Section outline

    • 🔄 Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (6 stages)

      This is a step-by-step way to think about an experience.

      You first describe what happened, note your feelings, judge what went well or not, analyse why, draw a conclusion about what you learned, and finish with a clear action plan for next time.

      6 Stages: Description • Feelings • Evaluation • Analysis • Conclusion • Action plan.

      Gibbs reflective cycle with description, feelings, evaluate, analyse, conclude and action plan

      Use Gibbs when: you need a structured, step-by-step review and a clear plan.

      Template available in Resources.

      Source: Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.

    • ⚡ Schön’s Model — Reflection-in-action & Reflection-on-action

      Reflection happens both during and after action.

      Reflection-in-action means noticing what is happening and making small adjustments in the moment; reflection-on-action means looking back afterwards to understand why things went that way and how to improve.

      Use when: you must adapt in real time and then debrief.

      Source: Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books; and (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner.

      Template available in Resources.

    • ❓ Rolfe et al. — What? • So What? • Now What?

      This is a quick, practical framework built on three questions.

      1. What? describes the event.
      2. So what? explains why it matters — insights, implications, meaning.
      3. Now what? turns learning into next steps and changes you will make.

      Use when: you need a fast, practical check-in.

      Source: Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., & Jasper, M. (2001). Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (Earlier roots: Borton, T. (1970). Reach, Touch, and Teach; see also Driscoll, J. (1994)).

    • 🎯 Triple-Loop Learning — Single • Double • Triple

      Moves from improving tasks to reshaping thinking and decision-making.

      • Single-loop: “Are we doing things right?” — tweak actions.
      • Double-loop: “Are we doing the right things?” — challenge assumptions.
      • Triple-loop: “How do we decide what’s right?” — examine values, power, and how ‘success’ is defined; sometimes implies changing the rules.

      three steps showing triple loop learning

      Use when: work involves policy, systems, and values (e.g., service design, governance, equity).

      Source: For single/double-loop see Argyris & Schön’s organisational learning tradition; for triple-loop, see Tosey, Visser & Saunders (2012) review.