chris.dalton@henley.reading.ac.uk

Reflecting on identity: practice what you preach?

Chris DaltonPhD Experience ConferenceUniversity of Hull, February 8th 2011

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Abstract

“Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question”

ee cummings

The purpose of reflection…

• is to consider the process of our own learning in order to empower and emancipate ourselves (as individuals and as social groups)

• for me as researcher, it is also to consider the assumptions behind design and conduct, and the role that I play in producing the results (reflexivity)

However…• in Management Education the term

‘reflection’ often used as just another tool in decision-making (e.g. “What would you differently next time?”)

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What has brought you here?

© Chris Dalton, 2010

Reflection

“Reflective learning is the process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self and which results in a changed conceptual perspective.” (Boyd and Fayles, 1983) (p19)

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Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle

Concrete Experience

Reflective Observation

Abstract Conceptualisation

Active Experimentation

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Atkins and Murphy’s model for Reflective Practice (1994)

Awareness of discomfort, or action/experience

Describe the Situation

Include salient feelings, thoughts, events or features

Analyse feelings and knowledgeIdentify and Challenge

assumptionsImagine and explore

alternatives

Evaluate the relevance of knowledge

Does it help explain/resolve problems?

How complete was your use of knowledge?

Identify any learning which has

occurred

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31 DAYS/27 BLOG POSTS IN JANUARY 2011

LIFE’S THEMES, DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS AND CYCLESTRANSITIONS AND TURNING POINTS

THE “KNIFE’S EDGE” OF PRESENT, ITERATIONS OF PAST & ANTICIPATION OF FUTURE

A narrative route to reflection in personal

development?

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Educational Biographies (Dominice, 2000)

• Adulthood a process of finding appropriate autonomy in relation to family values and projects, schooling and cultural context

• Narratives are dialogue

“Adult identity is torn between permanence and contrast, between similarity and singularity, between reproduction and differentiation,

between the past and present as background and openness to the future in the present.”

(Gaulejac, cited in Dominice, 2000)

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Stories We Live By (McAdams 1997, Sugarman, 2001)

• Life Chapters• Key Events• Significant

Others• Future Script• Stresses and

Problems• Personal

Ideology• Overall Life

Theme10

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Concluding thoughts • “In” the exercise

– It was HARD work writing something every day

– Certain patterns are set very early

• “On” the exercise – Does reflection follow the model,

or does the model follow reflection?

– Either way, the model for reflection is still missing something

– Introspection is necessary but not sufficient for reflective learning

– Dialogue required. Without it, introspection is sterile

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References• Atkins, S. and Murphy, K. (1994) Reflective Practice. Nursing

Standard 8(39) 49-56.• Boyd, EM, Fayles, AW, (1983) Reflective Learning: key to

learning from experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 23(2), 99-117

• Dalton, C (2011) “Personal Development Blog”, accessed at http://henleydlmba.wordpress.com during January 2011

• Dominice, P (2000), “Learning from Our Lives: Using Educational Biographies with Adults”, Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education

• Kelly, G (1991), The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Routledge

• McAdams, D. (1997), “Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self”, Guilford Press

• Sayer, A. (1999), “Realism and Social Science”, Sage• Sugarman, L. (2001), “Life-Span Development: Frameworks,

Accounts and Strategies”, Psychology Press13

Appendix:Flexible lens of Critical Realism (Sayer, 1999)

Cri

tica

l R

ealis

mThe Intransitive (the world “out there”/ what we

study) vs.

The Transitive (our theories and discourse about the world)

______________________The Real (whatever exists, objects, structures that

have potential) vs.

The Actual (what happens when potential is activated)

vs.The Empirical (the ‘domain of experience’ and of

inference)_____________________

Cause is emergent from interplay of mechanisms of structure and context

Explanation is a matter of identifying circumstances of those mechanisms

Aim: to infer

something about the way

“the” world is

by exploring

how “our”

world is

14© Chris Dalton, 2010