directing learning, and a self-regulated process commonly used in health and teaching professions, though applicable to all professions. reflective practice is a learning process taught to professionals from a variety of disciplines, with the aim of enhancing abilities to communicate and making informed and balanced decisions. professional associations such as the american association of nurse practitioners are recognizing the importance of reflective practice and require practitioners to prepare reflective portfolios as a requirement to be licensed, and for yearly quality assurance purposes. education the concept of reflective practice has found wide application in the field of education, for learners, teachers and those who teach teachers (teacher educators). tsangaridou & o'sullivan (1997) define reflection in education as "the act of thinking about, analyzing, assessing, or altering educational meanings, intentions, beliefs, decisions, actions, or products by focusing on the process of achieving them … the primary purpose of this action is to structure, adjust, generate, refine, restructure, or alter knowledge and actions that inform practice. microreflection gives meaning to or informs day-to-day practice, and macroreflection gives meaning to or informs practice over time". reflection is the key to successful learning for teachers and for learners. students students can benefit from engaging in reflective practice as it can foster the critical thinking and decision making necessary for continuous learning and improvement. when students are engaged in reflection, they are thinking about how their work meets established criteria; they analyze the effectiveness of their efforts, and plan for improvement. rolheiser and et al. (2000) assert that "reflection is linked to elements that are fundamental to meaningful learning and cognitive development: the development of metacognition – the capacity for students to improve their ability to think about their thinking; the ability to self-evaluate - the capacity for students to judge the quality of their work based on evidence and explicit criteria for the purpose of doing better work; the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making; and the enhancement of teacher understanding of the learner." (p 31-32) when teachers teach metacognitive skills, it promotes student self-monitoring and self-regulation that can lead to intellectual growth, increase academic achievement, and support transfer of skills so that students are able to use any strategy at any time and for any purpose. guiding students in the habits of reflection requires teachers to approach their role as that of "facilitator of meaning-making" – they organize instruction and classroom practice so that students are the producers, not just the consumers, of knowledge. rolheiser and colleagues (2000) state that "when students develop their capacity to understand their own thinking processes, they are better equipped to employ the necessary cognitive skills to complete a task or achieve a goal. students who have acquired metacognitive skills are better able to compensate for both low ability and insufficient information." (p. 34) the ontario ministry of education (2007) describes many ways in which educators can help students acquire the skills required for effective reflection and self-assessment, including: modelling and/or intentionally teaching critical thinking skills necessary for reflection and self-assessment practices; addressing students' perceptions of self-assessment; engaging in discussion and dialogue about why self-assessment is important; allowing time to learn self-assessment and reflection skills; providing many opportunities to practice different aspects of the self-assessment and reflection process; and ensuring that parents/guardians understand that self-assessment is only one of a variety of assessment strategies that is utilized for student learning. teachers the concept of reflective practice is now widely employed in the field of teacher education and teacher professional development and many programs of initial teacher education claim to espouse it. education professor hope hartman has described reflective practice in education as teacher metacognition., indicating there is broad consensus that teaching effectively requires a reflective approach. attard & armour explain that "teachers who are reflective systematically collect evidence from their practice, allowing them to rethink and potentially open themselves to new interpretations". teaching and learning are complex processes, and there is not one right approach. reflecting on different approaches to teaching, and reshaping the understanding of past and current experiences, can lead to improvement in teaching practices. schön's reflection-in-action can help teachers explicitly incorporate into their decision-making the professional knowledge that they gain from their experience in the classroom. as professor of education barbara larrivee argues, reflective practice moves teachers from their knowledge base of distinct skills to a stage in their careers where they are able to modify their skills to suit specific contexts and situations, and eventually to invent new strategies. in implementing a process of reflective practice teachers will be able to move themselves, and their schools, beyond existing theories in practice. larrivee concludes that teachers should "resist establishing a classroom culture of control and become a reflective practitioner, continuously engaging in a critical reflection, consequently remaining fluid in the dynamic environment of the classroom". it is important to note that, "the reflective process should eventually help the teacher to change, adapt and modify his/her teaching to the particular context. this does not happen in stages, but is a continuum of reflection, leading to change ... and further reflection". without reflection, teachers are not able to look objectively at their actions or take into account the emotions, experience, or consequences of actions to improve their practice. it is argued that, through the process of reflection, teachers are held accountable to the standards of practice for teaching, such as those in ontario: commitment to students and student learning, professional knowledge, professional practice, leadership in learning communities, and ongoing professional learning. overall, through reflective practice, teachers look back on their practice and reflect on how they have supported students by treating them "equitably and with respect and are sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning". teacher educators for students to acquire necessary skills in reflection, their teachers need to be able to teach and model reflective practice (see above); similarly, teachers themselves need to have been taught reflective practice during their initial teacher education, and to continue to develop their reflective