Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development

by Gillie Bolton, Russell Delderfield

Reflecting thoughtfully on your work is vital for improving your own self-awareness, effectiveness, and professional development. This newly updated  Fifth Edition  explores reflective writing as a creative and dynamic process for this critical inquiry.

This bestselling book has been used worldwide in various disciplines education, social work, business & management, medicine, and healthcare. It is essential reading for students and professionals seeking to enhance their reflective writing skills and to examine their own practice in greater critical depth.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Research, Teaching, Journaling, Education, Writing

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2001

About the author

Dr Gillie Bolton is an international authority on writing and author of a long publication list including nine books (one in 4th Edition), academic papers (many in top-ranking journals), as well as professional articles, poetry, and for a lay readership.

Early years in an Epping Forest village near London, in a seventeenth-century farmhouse and 2 years in Singapore, were augmented by school in Southwold, Suffolk. Social Anthropology (MA Cantab) at Cambridge University was a firm foundation on which to build work with people. Her PhD, from the University of East Anglia Medical School, is based on some of her many academic publications. Retired, she now lives in Central London and Derbyshire’s Hope Valley with her emeritus professor husband.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book explains what it is about: Writing and Professional Development. It is aimed at professionals and students in the areas of social care, health and therapies. It is primarily about reflecting through writing. I read the fourth edition: there is now a fifth.
Bolton looks at the values, ethics and principles of reflective writing as well as the theoretical foundation. There is a section on the power of narrative which is something that resonated with me as I think narrative theories are important.
“Narrative is the form humans use to make sense of events and relationships.”
“Wherever we walk we put our feet on story” (Cicero)
“A man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others” (Sartre)
“Narratives or stories, have themes which can inform reader or listener about the culture and society, about underlying values, principles, assumptions about role etc., about the theories-in-use of the characters, particularly the protagonist. The theme is brought to life by the plot, the way the situation and characters move from their position at the beginning, through some significant experience to a position at the end, different from where they started.”
It’s fairly basic stuff but Bolton does provide a lot of exercises for groups and individuals to use. There is also a good deal of information about the hows and whys of reflective writing and journals with examples from professionals on how it has worked for them. She also has a section on how to assess reflective writing for those who are dealing with students.
There is a good bibliography and on the whole this is a useful examination of the uses and applications of reflective writing in the health and social care sector.

[Elliot A · Rating 4 out of 5]

It reads and guides like a good old textbook.

The writing is instructional, without many personal touches added by the author, which is a breath of fresh air, considering that some authors of academic and educational articles seem it fit to include personal achievements instead of focusing on the research at hand.

Some sections feel a bit drawn out and tend to repeat themselves; however, the content is still appropriate and nothing feels out of place or overly done.

The practice exercises at the end of each chapter are very helpful and overall the practice of reflective and reflexive writing as well as starting and keeping a journal is clearly outlined and described.

All in all, this book is a great resource for the application of a writing routine and I would definitely recommend it.

ElliotScribbles

[Kārlis Bergmanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't get this as a book as such - it felt like disconnected quotes from unknown names, without start and end. However, I also admit that this might be because book is aimed at medicine students, social workers and guides leading Reflective writing classes - while I'm doing this on my own at my own pace.
Exercises were nice, I liked quite a lot of them - reflection, as it turns out, is not new for me, but they added some nice ideas, how to think about things, events and people from different perspectives.

All in all, while I learned that I wanted book about creative writing more, this still was valuable experience and I recommend this book.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will admit that my rating probably isn't fair as it is in part due to reading this book as part of my reflective practice class. This text did not align with the expected outcomes of the class or other resources, especially around the principles of reflective practice, but I do think there are some gems to be found in this book for future practice.

[Jon Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the 5th edition. This style of reflection is particularly relevant to my job. Sometimes the exercises seemed repetitive but some of my colleagues found 6 minutes of writing to limber up useful; it must depend on personal preference.

Seeing the examples from others in their area of work was useful. Some of the practices have been incorporated into the workplace.

[Budge Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took forever to read this and I can't say it's a book I find memorable. It's a book which needs to be deconstructed and written better ... and I think I might try t do that (it's something which has been on my agenda for some time). So, this review is not a review, it's a marker. There are a handful of interesting ideas in this book, there's a load of dross - mine will be better.