Critical Incident Analysis: Critical Evaluation Of Incident

Critical Evaluation of Incident Vachon and Leblac (2011) claim that reflective learning is facilitated by Critical Incident Analysis, the key components being a thorough analysis of an authentic, contextualised experience. In practise, through research, Kettle and Sellars (1996) established that peer reflection amongst groups of students, was integral to challenging preconceived ideas of their own pedagogy. In addition, Onjanen (1993), argues that the use of reflective journals, group discussion and own personal history are the most effective means to reflect, and subsequently improve on practise. A critical incident isn’t necessarily a dramatic event, usually it is an incident which has personal significance, one that makes an individual

Some interesting discoveries and insights were then revealed, not only into Traveller education, but also into the social, economic and welfare issues affecting this group of children. The biggest revelation being that Bluebell had rarely attended formal education, and had little immersion in the school environment. With this new information came a change in thinking; whereby consideration was given to whether children should attend school just because this is a societal norm, and how little room the current system sometimes leaves in terms of meeting the cultural needs of Gypsy and Traveller children. Bluebell’s lack of attendance lent a whole new perspective to the interaction taking place. It would be easy to look at the situation from a one dimensional perspective, judging Bluebell as being ‘naughty’ and labelling her as ‘disruptive’. But in light of the context of her lack of knowledge and experience about a formal schooling environment; this knowledge led the enquirer to a different conclusion. Simply that Bluebell has no idea about what constitutes acceptable behaviour in a school-like

It gave an opportunity to look back over initial thoughts presented and compare these with new ideas generated. Notably, there was a judgement of parents for not schooling their children and of Bluebell for her behaviour during the session. Being able to reflect on these thoughts via the use of a reflective journal was invaluable, as it highlighted gaps in professional knowledge, particularly a lack of awareness surrounding the backgrounds of the children attending the sessions. In practise this lack of knowledge led to some wrongful assumptions being made about Bluebell, with her behaviour viewed as being disruptive. With the additional knowledge gleaned, a change in attitude took place and consideration about a change in practise took place . The critical incident not only challenged perceptions of children and their behaviour, it also situated it in a context. It gave consideration to the nature of the school environment and how this works to include, or in this case exclude, certain children and ethnic minorities. For educators this exclusion has obvious effects on their practices, firstly there is a clear need to differentiate behaviour management strategies, and secondly it challenges perceptions of individual children and serves as a reminder that sometimes situations, people and actions, aren’t quite what they seem; a reminder to question the validity of the views, beliefs and values