1. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 Reflective practice Reviewing your experiences and using feedback to improve your practice

2. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 Ways to reflect include: setting yourself targets when you start studying, and using your tutor’s and your placement supervisor’s feedback to monitor your progress working out what you’ve achieved and what you still need to work on.

3. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 making a record of your reflections to help you to keep track of your ideas and see how far they’ve developed over a period of time recording your thoughts on any difficulties or challenges you are facing talking things through with another person, such as another student or a trusted friend. Ways to reflect (continued):

4. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 Feedback Receiving feedback can: help you become aware of how you are getting on – the good and the bad, what’s working and what isn’t give you some ideas to help you plan your own development, in order to reach your full potential give you a ‘reality check’ – you can compare how you think you are with what other people tell you.

5. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 Try asking yourself specific questions Did you achieve your targets? If not, was it because the targets were unrealistic? What other methods could be used? How can I improve my practice? Who can I ask for advice and support? How can I help a child to settle in again after his hospital stay? What is making a child behave inappropriately at meal-times?

6. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 Guidelines for receiving feedback Ask questions: State what you want feedback about. Be specific about what you want to know. Give them time to think about what they want to say. Listen: Listen attentively. Don’t interrupt or digress. Ask for clarification if you’re not sure you’ve understood what you’ve heard. Try not to be defensive or to reject the information. You need to listen, but not necessarily to agree. Take notes of what is said.

7. CACHE Level 2 Child Care and Education © Hodder Education 2008 How to receive feedback Check: Check what you’ve heard. Repeat back what they have said and ask for examples of what the speaker means. Give your reactions to the feedback or ask for time to think about it if necessary. Ask for suggestions on what might work better. Reflect: Feedback is information for you to use – it is not a requirement to change. If you are unsure about the soundness of the feedback, check it out with other people. Work out the options open to you and decide what you want to do. It is up to you to evaluate how accurate and how useful the feedback is.