In this module you will:

  • Meet four reflection frameworks — Gibbs, Schön, Rolfe, and Triple-Loop Learning.
  • Learn how to apply them to public-health scenarios.
  • Decide how to choose the right one for your context.

Resources: The Resources section contains templates you can use to make reflective entries with these frameworks.

Estimated time to complete: ~45 minutes

What do we know

Reflection = thinking about our experiences to gain new understanding and improve practice.

Critical reflection = going deeper - questioning our assumptions, values, policies, and systems to learn and improve.

 

Ineffective vs effective reflection (a quick view)

Ineffective reflection is vague and backward-looking e.g. “that went badly” with no clear reasons, ownership, or next steps. Effective reflection is specific and forward-looking: it states what happened, why it mattered, your role, what you learned, and the concrete actions you’ll take next time, including how you’ll check if they worked.

Effective reflection is important because it turns experience into learning: you see what worked, what didn’t, and what to do next, so you improve faster and avoid repeating mistakes.

Ineffective Effective
Just describes what happened. Describes and explains decisions.
Blames time/others; no ownership. Surfaces assumptions, values, policy and context.
No lessons learned or planned.

Includes other perspectives/evidence; states lessons learned and a specific action plan.

3 simple steps to practice reflection

  1. Description — What happened?
  2. Analysis — Why? Feelings, decisions, other perspectives, context.
  3. Action — What did you learn? What will you do differently?