Reflect on and Develop Practice free essay sample

Why is it important to reflect on your own practice and evaluate its effectiveness? It is important to reflect on your own practice and evaluate its effectiveness because it helps to see how well I am doing, what I have done and if there is anything I need to change or do differently to improve my practice. How do you learn and increase professional knowledge and skills through reflection? Reflection on my working practice helps me to see the areas of strength and weakness in the way in my professional practice. How does reflection and personal experiences enhance your own confidence and self esteem within your job role? Reflecting on my professional practice enables me to look at my weaknesses and build upon the to turn them into my strengths. On reflection of my achievements and strengths will build my confidence and self esteem and enable me to go from strength to strength. Give examples of techniques you use of the listed reflective analysis: Questioning what, why and how Seeking alternatives-Seeking alternative ways to do an activity Keeping an open mind-Keeping an open mind, you may find a better way to do the activity or use different ideas. Viewing from different perspectives-viewing from different perspectives such as the way you handled the activity, was the activity well supported, and was the activity interesting enough. Thinking about consequences- thinking about consequences such as if small handled paintbrushes were used then young children would not be able to hold them properly and if we have too many children at the table at one time then there may not be enough room for the c=activity to be done or may not be enough resources to go around. Testing ideas through comparing and contrasting- testing ideas through comparing for e. g. I should test my ideas and compare and contrast them to perhaps different activities that have already taken place and their success. Asking â€Å"what if†- Asking what if, I ask the children if they are enjoying the activity or what other members of staff thought about the activity and took on board their views to how successful it was Synthesising ideas/Seeking, identifying and resolving problems- gathering ideas from different sources, using them and then reflecting on them afterwards. Being able to improve ones practice and improving and getting better each time. Sharing your ideas with others and ensuring the outcome is successful. Identify problems and eradicating them as soon as possible. Activities are planned in order for them to be successful and to give the child a sense of achievement when taking part.   How can you use reflection as a tool for contrasting what we say, do and actually do? Policies, procedures and values that I know that should be followed are sometimes not followed by some professionals that we work with, I know that by reflecting on what we have learnt and experiences will identify this, it is important that I challenge my working practice and analyze my actions to Why should you use reflection to challenge your existing practice? Using reflection I can identify my strengths and weaknesses and improve them, areas of weakness could be improved by attending courses to strengthen my weaknesses.   What difficulties may occur as a result of you examining your own beliefs, values and feelings? We all have faults and weaknesses, different beliefs and feelings and therefore it can be difficult to agree with others or receive criticism about the way we work. It may be difficult to seek advice from others but we should share information with others to help us improve our practice and understanding that any criticism received should not be taken to heart but instead should be helping us to improve. How can you use reflection and feedback to assess further areas ofor development in your skills and knowledge? I reflect on my practice daily, any feedback given to me by my work colleagues is appreciated and taken on board to help me improve or build my confidence. I enjoy going on different courses to help me to develop further skills, and I also use the internet to help me source any information I feel I need to know or improve upon. How do you set yourself SMART targets in relation to your personal development? (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timescale). The way in which to develop a personal development plan are: stating the specific areas of development that I want to achieve, measurable, not setting my goals to high but at a level that is realistic and achievable, as it is beat to work your way up gradually. That is why in childcare there are levels such as 1, 2, 3 etc to help you to realistically achieve instead of jumping to a qualification level that is too hard and that you cannot understand. Setting a realistic time scale so that the work is not rushed and it is understood. K3p231 What training and development opportunities are available to you in your local area and how can you access them? There are many training and development opportunities available in my local area such as colleges and training programmes, they are easy accessible by enrolling or maybe paying a small fee. And some of the courses are free of charge. Why is it important to integrate new learning and information as soon as it is available to you? Courses offer me the opportunity to update my training to new legislations, policies and procedures are put into place, they also offer me more qualifications and skills, better knowledge and understanding and better job prospects. They also ensure that I do not fall behind national standards.