Reflective Practice

1
Reflective Practice

• Reviewing our work for positive change
• Susan Rennie and Felicity Martin
• SFYS Yarra Valley Cluster

2
What does Reflective Practice mean to us in the
Yarra Valley cluster?

• Single loop learning

Results
Values / Beliefs / Assumptions
Thoughts / Feelings / Interpretations
Actions

• Double loop learning or reflective practice

3
How do we apply this?

• PRAISE Project 2004
• 20,000 Brokerage Project
• Aimed to deliver an alternative education program
• Partnership between 4 local secondary schools, an
  alternative education provider and local
  government.
• Experiencing problems with project development,
  project management and lack of clarity regarding
  roles and responsibilities of partners.

4
Identifying the issue

• During Term 2 and Term 3
• Observation of Project Team meetings
• Discussion with the ad hoc project manager who
  was responsible for delivering the program
• At the final meeting for Term 3
• invited the Project Team to undertake a
  reflective process to explore their ideas,
  thoughts and assumptions in relation to the issue
  of project management and delivery.

5
Our observations

• Project partners were not undertaking the tasks
  that they had committed to do in the initial
  application
• The Project partner delivering the educational
  program was also overburdened with coordinating
  the actions of other Project partners.
• Project Team Steering Group meetings were not
  very productive, poorly planned and were not
  advancing the project development.

6
Our choices

• Ignore the problem we are not responsible for
  ensuring that Project partners do their jobs in a
  particular way
• Wave a big stick, throw a wobbly and try to
  make all partners pull their weight
• Seek to understand why things were not going as
  planned and help others to understand this also

7
Using Reflective Practice

• In consultation with the ad hoc project
  manager, we decided to introduce a Reflective
  Practice session at the next Project Team
  meeting.
• We decided to use Reflective Practice because it
  is
• based on the belief that if people gain
  understanding into what motivates their actions
  and what assumptions underlie them, they will be
  in a stronger position to act differently in the
  future
• not easy to get people to critically examine
  their own processes!

8
Assumptions of the project team

• At final Project Team meeting for Term 3 we
  facilitated a session at which we invited all
  partners to discuss their assumptions in relation
  to the Project
• Different views quickly emerged in relation to
  who has responsibility for the project
• Some partners were surprised to discover that not
  everyone felt things were going smoothly
• All partners left the meeting with a clearer
  understanding of others positions

9
Reflective Practice session

• Question asked of Project Team members before
  meeting
• Think of your response to the assumptions you
  made at the beginning of the project process that
  might have been challenged over the past three
  months.
• 1. An assumption about the responsibility of
  management of the project and the roles of each
  of the partners
• 2. An assumption regarding the referral of young
  people to the program.

10
Answers to Question 1

• That Rebecca would have day to day responsibility
• That we would discuss things as they came up as a
  whole group
• Rebecca assumed that there would be a project
  manager not sure who this would have been.
  Although this was a role she did take on.
• Assumed that there would not be many resources
  required from Banyule City Council
• Didnt realize that so much time would be sent on
  seeking funding
• Assumed to be more organized
• Expressed concern that Rebecca was also the
  Project Manager in terms of workload.
• Naïve to think that the project would solve the
  problems!
• There was more work than initially thought
• Assumed that this group would give more direction
  to the project.

11
Answers to Question 2

• Assumptions that young people would not
  necessarily be enrolled in a school
• Assumed that schools would have no difficulty
  finding appropraite referrals
• Assumed schools would have ultimate
  responsibility for young people
• More complicated than thought of to find
  appropriate referrals
• Who is responsible for the IEP and academic needs
  of the young person?
• Who is responsible for the Welfare needs o f the
  young person?
• Referrals were appropriate before non-attendance
  had become too entrenched i.e. a prevention /
  early intervention program only 2 young people
  fit this description.
• Not the same as the Teaching Unit who is
  responsible in terms of legal support? DET?

12
Exploring our own assumptions

• that the project facilitator would be the project
  manager despite the fact that she was not the
  lead applicant for funding
• that staff from schools would devote more time to
  the project than they were
• that the project partners would understand what
  was involved in project management and
  specifically would have skills in areas such as
  running meetings, setting timelines, etc.

13
Outcomes

• At recent SFYS information session for future
  applicants, members of the current Project Team
  presented a paper highlighting the need for
  potential partners to clearly identify and
  discuss the project management issues.
• Across the NMR region, SFYS Coordinators have
  discussed the inclusion of project management
  training to complement the evaluation training
  already offered (as part of 20,000 Brokerage
  program )
• Future applicants will be asked to identify their
  project management strategy.

14
Why engage in reflective practice?

• As SFYS Coordinators, it is easy to fall into a
  trap of thinking that evaluation is a task for
  others. Our current forms and processes ask us to
  consider others rather than ourselves.
• Reflective practice is a process which can
  challenge us to examine and improve our own work.
  
• Reflective practice is suitable for SFYS
  coordinators because we can do it as sole workers
  or set up small reflective practice groups with
  other SFYS coordinators.

15
Why? (continued)

• We believe that this type of work is at the very
  core of our role as SFYS coordinators.
• By undertaking this type of reflective process we
  are facilitating the development of more
  meaningful and productive partnerships
• We are also increasing the level of skill and
  understanding among schools and agencies into how
  to critically reflect on these processes and
  hopefully work constructively to build
  partnerships in the future.
• We believe that these processes are more
  important for change than the distribution of
  brokerage dollars themselves.