Nursery World - Training Today: Reflective practice

Reflective practice is embedded in early years provision, but is not always easy to achieve. Educational psychologist Anita Soni describes a project in Birmingham that uses video to help practitioners find and reinforce the positives in their everyday work

Download the pdf of this article

Reflective practice – the process of analysing your work with children in order to improve it– is a key aspect of early years pedagogy. It aims to have a positive impact on children, by ensuring their individual needs are met, as well as on parents, who are reassured that the quality of the provision is high. Staff also benefit by becoming more confident in their abilities, which in turn boosts motivation and job satisfaction.

One of the downsides of reflective practice is the tendency to focus on what hasn’t gone well. While it is clearly important to work on areas that need developing, it is equally valuable to consider an individual’s or setting’s strengths. This is where video can be incredibly helpful, and in particular video enhanced reflective practice (VERP).

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included