The final blog in our Top Tips for Health Teaching series considers teaching reflective practice. This was one of the presentations at our Knowledge Sharing Workshop event in September 2025, presented by Bethan Morgan, Librarian at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Teaching reflective practice
I have been teaching reflective practice for around 4 years. I decided to develop a session after identifying it as a potential gap in the training offered by our library service. My first step was to approach the Practice Education Team to see what training was already available across the Trust. I quickly established that, outside of university programmes, there was no formal training on offer. This gave me both the rationale to develop something myself.
In my workshops, I focus on creating a supportive, practical space where participants can step back from their day-to-day work and think about how they can learn from experience. We explore why reflective practice matters and why it supports professional development, as well as the potential benefits and barriers. I introduce established reflective models, including Gibb’s Reflective Cycle, Borton’s “What? So What? Now What?”, and Moon’s framework for reflective writing, to provide practical guidance. The session ends with participants writing their own reflection using one of the models covered.
The sessions are usually delivered as group workshops, bringing together people from different professional backgrounds. However, I have also delivered sessions tailored to specific groups, including apprentices and physiotherapists. When needed I adapt examples and discussion points to ensure the session is relevant and impactful to the audience.
If you’re considering developing reflective practice training in your own setting, I would strongly recommend attending a session elsewhere first. Since the workshop in September, I have had multiple librarians shadow my sessions! I would also suggest reaching out to colleagues in preceptorship or practice education to understand what is already. This helps with shaping the content and with promotion of the session further down the line.
Ultimately, I would highly recommend developing a reflective practice session. In my experience, it both enjoyable and rewarding to teach, with consistently strong attendance and positive feedback from participants.
