thoughts, ideas and values and are, in a way, a personal and professional learning journey themselves. In my view, the best reflections are those started by an individual, and then taken up by colleagues. These can develop into a deeply thoughtful, working document, driven by the ambition to provide the highest quality provision. It’s this dynamic, between the individual and their colleagues, where the exciting stuff lies and provides real inspiration. It can provide a chance for colleagues to share innovative practice they’ve seen in other settings, or to highlight research they’ve read about. Practitioners can add all this to a reflections document or online platform, to build a journal of evaluations and actions. HOW DO I START? Sometimes there’s an obvious issue or challenge that needs attention. However, if that’s not the case, start by choosing one of the recommendations from an Ofsted report, either from your setting or elsewhere. Pick out a recommendation that you think The best reflections are those started by an individual, and then taken up by colleagues. sounds interesting – something that could engage you and your colleagues, and make a real difference to your provision. Then, take some time to think about what this looks like currently in your setting. What works well? Why does it work well? Where does it work well? Does it work better at some times than others? Or with some children or staff than others? Why might that be? What might be missing? For example, if you were to focus on ‘helping children to develop their independence’ you might consider the following: l How do children demonstrate their independence at the current time? l Do they access a variety of resources independently? l Could you offer more opportunities for them? l Could they help set out resources? And put them away again? How can we make that easier for them? You could then build on this and examine how children might demonstrate their independence at key points of the day, for example, ‘do the children need help to find their coats and shoes?’ Or at lunchtime, ‘could they be learning new skills, by cutting their own food?’ Once you have your initial thoughts down, take some photos or videos to provide useful evidence and to help share your ideas with your colleagues. Invite them to log in to your online reflection, or to read your printed reflection, and ask them to contribute their thoughts. With their involvement the reflection will grow with new suggestions and additional evidence. It’s important to recognise that you