Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice

Introduction

Unit’s Aim & Purpose

Reflecting on our daily activities is an automatic process: it is part of human nature, and something conducted often unconsciously. Reflective practice involves selfobservation and evaluation with the goal of refining practice on an ongoing basis. Reflecting on what we do is a fundamental skill that helps us to develop, improve personally and professionally. It is an active, dynamic process that also helps develop confidence in our ability to perform our daily working practice and to become proactive, professional leaders. The art of reflection is a tool that students will carry with them through and beyond their educational journeys and is a requisite for many roles in the sector. Developing the necessary skills early helps students to be prepared for their career progression pathways.

This unit is intended to run alongside other units in this qualification in order that students may gather evidence to compile a Professional Learning and Development Portfolio (PLAD) which captures evidence of learning and development against a framework of Practice Themes which forms the essential core running through the unit. The unit aims to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for students to reflect on their own and others’ daily practice and improve students’ own practice and professional development.

Students will firstly develop an understanding of the purpose and importance of continually reviewing their own practice and professional development through an exploration of the benefits and issues associated with reviewing practice. They will then develop their knowledge and skills of theoretical models and other techniques needed to support them in carrying out active, dynamic, action-based, real-time reflection. Students will record their evidence in the PLAD which will comprise learning from this and other units on an ongoing basis. Finally, students will evaluate their reflective journeys and the effectiveness of the PLAD in supporting their ongoing personal and professional development.

On successful completion of this unit, students will have gained the necessary knowledge and skills to complete a professional development portfolio that records evidence of a continuous cycle of reflection and improvement of knowledge and skills and be able to plan for their future career pathway.

Learning Outcomes (LOs)

By the end of this unit students will be able to:

1. Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice.
2. Use the Practice Themes as a framework for reflection.
3. Demonstrate active, ongoing, critical reflection of learning experiences.
4. Assess the overall success of own reflective journey and consider future career pathway.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

This unit will be assessed in two parts:

• § A written report (approximately 2500 words) covering LO1 and LO2
• § Portfolio development (PLAD) that would be developed over a period of one year and covers LO3 and LO4

The focus of this written report is LO1 and LO2.

The questions require that you consider the instruction/command verb when writing. Some questions require that you write about organisations. When writing about organisations prefer to cite examples from companies registered in the UK though this is not mandatory. Use your own experience of working in a health and social care context to provide illustrative examples of the factors you mention.

Case Study Scenario

You are working as a care assistant in a dementia care home. Your line manager has to complete your annual appraisal. A mandatory part of the appraisal process is to assess your learning based on your work experience. Therefore, your line manager has asked you to reflect on your past work experience. To satisfy this appraisal’s requirement you have to write a report on a reflective practice you demonstrated at your work placement on a care support from a legal perspective. Describe the situation in healthcare practice and use appropriate model/s of reflection such as Gibbs (1998) reflective cycle, Johns (2000) Model for Structured Reflection, Rolfe’s Framework for Reflective Practice, Kolb’s experiential learning framework or Schon’s reflection in action and reflection on action to reflect on the lessons learned from the experience. Based on the described scenario in health and social care, the report should explain the ethical practice pertaining to the situation and what the implications of different course of actions are. It will reflect on the ethical awareness and understanding of ethical complexities that may arise. In your report, show that this type of reflection is useful for health and social care to integrate theory into your work, asking new questions and learning several aspects of health and social care practice.  

Your discussion should be on the six themes (see appendix I) and how these could be applied across different areas of your own practice and other areas of health and social care. You should also show detail of links to other quality performance measures applicable to your own healthcare practice.

While writing the report, you should focus on the following points:

Explain the role of reflection in health and Social Care practice. To meet this task, you are required to evaluate how own reflections can impact on own personal and professional development and the experience of individuals using health, care or support services by reviewing the ways that reflective practice is applied in health, care or support service environments. To support the arguments generated by you, with reference to health and social care practice, models and tools used for reflection should be described along with explaining the purposes of reflection.

Use the Practice Themes as framework for reflection. To achieve this task, by producing a plan for reflecting on own learning and development using the Practice Themes and other quality assurance indicators, you are required to assess the effectiveness of the plan in supporting the development of own reflective practice skills. As part of meeting this task, you should also illustrate in detail the links between the Practice Themes and other performance indicators and explain how the Practice Themes can be used to underpin reflection in learning and practice.

Specifications of Summative Assessment

LO1 and LO2 will be assessed through a written report not more than 2500 words long. However, this word limit is a guideline only and does not contribute to the final grade. LO3 and LO4 will be assessed separately over a period of one year through the development of PLAD.

Grading Details

Achievement of a Pass grade: a student must have satisfied all Pass (P) criteria for the learning outcomes, showing coverage of the unit content and therefore attainment at Level 4 or 5 of the national framework. Achievement of a Merit grade: a student must have satisfied all Merit (M) criteria (as well as all P criteria) through high performance in each learning outcome. Achievement of a Distinction grade: a student must have satisfied all Distinction (D) criteria (as well as all P and all M criteria), and these define outstanding performance across the unit as a whole. Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice.

NOTE: LO3 and LO4 will be assessed through PLAD (portfolio) developed over a period of one year.

• Present your work for LO1 and LO2 using report style of writing which should include title page, table of contents, introduction, body (LO1 and LO2), conclusion reference list, foot or end notes and appendices if any.
• Include the reference code of this assignment on your assignment submission front page.
• Each page must be numbered at the bottom right hand side.
• Ensure the following information is in the footer on every page:
• Your name
• The production date of your submission
• The code number of your assignment brief
• The page numbers
• Spell-check the document and make sure there are no grammatical errors.
• Complete all the tasks.
• Produce clear specific reasoning and arguments in support of your answers.
• Submit your work in a single work processed document of not more than 4000 words for all Learning Outcomes. This word limit is only for guidelines, and is not applied to bibliographies.
• You must include a bibliography at the end to show where your information was sourced.
• Your sources must be identified using the Harvard referencing system. The words used in your bibliography will not be included in your word count.
• 1. Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice.

Support Material & Recommended Resources

 

Plagiarism and Collusion

Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the regulations. In this context, the definition and scope of plagiarism are presented below:

‘Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents, as his/her own work, the work, written or otherwise, of any other person (including another student) or of any institution.

Examples of forms of plagiarism include:

The verbatim (word for word) copying of another’s work without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement;

The close paraphrasing of another’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement;

Unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another’s work;

The deliberate and detailed presentation of another’s concept as one’s own.

All types of work submitted by students are covered by this definition, including, written work, diagrams, designs, engineering drawings, and pictures.

‘Collusion occurs when, unless with official approval (e.g. in the case of group projects), two or more students consciously collaborate in the preparation and production of work which is ultimately submitted by each in an identical, or substantially similar, form and/or is represented by each to be the product of his or her individual efforts. Collusion also occurs where there is unauthorised co-operation between a student and another person in the preparation and production of work which is presented as the student’s own.’ (Carroll, J. and Appleton, J. (2001). Plagiarism – A Good Practice Guide.  Oxford Brookes University/JISC: Oxford)).

All work for assessment must be submitted with a Turnitin Report on plagiarism. The Maximum Turnitin score admissible is 15% (after deduction of 1% & 2% records). Assignments with more than this adjusted 15% score will be automatically referred for reworking and resubmission.

If Turnitin ratio is below 15% but a significant section or paragraph in the assignment depicts high similarity ratio and/or evidence of direct copying and pasting from other sources (even if reference is given) and/or a figure/diagram is used in the work from another source without giving appropriate reference/acknowledgement then such issues may be suspected as plagiarism and the submitted work may be penalised. 

Any student might be called to seat through a viva with the lecturer to confirm any parts of the module through an interview which will then form part of the summative assessment.

To access any feedback (formative/summative), you will have to access Moodle and open your assignment. You will have to click on the blue comment box in the right-hand side and the feedback will appear within the text. You might have to click on the blue bubbles to see the feedback.

Extension and Late Submission

1. Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice.

If an extension is necessary for a valid reason, requests can me made using a course work extension request form available from the college. Please note that the lecturers do not have the authority to extend the coursework deadlines and therefore do not ask them to award a coursework extension. The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick.

Key dates to remember are as below:

Formative assessment Dropbox opens	17/10/2020
Formative assessment Dropbox closes	15/11/2020
FORMATIVE FEEDBACK TO BE COMPLETED BY	27/11/2020
Final SUBMISSION box opens on	28/11/2020
Final SUBMISSION box closes on	14/12/2020
STUDENTS TO NOTE: NO TERM BREAK, MAXIMUM 2 CHANCES TO PASS UNIT 2.

 

Assignment Resubmission Policy

A Resubmission is any work handed in for final assessment a second time. The Final Deadline is the date on which the whole assignment must be completed and submitted (usually in week 12 at the end of the semester).

As per Pearson policy, you are only allowed two submissions per module. One for final submission and another one for referral. Failure to achieve a grade pass after a second submission will result in you having to repeat the module in the next term.

Any re-submission or late submission (unless authorised due to mitigating circumstances) will be capped at a PASS grade only.

Part 3 Assessment Record

ASSESSMENT DECISION

Programme: BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Healthcare Practice (Healthcare Management)

Unit Title and Number: Demonstrating Professional Principles and Values in H&SC  Practice (Unit 2) 

RQF Level & Credit Value: 4, 30 credits 

Unit Code: A/616/1637

Assignment Title: Becoming a Professional and a Reflective Practitioner

Grade awarded: Date of Assessment:

LO(s)	AC(s)	Met	Evidence	Feedback
L O1 Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice.	P1 Explain the purposes of reflection in health and social care practice
	P2 Describe models and tools used for reflection in health and social care practice
	M1 Review the ways that reflective practice is applied in health, care or support service environments
	D1 Evaluate how own reflections can impact on own personal and professional development and the experience of individuals using health, care or support services
LO2 Use the Practice Themes as a framework for reflection	P3 Explain how the Practice Themes can be used to underpin reflection in learning and practice
	P4  Illustrate in detail the links between the Practice Themes and other performance indicators
	M2 Produce a plan for reflecting on own learning and development using the Practice Themes and other quality assurance indicators.
	D2 Assess the effectiveness of the plan in supporting the development of own reflective practice skills

Learner’s Comments: Signature:……………………………………………………………...Date:……………………………….. Print Name:……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Assessor’s General Comments: Resubmission Status: unnecessary SMALL LARGE Please resubmit Sections indicated above to meet Assessment Criteria: Assessor’s Signature:…………………………………………………Date:……………………………… Print Name:   Abigail Amponsah

Appendix I

The Practice Themes as a Framework for Reflection

1. Explain the role of reflection in health and social care practice.

Theme 1. Law, Regulation and Ethical Practice:

• Evidence of understanding and experience of working in line with regulated ways of working and duties in supporting and caring for individuals and others, e.g. responsibilities and duty of role, case management, supervision and teaching, personal development, team working, assessment of individual’s needs, communication strategies, personal centred care and wellbeing, physiological care, risk management, equality and diversity and quality care procedures
• Evidence of taking personal responsibility, working independently within defined parameters of practice
• Using initiative in a variety of situations and performing a range of skills consistent with own roles, responsibilities and professional values

Theme 2. Professional values, attitudes and behaviour in health and social care practice evidenced through:

• Exploring own values, attitudes and behaviours and how they impact on the work done with others
• The values, attitudes and behaviours of others and how to promote positive working and caring relationships
• Exploring own communication style and how to use and adapt communications to different audiences reflecting individual needs of others
• Communicating purposefully and appropriately using different forms, verbal, written, electronic, non-verbal
• Exercising own skills attitudes and behaviours to support personal development of self and others
• Commitment to adopting a person-centred approach, working with colleagues and individuals to promote quality care and services that ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of individuals
• Demonstrating courage to challenges faced in different contexts and be adaptable to change

Theme 3. Health, Safety and Safeguarding through the Lifespan and how skills and knowledge are demonstrated through:

• Carrying out roles and responsibilities in ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of colleagues, service users and others visiting the premises
• Own roles and responsibilities following and adhering to principles of safeguarding and protection, e.g. whistleblowing, recording and reporting, knowing when to escalate concerns and seek support

Theme 4. Valuing and promoting diversity, difference and inclusion evidence through:

• Own fair and equitable treatment of and response to individual service users and others, inside and outside own work setting, regardless of their personal defining characteristics
• Making adjustments to own working practices, behaviour and approach to meet the needs of individual service users and their loved ones
• Making adjustments to own working practices, behaviour and approach to meet the needs of the organisation, colleagues and other professionals
• Actively valuing and promoting the individuality, diversity and inclusion of others to include: age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sex, religion, culture and other protected characteristics

Theme 5. Promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing in health and social care practice evidenced through:

• Demonstration of knowledge and skills in supporting individual needs of service users
• Knowledge of different needs and possible outcomes where quality support and care is not provided
• Developing and sharing strategies for disseminating awareness to others of needs of individual service users using evidence-based practice

Theme 6. Applied mathematics demonstrated through:

• Use of IT technologies, e.g. healthcare-specific technology
• Technologies used in GP practices
• Administering medications
• Taking, recording and interpreting accurate physiological measurements from patients or service users
• Identifying statistical trends and use of statistics in research
• Office work and other day-to-day activities

Linking use of the Practice Themes to quality performance indicators in health and social care practice:

• Across different areas of health and social care practice
• To other units completed as part of this qualification
• To core values of care: care, compassion, competence, communication, courage, commitment
• To appropriate professional or governing standards as applicable to own role, e.g. standards issued by relevant governmental agencies
• To related skills and knowledge frameworks applicable to own area of practice

 

Appendix II

Command Verbs

Command verbs (terms) are very important while answering a task to meet the assessment criterion. According to Pearson BTEC, meaning of commonly used command words are as below: 

The following definitions further elaborate various command verbs described in the table above.

• Analyse - These tasks require you to explore the different aspects of an issue, considering the relative significance of each. You would normally need to explore causal relationships, examining how an action will lead to a particular reaction. This type of task would not normally require you to make judgements, but rather to drill down into an issue, exploring relationships in depth.
• Assess - This requires you to weigh up the positive and negative aspects of something. Alternatively, it might require you to explore the important and unimportant aspects of an argument. You should build these strands into a balanced argument before reaching a final balanced conclusion.
• Compare - Examine qualities or characteristics to discover resemblances. "Compare" is usually stated as "compare with": you are required to emphasis on the similarities, although differences may be mentioned. 
  • Contrast - Stress dissimilarities, differences, or unlikeness of things, qualities, events, or problems. 
  • Critically Analyse - This is a term you are unlikely to have seen before on your Level 3 or A level courses. This is when you have to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas of a theorist or claims made by a professional body before reaching a final, balanced conclusion. You would normally begin by presenting the initial idea and arguments in favour of it, before introducing contradictory arguments. When you present the arguments, you should present their relative merits (e.g. their strengths and weaknesses) before summarising your arguments and reaching a final conclusion.
  • Describe - Giving an account of something including a series of features/points/trends/factors.
  • Evaluate - This type of question will require you to give an opinion on an issue, which you should support with relevant evidence. You should ensure that your response provides a balanced view of the issue, exploring points for and against your argument. This should lead to an overall conclusion where you summarise your main arguments and explain how you have come to your final decision.
  • Give/State/Name - Provide a definition according to published frameworks/legislation.
  • Identify - Provide a single word or short response to pick out the key factor(s) or element(s).
  • Justify - This requires you to provide arguments in support of a particular interpretation of or perspective on something. This should be based on the use of theoretical justifications applied to normal business practice.

• Criticise - Express your judgment or correctness or merit. Discuss the limitations and good points or contributions of the plan or work in question. 
• Define - Definitions call for concise, clear, authoritative meanings. Details are not required but limitations of the definition should be briefly cited. You must keep in mind the class to which a thing belongs and whatever differentiates the particular object from all others in the class. 

• Diagram - For a question which specifies a diagram you should present a drawing, chart, plan, or graphic representation in your answer. Generally, you are expected to label the diagram and, in some cases, add a brief explanation or description. 
• Discuss - The term discuss, which appears often in essay questions, directs you to examine, analyse carefully, and present considerations pro and con regarding the problems or items involved. This type of question calls for a complete and entailed answer. 
• Enumerate - The word enumerate specifies a list or outline form of reply. In such questions you should recount, one by one, in concise form, the points required. 

• Explain - Provide sufficient detail and/or understanding in responses. Learners use linkage words such as ‘therefore’, ‘so that’ and ‘because’ to expand on the initial point made. In explanatory answers it is imperative that you clarify and interpret the material you present. In this sage it is best to state the "how or why," reconcile any differences in opinion or experimental results, and, where possible, state causes. The aim is to make explain the conditions towards the explanation. 

• Illustrate - A question which asks you to illustrate usually requires you to explain or clarify your explanation by presenting a figure, picture, diagram, or concrete example. 
• Interpret - An interpretation question is similar to one requiring explanation. You are expected to translate, exemplify, solve, or comment upon the subject and usually to give your judgment or reaction to the problem. 

• List - Listing is similar to enumeration. You are expected in such questions to present an itemised series or tabulation. Such answers should always be given in concise form. 
• Outline - An outline answer is organized description. You should give main points and essential supplementary materials, omitting minor details, and present the information in a systematic arrangement or classification. 
• Prove - A question which requires proof is one which demands confirmation or verification. In such discussions you should establish something with certainty by evaluating and citing experimental evidence or by logical reasoning. 
• Relate - In a question which asks you to show the relationship or to relate, your answer should emphasise connections and associations in descriptive form. 
• Review - A review specifies a critical examination. You should analyse and comment briefly in organised sequence upon the major points of the problem. 
• Summarise - When you are asked to summarise or present a summarisation, you should present in condensed form the main points or facts. All details, illustrations and elaboration are to be omitted. 
• Trace - When a question asks you to trace a course of events, you are required to provide a description of progress, historical sequence, or development from the point of origin. Such narratives may call for probing or for deduction.

Source: adapted from; Faculty of Humanities study skill website, Communication Skills Development Center, University of South Carolina @ http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/assessment_evaluation/assessment/glossary.html

The student is required to go through the command verbs definitions explained above and if uncertain contact respective lecturer or tutor for clarification before attempting an assessment criterion (AC) or learning outcome (LO).