Reflection on and in the Workplace for Work-based Supervisor - L Allin & C Turnock (2007)

Table of Contents

1. Reflection on and in the Workplace for Work-based Supervisors - L Allin & C Turnock (2007)
2. Introduction
3. Aim of unit
4. What is Reflection?
5. Types of Reflection
6. Definitions of Reflection
7. Becoming a Reflective Practitioner/Worker
8. Kolb's Learning Cycle
9. Time for Reflection
10. Keeping a Reflective Diary
11. Effective Reflection Supervision and Assessment in the Work Place
12. What is the Purpose of Reflection?
13. What Makes Good Evidence in a Work Based Portfolio?
14. Learning Through and from Reflection
15. Mentoring and Reflective Practice
16. Supervision
17. Summary
18. References

Supervision

Supervision can be both formal and informal. Informal feedback is given regularly and constructively in a non judgemental way. Formal supervision, should occur regularly at prearranged times in a quiet environment free from the distractions of service delivery. Supervision sessions should last about one hour and form an essential feature of the placement and supervisory process. Alsop and Ryan (1996) state that formal supervision should be used for four main purposes:

1. reflection, feedback on and dialogue about practice
2. review of the achievement of learning goals
3. revision of the learning contract, until the next supervision session
4. exploration of practice issues to a deeper level of understanding

Therefore, formal supervision is a time for exploring practice, a time for learning, where the real objective is facilitating the students' growth. Work-based supervisors must therefore ensure that they acknowledge the importance of these sessions and allocate appropriate time for them.

Both the work-based supervisor and the student need to prepare well for the formal supervision sessions. The student needs to be encouraged to think through selected experiences, reviewing them in his/her mind, so that he/she learns from what happened. The work-based supervisor may guide the discussion, prompting the student and probing his/her knowledge and understanding, but essentially the student must do the work. This must then be recorded in the relevant form