Inquiry Based Youth Work Reflective Action

Reflection; 'When a practitioner reflects on his practice, possible objects of his reflection are as varied as the kinds

of phenomena before him and the systems of knowing-in-practice which he brings to them.' (Schon1983: 62)

David O’Donovan Youth Work Ireland / UCC

The Gruffalo - Reflection in Action

Overview of presentation

Background to the study Joining the dots Research design & reflective tools Reflective group sessions Reflective development of the group Findings 1/2 (Schon’s reflective construct) Group Discussion-Reflective Inquiry 1/2 Stage development of the group Changes in practice due the reflective process

1/2 Reflective Tools Final word

Background to the study

The focus of my study was to investigate if Donald Schon's model of reflective action could allow youth workers in an Irish context experience their practice and develop a stronger sense of professional identity in their roles.

Research Question How does Donald Schon's concept of Reflective Action

validate and support the actions of youth work practice in its current construction?

''Schon's concept of knowledge and reflection in action

have both validating and legitimising qualities. They describe a new way of thinking in action that makes sense to practitioners and that applies to practitioners in many different settings” (Clift, Houston, Pugach, 1990: 16)

Practitioners know more than they can say

Joining the Dots

Kolb - Experiential leaning cycle - part influenced by Kurt

Lewin

Kolb has much in common with Schon

(Thompson, 95)

Using theory in practice involves a reflective

conversation - Phenomenological approach with an emphasis on active

interpretation of events. (Thompson 95)

Phenomenological approach using an

interpretive perspective

Journaling - Action research involves keeping a journal which records progress and change.

(Cohen, Manion, Morrison, 2001)

Action Research - Kurt Lewin - Experience and

change - Combining Action and Science, this

is the foundation for reflective action - (Schon

83)

Schon - Experience making sense of things -

The reflective conversation - The inner

practitioner. Dewey, Lewin

Research design & reflective tools

Six reflective two hour group sessions over ten weeks

Sample group – four youth workers

Reflective tools Practice Journal After session Journal Questionnaire – session six/week ten Audio taped sessions

Reflective group sessions

The reading of the reflective journal. The participants were asked to focus on

any areas significant in their practice and share these with the group.

A reflective group discussion on each of the participant's journals.

Inquiring from the group the impact of Schon's reflective model on their practice. This focused on the areas of, reflection in action, internal conversation, reflection on action and knowing in action.

The group then assessed if these reflective concepts had contributed to validating the participant's individual practice.

Each participant was asked to write a short reflective journal about the group process at the end of the session (end of session journal). These were collected and used to evidence the initial impact of each session.

Other areas that were monitored in the group focused on how the participants constructed the process of reflection as a group and examined the impact that work issues had on the formation of their individual reflective practice.

The participants were asked to write a definition of reflection in the first session that was then re-evaluated in the session six.

Reflective Development of the group (Sessions 1-6)

Session 1-2. Entry into the

reflective process. (Personal/Professional)

Ventilation

Session 3-4. Initial Construction

of the reflective process. Personal/Prof.

exp.

Moving towards clarity

Session 4-5. Development of

reflective theory and concepts in a reflective

format.

Constructing a Practice Based on

Inquiry

Session 6.

Consolidating the experience of

reflection and the generation of new

knowledge Validation of Practice

Findings 1

Schon's theory of reflective action 'I felt it was really useful to get the pages and that’s why I asked you could I use the

pages with the reflective questions, reflection on action questions, reflection in action questions so when you had written up your stuff you could ask yourself those questions which helped you locate what was actually going on for you at a deeper level.' (Sandra Session 6, reflective discussion)

Reflection in action 'To access reflection in action the worker needs to engage in reflective enquiry.' (Clare

Session 4,Reflective discussion)

'Reflection in action is the one that sticks in my head. It helps me to analyse a situation while it is occurring.' (Clare Session 6, Reflective discussion)

Knowing in action 'Knowing in action and naming it, as a skill and is where we should be really be at. After

all this type of intuition is part of your skills base and by acknowledging 'knowing in action' you can in turn develop it because now you can see and recognise it.' (Sandra Session 4, Reflective discussion)

Internal conversation with the situation 'The conversations (conversation with the situation) I have with myself are very often

negative. From now on I hope to try and work from a more positive position.’ (Clare Session 4, End of session journal)

Findings 2

Definition of reflection

'I now see reflection as something much more tangible and a valuable skill. Previous it was more of an idea and I could have reflected on an incident for weeks and not seen anything that would move the situation.' (Diane Session 6, Questionnaire)

'My definition hasn’t changed its just got more developed, I still see it as self-observation and analysis, but the areas and methods of analysis are now more refined. Also reflection is about why we make observations about our practice as much as about those observations themselves.' (Eddie Session 6, Questionnaire)

Journaling

'Some weeks it is going to be all doom and gloom but I think by reflecting its makes you see what actually happened, because it is outside the box you can separate your feelings from the reality of what happened and what the young person did actually say to you. I feel this process has allowed us to recognise our emotions, its ok to be human, its ok to be emotional.' (Diane Session 4, Reflective discussion)

‘Saying things aloud really helps to come to up with the solutions.' (Sandra Session 4, End of session journal)

'So I think that journaling has given this (emotion) a home and allowed me to put those feelings down so I can allow my emotive self to be, and that was the biggest thing because I wasn't allowing that part of myself express myself, because if I went along to somebody else it would have been a sign of weakness.’ (Clare Session 5, End of session journal)

Group Discussion – Reflective Inquiry - 1

Group Discussion –Reflective Inquiry

'As the sessions go on its obvious that we are all going deeper into inquiry. It's now centred on much more on who we are being as youth workers and its relationship to ourselves. Also as the journaling goes on, Were much more relaxed about it, and getting more out of it.' (Diane Session 5, End of session journal)

'Journaling and group discussion enable me to value the professional self as a

legitimate role in the young persons life and I am confidence I can recognise when other agencies are dumping their roles onto me.' (Sandra Session 6, Questionnaire)

Negative comparison

'When I am doing home visits I tell them what I am not, I am not a teacher, I am not a guard. I'm not a social worker, that’s how I describe that I am a youth worker.' (Sandra Session 4, Reflective discussion)

Group Discussion – Reflective Inquiry - 2

Challenging the comparison 'Young people don’t need to be educated about what youth workers do because they

turn up, get involved and engage, the fact is they is are very clear on what youth workers do but on the other hand they seem very reluctant to turn up for other professionals such as social workers or guards or don’t want to turn up for them, What we are talking about is us educating other professionals around what we actually do and this is part of our work.' (Eddie Session 4, Reflective discussion)

Defining youth work

'I think you hit the nail on the head its something we construct ourselves through the relationships we have with young people, everybody has different relationships with different young people and everybody is different.’ (Eddie Session 4, Reflective discussion)

Stage development of the group

Engaging with reflective tools & self through practice incidents

• Reflective Journaling

• Reflective group discussions

• End of session journal

Reflective Inquiry into Issues arising from practice experiences…

• Professional Identity

• Power

• Legitimising practice

• In sync with emotional self/practice/prof. self/self

• Limits and boundaries

• Dev. of Reflective practice

Engaging with Reflective Concepts

• Schon's reflective practice model

• Developing definitions of reflective inquiry and youth work practice

• Changes in the practitioners practice through the influence of concepts or events. (Prof./Personal)

• Double looped learning theory

Integration of reflective concepts into practice

• The development of a personalised reflective practice model

• A mechanism for legitimising practice

• Further development of the group/Practice

Changes in practice due to the reflective process - 1

’It's started…I feel more confident in my role so I feel more able to describe it in terms of what I do rather than what I don't (i.e.. not a social worker, teacher, guard etc.) Over time I think the definition will get clearer.’ (Eddie Session 6, Questionnaire)

'I was starting to get a bit bored with what I was up to.

This reflective journaling has given me a way of moving forward and a sense of excitement of what could be, I've always asked myself questions but never got much out of it except for a wrecked head. The whole experience for me totally surpassed any of my expectations.' (Diane Session 6, End of session journal)

Changes in practice due to the reflective process - 2

'Definitely keeping journaling and reflecting up, it saved me from burn out

and frustration. Now I can see progress in my practice. I can see reflective action becoming an integral part of youth work or at least it should be. It raised my confidence and given me lots of questions to keep me busy over the next while.' (Sandra Session 6, End of session journal)

‘Now we can see our role as youth workers clearly, who we are as youth workers and seeing ourselves in this role. Now I have confidence about my role because of the reflective process, I never had that before and I am more in control because before things just happened.’ (Diane Session 4)

‘Schon provided me with a useful framework to reflect and deconstruct my practice, while the discussion and journaling helped me value myself, legitimise my role and validate my practice. The reflective process saved me from burn out and I will keep this up.’ (Sandra Session 6)

Reflective Tools

Tools for engaging with Reflective Practice

• Journaling

• Critical Incident Recording

• Reflective Inquiry Groups

• The Walk Through (O’Donovan)

• The Cube (O’Donovan)

• Sine Wave Analysis - phase inversion (O’Donovan)

Final Word

‘Keeping a reflective Journal is crucial for remembering clearly the incidents from practice. Creating a link between the incidents and concepts enables you to develop a frame for analysing the events, understanding your reactions and through this define your practice style. The reflective group discussions enabled the process of externalising emotional reactions to events in a supportive environment. The group process supported the participants in legitimising practice and enabled us see ourselves as valuable as well as fallible. Reflective theory helped create a structure for reflection as well as enabling us to recognise, define and label elements of practice that we had taken for granted.’

(Eddie Session 6)

Thank you.

May I be excused my brain is full (G. Larson 82)

David O’Donovan daithiodonovan@gmail.com