The integration of reflective practice into teaching, particularly in UK primary schools, has shifted the focus from mere knowledge transmission to a more nuanced understanding of pedagogical impact. My own experiences in a Year 3 classroom at Elmwood Primary School between September 2022 and July 2023 provided a fertile ground for observing and enacting these principles. Initially, my approach was largely instinct-driven, relying on pre-service training and a desire to cover the curriculum. However, adopting a structured reflective framework, inspired by Donald Schön's work on reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action, began to reshape my practice, leading to more targeted interventions and a deeper student engagement.
Schön’s distinction between reflection-in-action – thinking on your feet during a lesson – and reflection-on-action – analysing events after they have occurred – proved invaluable. During a particularly challenging mathematics lesson on fractions in October 2022, I initially struggled to engage a group of five students who consistently misunderstood the concept of equivalent fractions. My immediate reaction was to repeat the explanation, a classic reflection-in-action that proved ineffective. Following Schön’s advice, I paused, observed their non-verbal cues – their slumped shoulders and vacant stares – and realised my explanation, though clear to me, was not resonating. I switched tactics, moving from abstract symbols to concrete manipulatives: fraction bars and even slices of a pizza cut into different portions. This shift, a spontaneous act of reflection-in-action, significantly improved comprehension for that group.
The subsequent reflection-on-action, however, provided a more profound insight. Reviewing my lesson plan and notes that evening, I identified a flaw: I had assumed prior mastery of basic fraction identification, which wasn't consistently present. My reliance on my initial lesson plan, without a robust contingency for prerequisite gaps, was the root cause. This analysis, influenced by Schön's concept of the "undermining effect" of unexamined assumptions, led me to build more explicit pre-assessment checks into future mathematics planning. For instance, before introducing a new concept, I began incorporating brief, informal quizzes or quick-fire questioning sessions to gauge understanding of foundational elements. This change, implemented from January 2023 onwards, demonstrably reduced the number of students who became lost during new topic introductions.
Furthermore, the work of Graham Gibbs in his reflective cycle provided a structured method for processing these experiences. Following a parent-teacher evening in November 2022, where a parent expressed concern about their child’s reading fluency, I used Gibbs’s cycle: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. The description was straightforward: the parent felt their child, Leo, was falling behind. My feelings were initially defensive, a natural reaction to perceived criticism. However, evaluating the situation objectively, I acknowledged the validity of the parent’s observation. The analysis, drawing on my classroom observations and Leo’s work samples, revealed a pattern of hesitant word recognition, impacting his comprehension. The conclusion was that targeted phonics intervention was necessary. The action plan involved dedicating ten minutes daily to one-on-one phonics practice with Leo, using a specific phonics programme that had shown success in other primary schools. By March 2023, Leo’s reading fluency had visibly improved, and the parent expressed satisfaction.
This consistent application of reflective practice has fundamentally altered my perception of teaching. It is no longer a static delivery of information but a dynamic, iterative process. Theories by Schön and Gibbs, far from being abstract academic concepts, have become practical tools that enhance my ability to adapt to the diverse needs of primary school learners. The classroom at Elmwood Primary has become a laboratory for continuous improvement, where every lesson, every interaction, and every challenge is an opportunity to refine my practice and, ultimately, to better support student learning.