Introduction
Writing reflectively for academic credit is a well-established assessment strategy within midwifery and nursing programmes. As part of your pre-registration programme and perhaps even more so at the post-qualifyinglevel of activity, student journals, portfolios, critical-incident analysis and assignments arising from action-learning sets are ways of integrating the theory you are learning with your practice. Each of these learning and assessment methods has been explored briefly in Chapter 12. Reflection is the approach that makes the link across each of these strategies, and by encouraging writing, encourages you to develop your analytical skills and to be critical constructively. In a small study of post-qualifying nurses, Jasper (1999) found that from initial negative views about reflective practice these nurses used their writing as a learning tool to help them to turn their thinking into action. Writing their reflections in a structured way enabled them to develop their critical and analytical skills, which, as Jasper suggests, impacts on their practice. These students recognized that writing reflectively was not a ‘natural process but has to be learnt and practised (Jasper, 1999, p. 459). Additionally, they all felt that by the end of the course, the process of writing helped them to see their experiences in a new way and gave them ‘a growing awareness of alternative ways of looking at the world’ (Jasper, 1999, p. 459).
This chapter aims to develop your understanding of how to think and write reflectively within an academic framework. Chapter 12 explored the changing context within which nurses and midwives are working and how the way you learn can help you to cope with change and even make it work to your benefit. This chapter now explores the more formal articulation of that reflection through writing. Reflective writing is not only a tool to help you to achieve success in your study modules and influence your practice but, like the students in Jasper’s study it can help you grow personally and help uncover the practice knowledge that you work from on a daily basis.
In 2006, England’s chief nurse presented the changing face of nursing and health care and how it will impact on your future career (Department of Health (DoH), 2006a). The principles apply equally to midwives in terms of the need for a system of competency-based working as well as the need to develop flexibility and transferability of skills throughout your career. In relation to education, the national review of the pre-qualifying nursing and midwifery programmes advocated a more flexible approach to these programmes (UKCC, 1999a) to accommodate the changing context of health care. From this review, greater freedom to step-off and step-on the programme was advocated. Subsequently, students have been able to apply to have their previous learning recognized and they have been able to shorten their studies by up to 1 year of the total 3-year programme. More recently, through the current Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) consultation on the future of pre-registration nursing education, professionals are being invited to give their views on extending this recognition further (NMC, 2007). Currently, it should be possible for those with prior qualifications – National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs)/Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) and/or prior experience – to present evidence of a non-standard nature to gain entry into and/or exemption from some of the units of study within a pre-registration programme, as long as it is still relevant and current (see below). This process is called the Accreditation of (Experiential) Learning or A(E)L.
Similarly, those with prior clinical experience and qualifications within the practice area will not need to repeat work in which they are already deemed to be competent. These practitioners will be able to seek exemption from part of their programme should they wish to apply for professional preparation. Practice within the clinical area should therefore be seen much more as a continuum and development for each individual. With the possibility of further shortening the programme for those with prior learning, it is hoped that this approach will attract more recruits with a wider range of skills and abilities into the profession. It is important that you should understand what is required if you wish to make such a claim.
If you are unfamiliar with the AEL system, the box below provides a simple definition.
Accreditation of experiential learning refers to the process of identifi cation, assessment and formal acknowledgement of prior learning and achievement. ‘It is the achievement of learning or the outcomes of that learning and not just the experience of the activities alone that is being accredited’ (Quality Assurance Agency, 2004, p. 3).
This learning may take many forms, including professional work experience, short non-assessed courses and general life experiences. However, you need to translate this experience into evidence. This evidence needs to relate to and be comparable with an existing programme of study so that you can be exempt from that part of the programme. Most programmes of study in the UK are now modularized; that is, they are packaged up into distinct units of study. This makes the presentation of evidence a much more manageable activity for you. The modules will have clearly expressed learning outcomes or goals to be achieved and these will also be written at a particular academic level based on a typical3-year degree programme at university.
Having this evidence accredited is only of value if you wish to follow a particular academic programme, towards a recognized award, at a particular higher-education establishment. In other words, AEL claims are only of value at the particular academic institution from which you are seeking a specific award. It is generally not possible to make a claim at one institution and have it accepted at another institution. Although there may be some locally accepted arrangements, as a rule, you must make the claim at the particular institution from which you are seeking the award. You will also see the term ‘accreditation of learning’ (AL). This is the gaining of academic credit for the learning that is achieved from a formally taught course that has been assessed and certificated. Some nursing and midwifery departments have produced a tariff list, which shows how much credit specific courses can attract. This is generally used when transferring actual credit from one university to another. The distinction between AL and AEL can be seen in the box below.
