What is Reflective Practice in Education?

In education, reflective practice refers to the process of the educator studying his or her own teaching methods and determining what works best for the students. It involves the consideration of the ethical consequences of classroom procedures on students.
The appeal of the use of reflective practice for teachers is that as teaching and learning are complex, and there is not one right approach, reflecting on different versions of teaching, and reshaping past and current experiences will lead to improvement in teaching practices. Schön’s reflection-in-action assists teachers in making the professional knowledge that they will gain from their experience in the classroom an explicit part of their decision-making.
According to Paterson and Chapman (2013), reflection and learning from experience is key to staying accountable, and maintaining and developing aptitude throughout your practice. Without reflection you as a practitioner are not able to look objectively at your actions or take into account the emotions, experience, or responses from your actions to improve your practice. Through the process of reflection teachers are then held accountable to their teaching practice to students, parents, administration, and all interested state holders; to the standards of practice for teaching (in Ontario)- commitment to students and student learning, professional knowledge, professional practice, leadership in learning communities, and ongoing professional learning. Reflection is a vital process of learning from experience that allow you to evolve as a practitioner; through leaning from past experiences, it allows you to develop a more through schema for practice (2013, Chapman and Paterson). Through reflective practice, you as a teacher are committing yourself to students and student learning; you are looking back on your practice and reflecting on how you have supported students through treating them “…equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning” (2013, Ontario College of Teachers). By this, you are asking yourself, have I to the best of my abilities supported student learning, and provided all of my students with an entry point into learning. Through reflective practice you are reflecting on your professional knowledge and professional practice; you are looking at how you teach and the information and forms of learning you are bring to your students, and taking a critical look at whether or not you are current and if your ways of teaching are having an impact on student learning that they will be able to translate into future endeavors. If this is not the case you are then addressing the standard of ongoing professional learning. Here you are looking at and trying to recognize where you need to enhance your own learning so that it had a bigger benefit to student learning. In addition, teachers are the leaders in their learning communities; it is from their cues and attitudes that their learners develop from. Through reflection, and sharing this with your learner, you are showing strong leadership because it shows that you are willing to learn from your mistakes and improve your practice for all of those affected by it (2013, Ontario College of Teachers).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice