Reflective Practice in Times of Covid-19: A Tool to Improve Education for Sustainable Development in Pre-Service Teacher Training

Crisis situations such as the current Covid-19 pandemic are a catalyst for change. This study stresses the need to work towards achieving quality education, and to prepare future teachers in sustainability competencies. The research questions are related to the key competencies necessary to accelerate change and to how to increase awareness and literacy of the SDGs in higher education. A quantitative methodology aimed at improving the training of future teachers who engage in reflective and critical thinking was used. Data were gathered on the level of reflection of students from three Spanish universities. The instrument used, the Reflective Practice Questionnaire, includes concepts defined in the literature related to reflective capacity such as Reflection in Action, Reflection on Action and Reflection with Others. The results of the study provide quantitative data showing a positive impact of reflective practice on future teachers. Education for sustainable development requires participatory methods that motivate and empower students to change their behaviour. Reflective practice must be accompanied by processes of communication and supervision that encourage confidence and the desire to improve. Training future teachers in reflective practice should be a differentiating element to achieve quality education, allowing adaptation to current and future adverse situations.

Impact of a Pandemic and Remote Learning on Team Development and Elements of Compassion in Prospective Medical Students Taking a Medical Humanities Course

Introduction: We reported previously that when teams of students reflect on readings about communication, unconscious bias, and service-learning, their critical reflection, implicit bias mitigation, empathy, and compassionate behavior all increase. However, would these gains occur when intimate classroom settings, in-person team meetings, and direct interactions with people served were lost owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning? Methods: Before an online Medical Humanities course began in August 2020 and following the course in December 2020, 61 prospective medical students (54.1% female) completed reliable surveys of their reflective capacity (RC) and cognitive empathy (compassion). Students also completed surveys about their implicit biases and team community service in December 2020. Results: Both RC and empathy scores increased in students after they reflected on difficulties in communication, unconscious biases, and team service-learning experiences in the course. In written reflections, they reported how their compassionate behavior also grew owing to bias mitigation. Most students concurred that “unconscious bias might affect some of (their) clinical decisions or behaviors as a healthcare professional” and vowed to remain aware of these biases in clinical settings. Conclusions: Compared to previous years, the pandemic and remote learning had minimal effects on the benefits of our Medical Humanities course.

The Reflective Fostering Programme – improving the wellbeing of children in care through a group intervention for foster carers: a randomised controlled trial: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: The needs of children in care are a government priority, yet the evidence-base for effective interventions to support the emotional wellbeing of children in care is still lacking. Research suggests that supporting the carer-child relationship, by promoting the carer’s reflective parenting, may be an effective approach to improving the well-being of these children.Methods: The study comprises a definitive, pragmatic, randomised control trial, with embedded process evaluation and economic evaluation, and an internal pilot, to evaluate the effectiveness, and cost effectiveness, of the Reflective Fostering Programme.The study is being conducted in local authority sites across England, and is targeted at foster carers (including kinship carers) looking after children aged four to 13. Consenting participants are randomly allocated to the Reflective Fostering Programme (intervention arm) in addition to usual support or usual support alone (control arm). The primary outcome is behavioural and emotional well-being of the child 12 months post-baseline, and secondary outcomes include: foster carer’s level of stress, quality of life, reflective capacity, compassion fatigue and burnout, placement stability, the quality of the child-carer relationship, child’s capacity for emotional regulation, and achievement of personalised goals set by the carer.Discussion: This study trials one of the first parenting programmes specifically targeting the reflective capacity of foster carers. A feasibility study has indicated effectiveness of the Programme in improving the child-carer relationship and emotional and behavioural wellbeing of children in care. This study will test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of implementing the Reflective Fostering Programme as an additional aid to the support already available to local authority foster carers.Trial Registration: ISRCTN 70832140

Beyond Bounded Rationality: CEO Reflective Capacity and Firm Sustainability Performance

ABSTRACT Optimal or rational decision making is not possible due to informational constraints and limits in computation capability of humans (March & Simon, 1958; March, 1978). This bounded rationality serves as a filtering process in decision making among business executives (Hambrick & Mason, 1984). In this study, we propose the concept of CEO reflective capacity as a behavior-oriented cognitive capability that may overcome to some extent the pervasive limitation of bounded rationality in executive decision-making. Following Hinkin's (1998) method and two executive samples, we developed and validated a three-dimensional measure of CEO reflective capacity. Based on two-wave surveys of CEOs and their executive-subordinates in 213 Chinese small-medium sized firms, we tested and confirmed three hypotheses on how CEO reflective capacity is related to a firm's sustainability performance (including economic, societal, and environmental dimensions) through the mediating mechanisms of strategic decision comprehensiveness and CEO behavioral complexity. We discuss the contribution of this study to the literature on the upper echelons and information processing perspectives. We also identify the implications for future research on strategic leadership and managerial cognition in complex and dynamic contexts.

Reflecting on Mistakes in Practice among Social Workers in China

Reflection is widely practiced in human service professions, but little research has examined whether reflection actually translates into action and, if so, how. This article explores the possibilities and limits of reflective practice by drawing on data collected through reflective interviews with fifteen Chinese social workers on mistakes in practice. The findings demonstrate that social workers in China are aware of being reflective, even critically reflective, by pondering mistakes and failures they have encountered. Their reflections, however, do not extend to future action plans. Rather, they prefer to rely on manual-based knowledge providing explicit guidance, reflecting their developing reflective capacity and low professional identity. The article argues that social workers’ reflective awareness needs to be built up, while fully recognising the limits of reflection. To address mistakes, not only do we need to create opportunities for practitioners to reflect, but also to address the risk-management strategies of social work organisations and the independent roles that should be performed by professional social work associations in Mainland China.

