Asking additional key questions of self-reflection

ABSTRACT

Assertions that reflection plays a critical role in both our individual growth and professional success are reinforced by personal experience and empirical research from around the world. Those keen to engage in the key skill of reflection can access a ‘sea of support’ that includes academic papers, modular-based websites, practical handouts, and peer assistance. In contrast, those wishing to engage in self-reflection are likely to be discouraged by the modest amount of quality information and resources that are readily available for practical use. Prompted, in part, by the concluding commentaries offered by Brownhill (2022a, 2022b), this thoughtpiece offers a refreshing literature-based exploration of self-reflection as an essential act, facilitated by asking and answering additional key questions such as what additional definitions and types of self-reflection exist, what is the process of self-reflection, and how can self-reflective activity be undertaken and encouraged in others. Written to be accessible in both content and scope, this thoughtpiece serves as a constructive ‘go-to’/short resource that has the potential to help individuals self-reflect as part of their personal learning and professional development/practice with enhanced understanding, assurance, and enjoyment.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-reflection
• key questions
• definitions
• types
• process
• practical activities

Acknowledgments

Miguel García López and the anonymous peer reviewers for constructively commenting on an earlier draft of the thoughtpiece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Key questions, such as ‘What definitions of self-reflection exist?’, ‘What types of self-reflection exist?’, ‘What is the process of self-reflection?’, and ‘How can self-reflective activity be encouraged?’ were used to narrow my exploration of the available literature, these questions being of particular interest to me from a theoretical and practice-based perspective. Specific terms such as ‘self-reflection’, ‘definitions’, ‘types’, ‘process’, and ‘practical activities’ were used to search different databases, e.g. Scopus and British Education Index, for relevant literature that was largely published between 2000 and the present day. Whilst the majority of the information collected was of worth, some of it offered disjointed and, at times, confusing insights.

2. Vaccarino et al. (2007, p. 5) claim that as a methodological approach ‘Action research is often referred to as practitioner‐based research as it involves practitioners, and is also known as self‐reflective practice as it involves individuals or practitioners reflecting on their own work. This self‐reflection is a key element within action research’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Simon Brownhill

Simon Brownhill is a Senior Lecturer of Education (Teaching and Learning) at the School of Education, University of Bristol. Specialising in pedagogy, he teaches on the MSc Education programme and supervises doctoral students (EdD and PhD). He previously worked as a Senior Teaching Associate as part of Education Reform and Innovation at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, principally serving as one of the lead trainers for the NIS Centre of Excellence levelled courses in Kazakhstan. His varied research and writing interests include supporting and training adult learners, children’s writing (fiction and non-fiction), effective behaviour management in the classroom (3-11+), men who work in the Early Years (0-8), and creative assessment. Simon has published his work in high-impact peer-reviewed journal articles (e.g., Gender and Education) and has presented his research and thinking at international conferences, serving as a Keynote speaker in Ireland, Portugal, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan. He is co-author of the award-winning book Men in Early Years Settings: Building a Mixed Gender Workforce (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2019).