Accredited learning section (ALS)
In this section, you will need to identify:
• Which module or unit of the programme you are seeking exemption from on the basis of your existing credit
• Copies of any relevant certifi cates and any associated credit transcripts
• For non-credit-rated programmes, a copy of the associated syllabus, programme of study, length of study, number and length of assignments and assessment criteria used will need to be presented
• A copy of relevant assignments together with tutor feedback
Experiential learning section
In this section, you will need to identify:
• Which module or unit of the programme you are seeking exemption from on the basis of your experience
• The experiences you have had that have led to the learning evidenced. This must be accompanied by a written commentary to support the appropriate academic level of the unit. The learning outcomes of the matched module or unit you are interested in seeking exemption from must be presented, with the appropriate evidence alongside
In summary, AEL is a system by which you can gain non-standard access to, or exemption from, parts of a programme of study. It should be possible now to gain non-standard entry to a programme of study and exemption from parts of pre-registration programmes through the production of acceptable evidence. This may be achieved either through a system of AL (previously certificated courses) or from your past experience (through AEL). Whatever recognition you are seeking it is important to be clear that it is your prior learning that is valued and it can also contribute to and extend your learning through your on-going studies.
The AEL process
The AEL process can be divided into several distinct stages. Every institution will have its own guide or handbook for using AEL within that particular organization. Do enquire at the institution of your choice before embarking on compiling your evidence. The following is offered as a general guide only and will be considered very briefly.
Stage 1: decide on your programme of study
As someone wishing to enter or transfer into a pre-qualifying programme or a post-qualifying nurse or midwife wishing to access an undergraduate or postgraduate programme, you need to contact the programme leader of the programme you are transferring into, to find out what is required of you, and how your prior learning fits with the new programme. Always obtain as much information as you can, to make sure it is possible to make an AEL claim and what is required of you.
Stage 2: identifying and reviewing experiences
Although you may have considerable life and/or work experience, it is not the time in practice or experience that counts in AEL but evidence of the learning that has been achieved.
To present the evidence of your achievements, you need to select which prior experiences can be matched to specific learning outcomes within your chosen programme of study. To do this you need to focus clearly on experiences that have led to valuable learning. While a claim for academic credit must be current, i.e. within approximately the last 5 years, experience prior to this may be considered if you can show how you have updated older learning and applied it to your practice.
Stage 3: identifying learning achievements
When presenting your evidence against the learning outcomes of the programme, you need to consider the academic level against which you are intending to claim credit. Later on in this chapter we will offer you some guidance on this. Reflecting on your past experience and making sense of it in a critical and analytical way will help to achieve this. Chapter 12 offers you a number of analytical frameworks to help you. These frameworks provide you with cues to help you move beyond merely telling the story towards finding meaning and learning from that experience, supported by current literature. As in any academic piece of work, organizing your work in a structured and logical manner is crucial to the achievement of a clear pass. The examiner should be able to read your work and know that you have a clear idea of its meaning in relation to the part of the programme against which you are seeking exemption.
Stage 4: matching the learning achievements against the modular learning outcomes
To be considered for accreditation, your AEL claim must contain prior learning that meets the following requirements.
■ Comparability: the evidence you produce should match the learning outcomes of a specific module(s) approved by the university for the award sought. As previously suggested, not only should the type of learning match in terms of amount and range of activity, but the level of learning should also be consistent with the academic level of the learning outcomes expressed.
■ Currency: as a general rule, the evidence you produce should not be more than 5 years old. Also, your reading and the literature that you present in support of your learning should be current. Do ask how much you are expected to produce; often it is the more succinct and focused work that provides the best of evidence.
■ Authenticity: the evidence you produce should demonstrate that you completed the work yourself.
There may be a limit to the amount of AEL you can be exempted from in any one programme. Each institution has its own limit. Your programme leader should be able to advise you.
The evidence will be scrutinized with the same rigour required of those examining standard assignments with the institution. After all, the way candidates’ work is handled within the university must be consistent across the different programmes, whether the work is produced for AEL or for standard assignment work.
Types of evidence that you may like to consider
Presentation of your learning achievements may be made in a variety of ways and you must be guided by the requirements of the institution to which you are making your claim, e.g. case studies, project work, critical-incident analysis, etc. Alternatively if you have recently completed a programme of study that has not been academically accredited, it may be appropriate to complete the actual module assignment. You may even provide a written commentary to accompany other types of learning (e.g. NVQs) to demonstrate equivalence of learning outcomes and the appropriate academic quality.
Academic portfolio
Where you need to present evidence of learning from a variety of experiences, you can do this through the development of an academic port-folio (see Chapter 15). An academic portfolio may have two distinct parts:
1. An accredited-learning section, which provides evidence of formal learning that has already been accredited and certificated by a recognized higher-education institution or assessed by recognized agencies and for which you are now seeking university credit
2. An experiential-learning section, which provides evidence of your learning from experience.
It is likely you will have some evidence in both sections.
Stage 5: summarizing the AEL claim
To help you in the submission of your AEL claim, each institution that offers this facility should have a key person, usually called an AEL coordinator, to give you advice as to how your evidence should be presented. Most institutions have a handbook or document that shows clearly how the evidence should be presented. Additionally, some institutions offer workshops or individual support for the submission of your claim and there is usually a fee required for your submission to be considered.
