Brilliant, thanks Michael. I'll check the article. Would you say that programmers tend to reflect at the end of a project or is ther any reflection- in-action (during the task)? And what about the environment - does that impact on their reflection?

My opinion is that reflective practice is necessary in all fields because it provides the opportunity for practitioners to think carefully about their practice and to change it as soon as change is necessary. This will ultimately lead to more gratifying and responsive practice.

I am agree with Saouma, To improve the quality of teaching and learning reflective practice is essential in all fields

It is used widely as a concept in medical education (easily searchable through pubmed)

Hi Erik, I am researching Reflective Practices in pharmacy education. I am currently working on modules of reflective practice with clinical examples to be utilized in pharmacy curricula. There is a proliferation of research of RP in medical, nursing, physiotherapy and other allied health areas (in addition to the research specifically tailored to education). I have recently published a literature review in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education: Reflective Practices and its implications in pharmacy education. See my RG profile for details. Hope this information helps....

I think reflective practice is not only used in medical or engineering but it is an essential component of what we called effective or quality teaching. An excellent teacher will always reflect upon what, why and how with reference to teaching. Keeping in view the benefits and advantages of I will suggest that "Reflective Practice" can be made a mandatory course in pre- service teacher education programs as well as for current working teachers for their professional and personal development so that our teachers become familiar with doing reflective practice. As when a teacher is developed professionally and personally, the output or result is effective or quality teaching which results in quality learning. Quality learning means that you are achieving the aims and goals of your education system.

In brief, we can solve all sort of students' learning and classroom problems by doing reflective practice. These are multiple areas for reflection in the context of teaching. However, for doing reflective practice we do need training.

The work on supervision in coaching psychology pretty much signals that reflective practice is necessary for quality work. As a relatively new area in the UK, it draws on work in psychology more broadly for which supervision has been required - clinical, counselling, social work applications and so forth. . . however the application areas include leadership, management and team work in a range of organisational settings. A growing number of papers and texts are available, peer reviewed but the specialist journals are not yet rated. . . International Coaching Psychology Review is one and text examples include Supervision in Coaching (ed Passmore) and Coaching, mentoring and Organizational cConsultancy (Hawkins, Smith). Language sometimes differs between disciplines but the principles seem to match.

Hello Erik and Colleagues,

Thank you for the fruitful discussion thus far.

In my humble opinion, I would have to say that Reflective Practice (RP) is used only in certain fields. However, as we well know, this should not be the case. Biggs and Tang (2011) refer to this as 'transformative reflection' since something is supposed to happen, as a result of this reflection; in fact, a transformation is supposed to take place.

I am in the field of Education and Applied Linguistics (Second and Foreign Language Teaching). What I can say is that RP is constant and evident, given the age in which we live and the need to upgrade to modern teaching methods.

In Education, as has been revealed by Erik, RP is taken for granted. I can simply look at my University, or even my Faculty, and such a blatant truth is ostensible.

As far as I see it, given the knowledge I have on RP, it ought to be mandatory for all academic fields simply because it promotes, ensures, assures and enhances the quality of pedagogy.

If we are expected to grow and develop professionally (Mizell, 2010), then we had better all engage in RP. Our acceptance or rejection of RP will determine if we embrace mediocrity or quality.

Warm Wishes,

Kerwin.

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Biggs, J. & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for Quality Learning at University (4th ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw –Hill/Open University Press/Society for Research into Higher Education. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://docencia.etsit.urjc.es/moodle/pluginfile.php/18073/mod_resource/content/0/49657968-Teaching-for-Quality-Learning-at-University.pdf

Mizell, H. (2010). Why professional development matters. Oxford, OH: Leaning Forward. Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://learningforward.org/docs/pdf/why_pd_matters_web.pdf?sfvrsn=0.

Really interesting discussion, thank you all. In my research this arguments help me to point how RP is (or isn't) considered as a component of professional knowledge by the disciplines that contribute for the study of teachers as a professional group. So, for education field I found many papers that take it for granted (sometimes without theoretical discussion or empirical illustration), but on sociology field the discussion around professional knowledge seems, sometimes, blocked on the scientific and technical knowledge, and the relation between theory and practice without taking RP for the discussion... what do you think about this? is there papers that can help in my research is this specific point?

Joana, Lynn McAlpine at Oxford directed my attention to a PhD thesis from 2006 by Catherine Beauchamp, held on file at McGill. It's a comprehensive exploration of the concept of reflection in relation to teaching, in particular addressing the multiple definitions, understandings and related concepts. . . here's the (very long) link although I found it with a Google search - http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1397745021210~225&locale=en_GB&show_metadata=false&VIEWER_URL=/view/action/singleViewer.do?&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=6&adjacency=N&application=DIGITOOL-3&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true

In my opinion, reflective practice is the vehicle of continuous change and improvement, and thus is necessary in every field.

The skill of reflective practice seems to be struggling to stay alive. As a nursing instructor and someone who practiced nursing for 24 years, I have witnessed this first hand. I continue to tell my students, "it is NOT about the task". It is about the people you care for, it is about the passion you have for what you do, it is about your desire to learn as much as you can about your chosen profession. When RP is a part of how someone thinks it enriches their lives and the people who they come in contact with. If RP were practiced by the leaders of our countries there might be less death, destruction, disease, hunger, etc. At the end of the day ask yourself these questions, how was my day? What went well? What am I proud of? Then ask yourself, what do I need to do differently tomorrow? What can I change about myself? What can I change about how I react, speak, respond, behave?

These questions teach reflection and should be practiced by everyone no matter who they are or what they do.

I believe that reflective practice can be used in every field of life; personal and professional, wherever we want to excel in our life. Where our destination is to do the best possible efforts in order to bring quality in our self and in our performance. Reflective practice is a thinking and rethinking, rethinking cycle for exploration of the best. things that could be done.

Thank you very much for this wonderful discussion and the interesting sources. I also believe that Reflective Practice indeed is the start of improvement and change.

Reflective practice is the core idea for my dissertation. As I understand it, reflective practice requires two essential elements: an internal dialogue and an external dialogue. The external dialogue needs to occur within the context of a mentoring relationship, a social network of peers who are able and willing to challenge and be challenged, and commitment to the dialogic process of examining ones own behavior within the context of a critical review. The internal dialogue is a bit more tricky, and it requires learning the subtle differences between rational and rationalizing, and reasoning and excusing. As I see it, supporting each other as professionals engaged in reflective practice is the means to extending professionalism beyond binary opponent conceptualizations and growing beyond the checklist mentality in continuing education. Olesen (2005) and her [post-structural feminist] perspective on "knowledges" being transitory can help extend this dialogue.

I've just finished a PhD about how social workers learn and use reflection. I found that most social workers use reflection, but not everyone had the language to explain the process or steps involved. Let me know if you want more information about this.

I provide interprofessional faculty development workshops on using interactive (guided) reflective writing to foster reflective capacity in health professions education and practice. In essence, reflection is a metacognitive process which is integral for habits of mind, heart and practice within professional competency...we need 3 components of cognitive expertise (skills/knowledge and awareness of what you know and what you don't know), emotional intelligence and critical reflective practice as a compassionate and competent health care professional and/or educator. Check out my publication in this field on pubmed