Developing Gen Y Competencies for the New Work Environment

While higher education institutions are increasingly interested in preparing a new generation of students to meet the demands of the workplace, there is still limited research on how work-integrated learning (WIL) strategies can specifically benefit Gen Y's learning, competency development, and employability. In this chapter, the authors aim to extend the knowledge of WIL in three key respects: (1) examine the rationale for considering WIL as part of curriculum development, (2) compare different WIL strategies through four cases studies, and (3) analyze the impact and benefits of those WIL approaches for Gen Y's learning and employability. By comparing and contrasting different approaches to WIL, the chapter contributes to shed more light on some important benefits of WIL such as Gen Y's development of self-identity, reflective capacity, and critical skills. Although different, the cases demonstrate the importance of making space for reflection and integrating collective and individual practices in WIL designs.

Pushing the boundaries: experience-based learning in early phases of graduate sustainability curricula

Purpose This paper aims to investigate student experiences and the potential impact of experience-based learning (EBL) in the early phase of graduate sustainability programs through the lens of key competencies. The goal is to provide evidence for the improvement of existing and the thorough design of new EBL formats in sustainability programs. Design/methodology/approach This comparative case study focuses on the first semester of three graduate sustainability programs at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany and Arizona State University, USA, for two of which EBL was a core feature. The study compares the curricula, the teaching and learning environments and the reported experiences of one student cohort from each of three programs and synthesizes the resulting insights. Student interviews were combined with student self-assessments and supported by in-vivo observations, curriculum designer input, instructor interviews and course materials. MAXQDA was used for data analysis following a grounded theory approach. Findings EBL influences students’ reflective capacity, which impacts the development of key competencies in sustainability. Qualitative analysis found four key themes in relation to the students’ learning in EBL settings, namely, discomfort, time-attention relationship, student expectations of instructors and exchange. The intersection of these themes with curricular structure, student dispositions and differing instructor approaches shows how curriculum can either support or interrupt the reflective cycle and thus, holistic learning. Research limitations/implications With the focus on the first semester only, the students’ competence development over the course of the entire program cannot be demonstrated. Learning processes within EBL settings are complex and include aspects outside the control of instructors and curriculum designers. This study addresses only a select number of factors influencing students’ learning in EBL settings. Practical implications Early engagement with EBL activities can push students to leave their comfort zones and question previous assumptions. Designing curricula to include EBL while encouraging strong intra-cohort connections and creating space for reflection seems to be an effective approach to enable the development of key competencies in sustainability. Originality/value This paper investigates the experiences of students in EBL through a key competence lens. The study combines student self-perceptions, instructor reflections and in-vivo observations. Data collection and analysis were conducted by a researcher not affiliated with the programs. These factors make for a unique study design and with data-driven insights on the seldom researched competence-pedagogy-curriculum connection.

Building the best : a quantitative evaluation of a state-level teacher retention strategy designed to increase self-efficacy, reflective capacity, and job satisfaction through effective professional development

"There are not enough teachers (Ingersoll, 2001; Ingersoll and Smith, 2003; Sutcher, et al., 2016). Focusing on retention is crucial to combatting shortages (Darling-Hammond, 2003); it is critical to specifically target retention of the very best teachers, who leave the profession at a greater rate and impact student learning the most (Jacob et al., 2012). Supporting teacher growth is a strategy to increase retention by providing career development, which improves working conditions, ultimately leading to increases in job satisfaction for teachers. Teacher self-efficacy and reflective practice are both related to teacher retention (Yost, 2006). Teacher self-efficacy is known to be a protective factor against burnout (Aloe et al., 2014; Brown, 2012; Brouwers et al., 2001; Cherniss, 1993; Schwerdtfeger, et al., 2008; Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2007; Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2010; Tschannen-Moran, et al., 1998) and is positively related to teacher retention (Kelley, 2004; Yost, 2006). Engaging in reflection with reflective supervision is correlated with desire for improvement and job satisfaction (Priddis and Rogers, 2018), both of which are connected to teacher retention. Missouri Teacher Academy is a state-level initiative designed to support teacher retention. The program content focuses on instructional strategies and student engagement, which are aligned to two of the dimensions measured by the TSES (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Additionally, the program emphasizes reflective practice, which has been found to be positively related to teacher self-efficacy (Babaei and Abednia, 2016). Given the relationship between teacher retention and self-efficacy (Kelley, 2004; Yost, 2006), program impacts on these two important constructs should be evaluated. The TSES (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) and the RPQ (Priddis and Rogers, 2018; Rogers et al., 2019) were used to measure levels of participant self-efficacy and reflective capacity. The RPQ has not been used in an educational context, and this study may add to the body of research regarding the application of this tool across multiple disciplines. The results of this study may be used to inform future program and policy decisions regarding Missouri Teacher Academy."--from Summary

The Art Experience of the Indonesian People in the Industry 4.0 Era (A Philosophical View)

For Indonesian people, the world of art is an integral part of life. Art has become their identity since the ancient time. It is because art and its products are born from the appreciation of everyday life. Art philosophy is inseparable from the meaning of daily life. The more a society produces art with high values and tastes, the more reflective capacity they have to explore life. This reflective ability has actually helped enliven the development era which has increasingly undergone fundamental changes (disruption) in all fields. Entering the era of industrial revolution 4.0, now the world of art and its meaning are slowly distorted. Revolution 4.0 dragged art into capitalism and ended in obscurity of identity. Gadamer's study of how to view art as a game, symbol and festival becomes an interruption to restore the meaning of art in its place. Gadamer's art criticism is also very relevant for Indonesian people. This criticism is an opportunity for Indonesians to reinterpret the spirit of art in them. Understanding art means immersing in one’s self-identity as a true Indonesian to become more authentic.