Social Work - Theses

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    How do early childhood intervention professionals reflect on their practice?
    ALEXANDER, MELINDA ( 2014)
    While reflective practice is commonly considered to be an essential part of being an effective practitioner in many professions, individuals’ experiences and understandings of reflection have not commonly been explored. Most research pertaining to reflective practice has tended to focus on theoretical understandings of reflection, or in regard to pragmatic applications, on pre-service practitioners. Thus, the ways in which professionals reflect on their practice, and the strategies they use, have received only limited attention in the literature. The overall aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences that Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) professionals had with regard to reflective practice within the Australian context. In the state of Victoria in 2009, an overarching educational framework was introduced, emphasising reflection as a core competency for practitioners in the early childhood field. Furthermore, in the same year, another document specifically for ECI professionals was published, and this also determined reflection to be fundamental. Hence the primary target group for this study was practitioners who were working in ECI in Victoria. The key areas examined in this study were the strategies ECI professionals used to reflect on their practice, the reasons why they engaged in reflection, and the barriers they faced in doing so. The research design incorporated a web-based survey of 131 Victorian ECI practitioners recruited through an ECI managers’ network. The findings indicate that there is considerable variation in how this group of practitioners understand and implement reflective practice. In this way, the study confirms the literature that suggests reflection is a contested term lacking both definitional and operational clarity. Furthermore, practitioners experienced multiple barriers in their attempts to engage in reflective practice, most notably that of time. The majority of respondents commented on the value of particular strategies, such as debriefing, supervision, and mentoring, but there was very little indication that the use of these strategies went beyond a practical or descriptive level of reflection. The role of technology in reflection is an emerging theme from this study, as is the need for time to be regularly allocated for reflection and thus for reflective practice to be embedded into respondents’ working lives. A particular contribution of this study is the greater understanding of the strategies ECI professionals use to reflect on their practice, the potential barriers they face in engaging in reflection, and directions for future research.