by Cathy Gunning
Reading a book by Donald Schon early on in my career as a teacher opened my eyes to the world of reflective practice. I think that I had always been a reflective person – self critical, questioning, re-thinking things about my teaching day. But this practice modelled and mentored during my Masters study. It opened my world to journalling, to thinking and questioning things, applying theory to what I had experienced and learning about how to become better.
It is an approach that I have used ever since, personally and inspiring others to reflect. Reflecting on our practice makes us richer in understanding and more confident in our practice.
I would encourage you to use it in whatever form to support your professional and pedagogical growth and development. In the links below there are academic papers and useful links to tools to help you in this journey. 
Reflecting on our practice is important as a tool to self improve and develop. We can become better practitioners when we learn from our reflections and gain insight.
Teaching is a skill where pedagogy is gained and built through processing and reflecting.
Writing about your experiences will help you to make sense of them, so that your undersatnding lasts and contributes to your lifelong learning.
(Howatson-Jones: Reflective practice in Nursing, 2010:120)
It is helpful to process and reflect about our lives and work. Our personal pedagogy benefits from reflection and time to think and talk around issues, things we might be grappling with, things we would like to be more confident about or generally what has happened in our day or week.
Processing with the help of a trustworthy, listening ear is helpful to our professional development. Collaborative conversations and communities of practice faciliate and enable this listening and talking. We can use coaching techniques and questions to help our reflections and conversations to help us develop in our practice and support our journeys.
How often do you wish that you had time to talk about your day, reflect, process and talk with like minded colleagues in early years?
Do you long to meet like-minded professionals, have challenge and input, or be part of supportive collaborative conversations? If you’re looking for opportunities to do this locally, find an Early Education local branch near you.
Some people use a reflective journal to process the answers to these questions and process. Others like to have reflective conversations about these areas. We’ll look at ways we can reflect and things that will help us in this process and learning.
A useful processfor reflective writing is to describe – then reflect – then think about what now?
Early Education Associate, Debi Keyte-Hartland reflects on a recent commission by Balcarras Teaching School Hub In Gloucestershire to deliver a four-day course on Sustained Shared
Guest blog by Frances Giampapa and Claire Lee Introduction A wealth of evidence demonstrates the fundamental role played by early years (EY) education in shaping
by Katherine Gulliver Introduction Early Education was recently asked to review the special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) provision in the early years within one
Clare Devlin, Early Education Associate What aspects of physical development should we focus on within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and other early years
By Debi Keyte-Hartland, Early Education Associate This article is based on one included in the Early Education Journal no 100. To access the full article
In this article, Kate Irvine from Bristol Early Years discusses the impact of practitioners engaging in a sustained process of CPD through cluster groups and
by Dr Jo Albin-Clark, Edge Hill University and Dr Nathan Archer, Leeds Beckett University Inspection in the news Being involved in education in England involves
by Kayla Halls, Early Years Research Fellow at Middlesex University & Mona Sakr, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood at Middlesex University’ Leaders in the early
What are “Fundamental British Values”? by Vicky Hutchin The so-called “Fundamental British Values” form a part of the Prevent Duty, introduced in 2015 and last
The open letter below was sent to Ofsted in November 2023. Download Ofsted’s response We the undersigned are writing to you about the recently published
Early childhood education today has been influenced by key figures such as Froebel, Montessori, Isaacs and MacMillan. Much recent research has supported their ideas although
Sustained shared thinking: An episode in which two or more individuals “work together” in an intellectual way to solve a problem, clarify a concept, evaluate
Early years pedagogy is the theory that informs the practice of teaching children in the early years. The pedagogical research has been carried out by
The Early Career Framework has been designed by the Department for Education in England to support newly qualified teachers in England with a structured package of support
The following extracts from past early years teaching newsletters have a feature which supports your team dialogue around pedagogy and practice dilemmas and reflective practice.
Last updated Spring 2018. The preschools of the Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy inspire us with their pedagogy and practice in giving children rich encounters
In most cases, sound early years principles and practices are already in place in settings. The EYPP funding allows settings to review and refine what
Who was Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) Born on 21 April 1782 Friedrich Froebel was a German educator who invented the kindergarten. He believed that “play is
This article by Early Education Associate Anni McTavish explores the term “cultural capital”, and what it might mean for early years practitioners and their settings.
Welcome to the e-book Child-Centred Competences for Early Childhood Education and Care. The book brings together four years of research undertaken by early childhood academics
Raymond Williams maintained, after years of examining constructs of culture and society that “Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in
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