Reflective Practice: Early Childhood Education
The 4Rs Model of Reflective Thinking
Reflecting on and critically evaluating practice is a core part of all early childhood professionals’ work (VEYLDF, 2-16. P.8)
- Report: In the Report stage you describe, report or retell the key elements of what you have learnt, seen or experienced.
- Relate: In the Relate stage you draw a relationship between your current personal or theoretical understandings and identify aspects of the observation that have a personal meaning or that connect with your experience.
- Reason: In the Reason stage you explore the relationship between theory and practice and seek a deep understanding of why something has happened. You explore or analyze a concept, event or experience by asking questions and looking for answers, reviewing the literature, considering alternatives and multiple perspectives.
- Reconstruct: In the Reconstruct stage you discuss improvements that could be made or identify something you need or plan to do or change. You should be able to generalize and/or apply your learning to other contexts and your future professional practice. This might involve developing general principles, formulating personal theories of teaching or taking a stand or position on an issue.