ESSAY QUESTION
1500 WORDS ESSAY
Critically reflect on your work experience placement, analysing specific examples from your placement and referring to relevant academic sources (including core module reading), to inform your personal development and career aspirations.
INSTRUCTIONS
Introduction – Objectives and Placement .
There were the objectives I made in the past that I wanted to target during my work experience in a nursery (early years setting)
-OBJECTIVE 1
Upon completion of my work placement at the nursery school, I will have refined my skills in creating and executing individualized lesson plans that address the specific developmental requirements of three selected children (e.g., one with social interaction needs, one with language development challenges, and one with English as an additional language). Differentiation strategies and multisensory activities will be incorporated into these lessons.
-OBJECTIVE 2
Throughout my placement, I will keep a comprehensive developmental portfolio in order to methodically record the growth of the chosen children. With the goal of creating an in-depth summary that covers at least two developmental areas, this will comprise weekly observations, visual evidence, and samples of their work. To evaluate the success of my interventions, I am going to ask parents and other educators for feedback.
Theoretical framework
CORE READINGS
· Bassot, B. (2016) The Reflective Practice Guide: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Critical Reflection. London: Routledge.
· Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods -Book by Graham Gibbs; Great Britain. Further Education Unit 19
· Placements and work-based learning in education studies: an introduction for students Book by Jim Hordern; Catherine A. Simon 2017 Core
· Becoming a critically reflective teacher Book by Stephen Brookfield 2017 2nd edition
Educational theory relevant to your placement context
Psychology of learning, Becoming a Teacher, learning theorists or approaches e.g. Bates, B (2019) Learning Theories simplified and how to apply them to teaching: 130+ theories and models from great thinkers, London: Sage
Further academic sources relevant to your experiences/outcomes e.g.
If working in Early years, see the EYFS framework.
Experiences
-Key section (c.800-1000 words approx.) and should be linked to your objectives
-Written in the first person – it is about you; self-awareness, honest and subjective – your opinion/ interpretation (but showing awareness of others’ perspectives too)
-Analyses, doesn’t just describe what happened (see theoretical frameword chosen description is usually only the start point)
-Critically reflective (not criticising placement!) – what went well, what could be improved, what action YOU can take/what you’ve learnt
-Specific and meaningful (identify/analyse specific examples including of your own practice rather than broad generalisations about good practice in general)
-Anonymised (a student, a child, a colleague, a teacher, a supervisor, a mentee)
-Informed by chosen reflective framework and linked back to objectives and to relevant reading
(Give examples of specific examples or lesson plans or anything that stood out to you during your placement- linked to objectives)
(Consider any links to objectives/common themes e.g. communication, responding to learner needs,)
Reference model
Use language associated with your chosen theoretical/reflective model throughout your reflection e.g.
My feeling at the time was…
From this, my key learning was that…
If I face a similar situation in future, I’ll apply this approach
Impact: Outcomes, your next steps and career aspirations
• Reflect on your experience of setting and working towards objectives in your placement; to what extent have you achieved your overall placement objectives? (ok even if you don’t, but will still need to link your experiences, in some way, back to your objectives) What is/are your most meaningful achievement(s) from the experience overall?
• How does the placement experience enable you to form new objectives for your personal development ahead of the final year of your degree?
• How has your placement experience impacted on your career aspirations? Has it given you any more clarity on careers in the field of education and your own career directions? In what ways has it developed your employability/graduate capital? (see Tomlinson et al (2017): human, social, cultural, psychological, identity)
• What are your next steps for building upon and taking forward your placement learning towards your post graduation career? Has the placement clarified priority areas to ensure progression towards your intended career aspirations?