Once you have developed your academic portfolio and presented your evidence against a particular module or unit of study, you need to summarize your claim and submit this summary along with the main body of your claim. This acts as an aid to assessment of your AEL claim and demonstrates clearly how your learning experiences have led to a coherent learning achievement. The actual layout will vary according to the different institutions. You must be guided by your AEL adviser.
Levels of learning
Different levels of learning are expected of you at each stage of your academic development; for example, what you were expected to do at A-level is different to what is expected in the first year of your degree and different again if you move into a masters programme. It is important you understand what is expected of you at each of these stages. Various frameworks have been used to guide this learning but essentially there is a hierarchy of educational development that achievement can be measured against. Some of these frameworks are as follows.
Steinaker and Bell’s (1979) experiential taxonomy of achievement in practice:
■ Exposure: consciousness of an experience – having the skill demonstrated.
■ Identification: union of the learner with what is to be learned – competency in achievement of the skill.
■ Internalization: experience continues to influence lifestyle – mastery of the activity.
■ Dissemination: attempt to influence others, e.g. through teaching.
This hierarchy can guide you to articulating different levels of practical achievement, which progress through both the doing of the practice as well as the thinking behind what you are doing. Sometimes in an academic paper it is difficult to find ways to articulate higher levels of practice when, for example, you are concerned with doing the practice safely. Translating this into academic writing may initially cause you some difficulty.
Alternatively, Bloom (1956) formulated a hierarchy of levels in each of the three areas of learning as follows:
■ knowledge domain (cognitive)
■ skills domain (psychomotor)
■ attitudes domain (affective).
Most recently, the Southern England Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SEEC, 2003) has adapted previous frameworks to include the practical skills and generic transferable skills as well as the cognitive skills. SEEC’s (2003) credit level descriptors can be accessed at http://www.seec-office.org.uk/c+reditleveldescriptors2003.pdf. The document clearly sets out what they believe to be the expectations required from the first level of a further education programme through to undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral study in higher education. The document is well worth considering whatever academic study you are undertaking. The credit level descriptors are of particular value when beginning your AEL claim.
Each university will have its own expectations of the different levels articulated so that you can be guided when presenting your written commentary, linked to the matched module or unit outcomes. Whatever the academic level, you must present your evidence supported by relevant and current literature. All university institutions will require you to follow a specific system of referencing; although many now advocate the Harvard system of referencing (see Chapter 9 for further information on this system).
Summary of the AEL process
In summary, therefore, AEL is a way of gaining non-standard entry to a particular programme of your choice, or exemption from some part of that programme towards the achievement of an award. Each higher education institution has its own process governed by its own rules and regulations. You must seek guidance from the AEL coordinator before embarking on this process of compiling a claim so that you are absolutely clear as to what is expected of you. We have attempted to present a general framework of the process expected from you in most institutions, the different types of evidence that you can use and the different levels of learning that can help you articulate your learning at the appropriate academic level. We believe it would be helpful at this point to present some examples of how to write reflectively for academia, especially if you have been used to producing third-person academic writing.
Writing reflectively for academia
When writing reflectively for academia, similar rules apply to both first-person reflective writing and third-person academic writing in relation to the rigour required. However, rather than write in the third person, the reflective approach encourages you to maintain a first-person reflective style of writing while at the same time supporting your thoughts and feelings with reference to the literature and research.
It is useful to think of writing in the first person as a great privilege. You need to think carefully when using this approach, so as not to use it as a chatty, letter-writing activity where it is easy to merely ‘tell your story’. As you saw in Chapter 12, telling your story is only one small part of the reflective process. Jasper (2006, p. 81) presents a very useful chapter exploring in some depth the nature of reflective writing for professional development. In particular, she explores how a group of 37 nurses used reflective writing within their professional portfolios. In addition to helping them demonstrate their accountability, reflective writing helped them in four key areas, one of which was the development of their skills in critical thinking. Writing reflectively for academia helps you to make links with your reading and recognize how knowledge development and theory have influenced your practice. Conversely, reflective writing for academia helps you to see how your practice may influence theory. Early on, Argyris and Schon (1974) examined the difference between espoused theory (what we say we do) and theory-in-use (what we actually do). Through reflective writing we can begin to identify and acknowledge that in many situations there is no satisfactory off-the-shelf theory that will support or explain what we do (Schon, 1991, p. 274). By writing reflectively and analysing our theories-in-use, sharing our analysis and explanations with others, we can begin to identify new research questions and explore and even test out our theories-in-use through research. Through our research, we can build and shape new theory so that there is a constant flow of theory and practice influencing each other. Theory development will then remain alive and relevant to practice and not sterile and divorced from it. It is likely that nurses will become much more involved in research and subsequently theory making with the advent of clinical academic careers (United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC), 2007). As part of the NHS modernization agenda and the UK Department of Health’s new 5-year research strategy to ensure a world-class environment for NHS research (DoH, 2006b, p. 5), a proposal for structured support for nurses to engage in a research career has been developed (UKCRC, 2007). Reflective writing can be the catalyst for nurses to engage in such a career.
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