skills throughout their career. however, mary ryan has noted that students are often asked to "reflect" without being taught how to do so, or without being taught that different types of reflection are possible; they may not even receive a clear definition or rationale for reflective practice. many new teachers do not know how to transfer the reflection strategies they learned in college to their classroom teaching. some writers have advocated that reflective practice needs to be taught explicitly to student teachers because it is not an intuitive act; it is not enough for teacher educators to provide student teachers with "opportunities" to reflect: they must explicitly "teach reflection and types of reflection" and "need explicitly to facilitate the process of reflection and make transparent the metacognitive process it entails". larrivee noted that (student) teachers require "carefully constructed guidance" and "multifaceted and strategically constructed interventions" if they are to reflect effectively on their practice. rod lane and colleagues listed strategies by which teacher educators can promote a habit of reflective practice in pre-service teacher education, such as discussions of a teaching situation, reflective interviews or essays about one's teaching experiences, action research, or journaling or blogging. neville hatton and david smith, in a brief literature review, concluded that teacher education programs do use a wide range of strategies with the aim of encouraging students teachers to reflect (e.g. action research, case studies, video-recording or supervised practicum experiences), but that "there is little research evidence to show that this is actually being achieved". the implication of all this is that teacher educators must also be highly skilled in reflective practice. andrea gelfuso and danielle dennis, in a report on a formative experiment with student teachers, suggested that teaching how to reflect requires teacher educators to possess and deploy specific competences. however, janet dyment and timothy o'connell, in a small-scale study of experienced teacher educators, noted that the teacher educators they studied had received no training in using reflection themselves, and that they in turn did not give such training to their students; all parties were expected to know how to reflect. many writers advocate for teacher educators themselves to act as models of reflective practice. this implies that the way that teacher educators teach their students needs to be congruent with the approaches they expect their students to adopt with pupils; teacher educators should not only model the way to teach, but should also explain why they have chosen a particular approach whilst doing so, by reference to theory; this implies that teacher educators need to be aware of their own tacit theories of teaching and able to connect them overtly to public theory. however, some teacher educators do not always "teach as they preach"; they base their teaching decisions on "common sense" more than on public theory and struggle with modelling reflective practice. tom russell, in a reflective article looking back on 35 years as teacher educator, concurred that teacher educators rarely model reflective practice, fail to link reflection clearly and directly to professional learning, and rarely explain what they mean by reflection, with the result that student teachers may complete their initial teacher education with "a muddled and negative view of what reflection is and how it might contribute to their professional learning". for russell, these problems result from the fact that teacher educators have not sufficiently explored how theories of reflective practice relate to their own teaching, and so have not made the necessary "paradigmatic changes" which they expect their students to make. challenges reflective practice "is a term that carries diverse meaning" and about which there is not complete consensus. professor tim fletcher of brock university argues forward-thinking is a professional habit, but we must reflect on the past to inform how it translates into the present and future. always thinking about 'what's next' rather than 'what just happened' can constrain an educator's reflective process. the concept of reflection is difficult as beginning teachers are stuck between "the conflicting values of schools and universities" and "the contradictory values at work within schools and within university faculties and with the increasing influence of factors external to school and universities such as policy makers". conflicting opinions make it difficult to direct the reflection process, as it is hard to establish what values you are trying to align with. it is important to acknowledge reflective practice "follows a twisting path that involves false starts and detours". meaning once you reflect on an issue it cannot be set aside as many assume. newman refers to gilroy's assertion that "the 'knowledge' produced by reflection can only be recognized by further reflection, which in turn requires reflection to recognize it as knowledge". in turn, reflective practice cannot hold one meaning, it is contextual based on the practitioner. it is argued that the term 'reflection' shouldn't be used as there are associations to it being "more of a hindrance than a help". it is suggested the term is referred to 'critical practice' or 'practical philosophy' to "suggest an approach which practitioners can adopt in the different social context in which they find themselves". meanwhile, oluwatoyin discusses some disadvantages and barriers to reflective practice as, feeling stress by reflecting on negative issues and frustration from not being able to solve those identified issues, and time constraints. with reflection often taking place independently, educators lack the motivation and assistance in tackling these difficult problems. it is suggested that teachers communicate with one another, or have an indicated individual to talk to, this way there is external informed feedback. overall, before engaging in reflective practice it is important to be aware of the challenges. health professionals reflective practice is viewed as an important strategy for health professionals who embrace lifelong learning. due to the ever-changing context of healthcare and the continual growth of medical knowledge, there is a high level of demand on healthcare professionals' expertise. due to this complex and continually changing environment, healthcare professionals could benefit from a program of reflective practice. adrienne price explained that there are several reasons why a healthcare practitioner would engage in reflective practice: to further understand one's motives, perceptions, attitudes, values, and feelings associated with client care; to provide a fresh outlook to practice situations and to challenge existing thoughts, feelings, and actions; and to explore how the practice situation may be