{"id":1719,"date":"2025-12-10T12:05:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2025-12-10T12:05:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:05:55","slug":"reflective-teaching-in-higher-education-the-small-shifts-that-quietly-change-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/2025\/12\/10\/reflective-teaching-in-higher-education-the-small-shifts-that-quietly-change-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflective Teaching in Higher Education: the \u201csmall shifts\u201d that quietly change everything"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve ever left a lecture thinking <em>\u201cThat didn\u2019t land the way I hoped\u201d<\/em> (or <em>\u201cThat went surprisingly well &#8211; why?\u201d<\/em>), you\u2019ve already stepped into reflective teaching. The question is whether reflection remains a private afterthought\u2026 or becomes a deliberate practice that improves teaching in real time and shapes what we do next.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/14623943.2025.2504143\"><em>Advancing pedagogical excellence through reflective teaching practice and adaptation<\/em><\/a>, Dr Yetunde Kolajo explores reflective teaching practice (RTP) in a first-year chemistry context at a New Zealand university, asking a deceptively simple question: How do lecturers\u2019 teaching philosophies shape what they actually do to reflect and adapt their teaching?<\/p>\n<p><strong>What the study did <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kolajo interviewed eight chemistry lecturers using semi-structured interviews, then used thematic analysis to examine two connected strands: (1) teaching concepts\/philosophy and (2) lecturer\u2013student interaction.<\/p>\n<p>The paper distinguishes between:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reflective Teaching (RT): the broader ongoing process of critically examining your teaching.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reflective Teaching Practice (RTP): the day-to-day strategies (journals, feedback loops, peer dialogue, etc.) that <em>make reflection actionable<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reflection is uneven and often unsystematic<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A striking finding is that not all lecturers consistently engaged in reflective practices, and there wasn\u2019t clear evidence of a shared, structured reflective culture across the teaching team. Some lecturers could articulate a teaching philosophy, but this didn\u2019t always translate into a repeatable reflection cycle (before, during, and after teaching).<\/p>\n<p>Kolajo frames this using Dewey and Sch\u00f6n\u2019s well-known reflection stages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Reflection-for-action (before teaching):<\/strong> planning with intention<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reflection-in-action (during teaching):<\/strong> adjusting <em>as it happens<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Reflection-on-action (after teaching):<\/strong> reviewing to improve next time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And here\u2019s the bit that will resonate: even where lecturers were clearly committed and experienced, reflection could still become fragmented more like \u201cminor tweaks\u201d than a consistent, evidence-informed practice.<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/files\/2025\/12\/Facts-or-Fears.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1722 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/files\/2025\/12\/Facts-or-Fears.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"370\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The real engine of reflection: lecturer-student interaction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The article repeatedly returns to one powerful idea: interaction isn\u2019t just a teaching technique &#8211; it\u2019s a reflection tool.<\/p>\n<p>Student questions, live confusion, moments of silence, a sudden \u201cOhhh!\u201d &#8211; these are data. In the study, the clearest examples of reflection happening <em>during<\/em> teaching came from lecturers who intentionally built in interaction (e.g., questioning strategies, pausing for problem-solving).<\/p>\n<p>One example stands out: Denise\u2019s in-class quiz is described as the only instance that embodied all three reflection components using student responses to gauge understanding, adapting support during the activity, and feeding insights forward into later planning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why this matters right now in UK HE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>UK higher education is navigating increasing diversity in student backgrounds, expectations, and prior learning alongside sharper scrutiny of teaching quality and inclusion. In that context, reflective teaching isn\u2019t \u201cnice-to-have CPD\u201d; it\u2019s a way of ensuring our teaching practices keep pace with learners\u2019 needs, not just disciplinary content.<\/p>\n<p>And importantly: the paper doesn\u2019t argue for abandoning lectures. Instead, it shows how reflective practice can help lecturers <em>adapt<\/em> within lecture-based structures especially through purposeful interaction that shifts students from passive listening toward more active\/constructive engagement (drawing on engagement ideas such as ICAP).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Three \u201ctry this tomorrow\u201d reflective moves (small, practical, high impact)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Plan one interaction checkpoint (not ten).<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd a single moment where you <em>must<\/em> learn something from students (a hinge question, poll, mini-problem, or \u201cexplain it to a partner\u201d). Use it as reflection-for-action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Name your in-the-moment adjustment.<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen you pivot (slow down, re-explain, swap an example), briefly acknowledge it: <em>\u201cI\u2019m noticing this is sticky &#8211; let\u2019s try a different route.\u201d<\/em> That\u2019s reflection-in-action made visible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>End with one evidence-based note to self.<\/strong><br \/>\nNot \u201cWent fine.\u201d Instead: <em>\u201c35% missed X in the quiz &#8211; next time: do Y before Z.\u201d<\/em> That\u2019s reflection-on-action you can actually reuse.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Questions to spark conversation (for you or your teaching team)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where does your <em>teaching philosophy<\/em> show up most clearly: content coverage, student confidence, relevance, or interaction?<\/li>\n<li>What \u201cdata\u201d do you trust most: NSS\/module evaluation, informal comments, in-class responses, attainment patterns and why?<\/li>\n<li>If your programme is team-taught, what would a <em>shared<\/em> reflective framework look like in practice (so reflection isn\u2019t isolated and inconsistent)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If reflective teaching is the intention, this article is the nudge: <strong>make reflection visible, structured, and interaction-led<\/strong>, so adaptation becomes a habit, not a heroic one-off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/files\/2025\/12\/Hanging-silver-connection-balls.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-1723 alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/files\/2025\/12\/Hanging-silver-connection-balls.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"337\" height=\"236\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>#Advancing pedagogical excellence through reflective teaching practice and adaptation by Dr Yetunde Kolajo<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve ever left a lecture thinking \u201cThat didn\u2019t land the way I hoped\u201d (or \u201cThat went surprisingly well &#8211; why?\u201d), you\u2019ve already stepped into &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/2025\/12\/10\/reflective-teaching-in-higher-education-the-small-shifts-that-quietly-change-everything\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79050,"featured_media":1720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[275869,112454,1,275868,153673],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79050"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1725,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/1725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/studentsuccess-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}