examples of reflective writing education studies

examples of reflective writing education studies

Reflective Writing in Education Studies

1. Introduction

Reflective writing in education studies is an essential element of professionalism in the learning environment. The theory of reflective practice directly meets the needs of the adult learner of professional practice. It gives structure to the way students learn to think about what they are doing. Reflective writing is a way of processing your practice-based experience to produce learning. It has two key features: 1) It integrates theory and practice. Academic work often ignores the complexity of the lived world, yet theory is a vital resource for practice. Reflective writing makes a link between student knowing and real practice. This means you need to approach theory as a resource which has to be interrogated, not as a set of answers to be learned. The second feature of reflective writing is that it moves the student from the simple acquisition of knowledge to the application of learning to their own work or self. Learning is best demonstrated through the student’s ability to apply what they have learned in a way which is relevant to their practice. But learners need to be guided to relate new knowledge to their existing knowledge in a meaningful way. Reflective writing encourages this by prompting students to make comparisons between the new knowledge and what they know already, which is a form of integration of new and old learning.

2. Importance of Reflective Writing in Education Studies

Reflective writing is, therefore, one largely cognitive process aimed at coming to understand and learn from complex or ambiguous situations. Its purpose is to improve a situation or one’s understanding of it. It is an intentional and conscious process (Moon 1999 b). Moon identifies key features of this sort of writing: it is evidence-based (rather than an opportunity to let one’s hair down in private), expressed in the language of cause and effect, and contains a consideration of alternative outcomes to events. This has significant implications for the potential ‘discovery’ learning that may be facilitated by the act of writing reflectively.

Aristotle claimed that the ability to reflect separates human beings from the animals; through reflection, we can recapture those experiences and evaluate them (Dewey 1933). It is argued here that the process of reflection is a form of problem-solving that is primarily aimed at achieving a better understanding of ourselves and our experiences. Somewhat simplistically, Kember et al. suggest that there is a direct linkage between reflection and learning: how one reflects upon an event is a significant factor in the learning which results from the event (Kember et al 1999). Unpacking what is meant by ‘reflection’ is akin to attempting to pin jelly to a wall, incredibly difficult. Reflection and reflective practice are, in fact, often used as an umbrella term for a wide variety of individual and collective activities and processes, some of which are intellectually and emotionally demanding.

Reflective writing is often undertaken in education studies and understanding its importance.

3. Examples of Reflective Writing in Education Studies

In this section, we present five incidents of reflective writing in education, three of which relate to the theme of multicultural and anti-racist education. Incident 11 is set in a class of students of Chinese and Vietnamese ethnicity in a New Zealand secondary school. Incident 12 concerns a student teacher who, after observing an incident of racism in a primary practicum, writes about her feelings and what the children involved might be feeling. Incident 13 is about a lecture on the Treaty of Waitangi where a Pakeha lecturer comes to realize and confront his own cultural identity. These three examples should interest educators who aim to bring about social justice and equality in their teaching. The other two incidents, 14 and 15, cover quite different student concerns. Incident 14 is an amusing account of a Malaysian student’s initial confusions in written English expression. While her command of English is now excellent, she remembers her earlier difficulties with much hilarity. The final incident is a poignant account of a mature student’s early primary schooling in a single-room country school in the 1950s. This example relates particularly to the theme of self-education and will be interesting for education students who have a strong orientation to self-understanding and personal development.

4. Benefits of Reflective Writing in Education Studies

Personal Growth: This part of John’s model is significant as it shows the way in which reflective writing can assist personal and professional development. By revisiting an event and exploring emotions, thoughts, and actions, it’s possible to understand what went on, and possibly learn from the experience. There are some experiences in our life which stop us in our tracks and force us to look at ourselves. This self-reflection is healthy and can result in wide and varied changes. This type of personal growth is not confined to the individual, it will have a knock-on effect in future interactions with others and may well change the way in which that person acts in similar situations further down the line.

Enhanced learning: Reflective writing provides the student with the opportunity to look back at an experience and analyze the reasons why and consequences behind their decisions at a particular time. It encourages the understanding of complex, real life situations, and the revelation of them being right or wrong, good or bad. Through this, a depth of understanding can be gained about a subject, and an insight into one’s own attitudes, values, and beliefs. This is a vital tool in today’s multicultural society when preparation must be made for professional practice in an assortment of fields. It’s only through reflection where one can prepare to meet the needs of others. John (1994) also discovered that a sense of ‘community’ among students was created as they were able to learn from each other through the sharing of experiences.

5. Conclusion

However, taking the conventional view, the next paragraph explained how the public nature of the process makes implementation very much visible to all, thereby making the failures all the more evident to everyone. This is especially of concern to the people in cases where fragmented authority leads to conflicting policies on an issue, and the ambiguity of such policies then leads to adhocery. This essentially is an outcome of the failure of legislation.

The essay began by looking at the fact that policy implementation is rather a vague concept and in its true context, the implementation of a policy is considered to be successful when the relevant services or actions are followed through as per the intentions of the policymakers. This was supported by a definition given by Pressman and Wildawsky. However, it was noted that policy analysts generally consider implementation to be an entirely different issue from formulation. The latter is seen to belong to the sphere of decision-makers, whereas the former to bureaucrats. This is an oversimplification, and it was rightfully noted that implementation is very much part of the decision-making process itself. The contemporary trend of involving NGOs and other private agencies to supplement public service further blurs this distinction.

The essay, otherwise entitled “Why does policy fail? Understanding the problems of policy implementation in Pakistan,” focused on trying to understand why (despite the presence of one of the biggest bureaucracies in Asia) public policy remains to be implemented in its true letter and spirit in Pakistan. This is a deep-rooted issue and it has far-reaching implications in almost every walk of life for the people of the state.