Reflective practice maximises the benefits of professional development

Part of learning and developing yourself professionally is thinking about what worked, what didn’t, and what you might want to explore further in the future. Reflective practice is a mechanism for turning experience into learning by capturing your reflections in a systematic way and using them to inform your career and professional development in the future.

 

Getting started with reflective practice for your CPD

As you complete your CPD each year, keep a record of what you did, with brief details of what you learnt. (We recommend using the Chartered Geographer CPD template.)

At the end of the year, look back at all your completed CPD in a holistic way. Reflect on how your CPD has had an impact on your professional development and career growth, and how it helped you develop specific skills and knowledge. Relating the CPD to the Chartered Geographer Framework of Competencies, or your employer’s competency frameworks may help to identify themes.

You should be able to demonstrate how you have improved your professional practice and the delivery of services and solutions for your employer or client(s).

The CPD record for Chartered Geographer encourages you to be reflective in two directions - look-back and feed-forward. Consider how you can build your future development on the foundation of what you have learned and achieved so far.

Questions that might help you get started in being reflective:

• Did you achieve what you wanted?

• Are you more effective in your role? Has your learning increased your competence, skills or knowledge? Has your performance improved?

• Considering the resources (in time or money) that you and your workplace invested in your CPD, was it good value?

• How have you shared your expertise and learning? How have others benefitted?

• Have you thought about other CPD you would like to do, or ways to build on what you have already done?

By undertaking a reflection on your CPD as a whole, you are putting your learning to work for you.