The Health and Social Care Professional

Assessment: Coursework-Reflective Writing

Module Title: The Health and Social Care Professional

Level 4

Personal development and self-awareness are equally important and valuable as clinical skills and theoretical knowledge in health and social care. We learn both in a classroom and through experience. While studying, we develop in practice, through encounters with others, and importantly, through working in teams. This report explores two key tools for personal and professional development in health and social care: Gibbs' Reflective Cycle for structured reflection on experience, and SMART goals for planning growth. Together, these methods help students gain self-awareness, build core skills, and prepare for a successful career in the field.

TASK 1

Reflecting Writing Using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988)

1.1 What is Reflective Practice?

Reflective practice involves taking the time to think about what happened on a specific occasion, evaluating what went well and what did not, and using that insight to improve subsequent actions. In health and social care, this is extremely important since professionals deal with some complex situations where the dilemmas pertain to ethics, emotion, and communication (Jasper, 2013).

Gibbs's Reflective Cycle (1988) is one of the most well-known models of reflection in healthcare that divides reflection into six simple stages.

1.2 Gibbs's Reflective Cycle (1988) 

Gibbs's Reflective Cycle is a straightforward process to follow, which attempts to provide reflection with an explicit and systematic framework within which students can reflect on their experiences. It was intended to help you think clearly and systematically about what has occurred, how you were feeling, what went well, what did not go well and what you did differently next time. The model encourages you to consider the situation from all perspectives to learn and develop from every experience.

1.3 The Six Stages of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle

Stage	Explanation
Description	What happened during the event? Sticks to the facts
Feelings	What were you thinking and feeling at the time? Be honest.
Evaluation	What worked well, and what didn’t
Analysis	Why did things happen the way they did? Use theory if possible.
Conclusion	What have you learnt from the experience?
Action Plan	What would you do differently next time?

1. Description: Start by outlining the situation objectively, just the facts, no judgments.

What was the situation?

Who was involved, and what roles did they play?

When and where did it happen?

What did you do?

What was the outcome?

2. Feelings: Honestly think about your feelings and thoughts during the event.

Before, during, and after, what was your emotional state?

Did your emotions change throughout the situation?

Did your feelings affect your behaviour or choices?

3. Evaluation: Evaluate the positives and negatives regarding what happened. 

What went well? 

What didn’t go so well? 

What was your involvement, positive or negative?

Were there any outside factors that positively or negatively contributed to the experience?

4. Analysis: Explore the reasons for the result in more detail.

What caused the situation?

Can I relate it to any theory or learning?

What part did you play, and how did that affect the outcome?

What does this tell you about your skills or behaviours?

5. Conclusion: Summarise your takeaways from the experience.

What are some of your reflections?

What is the big lesson?

What would you do differently next time?

What skills and knowledge do you want to develop?

6. Action plan:  What will you do next time?

Use your reflection to create an improvement plan.

What specific actions will you take next time?

How will you monitor your progress?

What support/tools will you need?

1.4 Skills Gained from Reflection

The experience led to learning several important skills:

Communication – Learning to listen and communicate concerns respectfully

Teamwork – Understanding the importance of each team member's role

Conflict resolution – Responding calmly and constructively to tensions

Critical thinking – Identifying causes and looking to improve

These are fundamental to planned careers in health and social care, where working with others in the profession is commonplace.

TASK 2

Creating SMART Goals for Personal and Professional Development

SMART goals are defined and organised goals to stay on track and organised. They mean S – Specific, M – Measurable, A – Achievable, R – Relevant, and T – Time-bound.

2.1 What are SMART goals? 

SMART is a well-known framework for establishing clear, realistic and achievable goals. Each letter in SMART represents a component of effective goal setting:

S - Specific: You will want to be productive. What do you hope to achieve 

M - Measurable: You will want to be able to track your progress and know when you have achieved your goal.

A - Achievable: Your goal must be realistic and able to be accomplished by the amount of time you have, ideally and in consideration of your circumstances. 

R - Relevant: The goal you set must connect to either your academic studies or future career field and promote growth and development in the clinical field. 

T - Time-Bound: Every goal should have a time limit. Having a time frame helps maintain going-forward motivation.

2.2 Demonstrating Understanding of the SMART Framework

Writing SMART goals demonstrates you can plan and structure your learning clearly and purposefully. SMART goals are not vague objectives; instead, they allow you to consider your objectives and break them into realistic steps with specific actions, outcomes, and timescales. This technique is beneficial for academic development and is essential for your professional health and social care practice.

Below is an example of 5 SMART goals: Show the full SMART structure of each goal: 
 

Goal	Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Time-bound
1. Improve academic writing	Attend 2 writing workshops and complete 1 practice essay	Receive feedback and achieve at least 70% on the next assignment	Yes, with 2 hours weekly focus	Supports written coursework and future research	Within 4 weeks
2. Enhance communication skills	Join a student discussion group and participate in weekly sessions	Track weekly involvement and reflections	Yes, sessions are 1 hour weekly	Essential for teamwork in health care settings	Over the next 6 weeks
3. Strengthen time management	Use a digital planner to organise daily tasks and deadlines	No missed assignments or late submissions	Yes, using an existing mobile app	Helps meet coursework deadlines	Track for the next 1 month
4. Explore postgraduate options	Research 3 MSc programmes and speak to an academic advisor	Submit a report of findings	Yes, it can be done online in your spare time	Prepares for long-term career plans	Complete by the end of the term
5. Gain practical experience	Apply for 2 voluntary roles in care homes	Record applications and interview feedback	Yes, part-time volunteer roles are available	Builds real-world care experience	Apply before the semester ends

These SMART goals provide a clear approach to both personal and professional development in health and social care. By developing realistic goals with specific timelines in mind, students are motivated, are able to measure progress and develop skills that will be used in their future careers.

2.3 Why Employ SMART Goals in Health and Social Care?

Health and social care is a complex and demanding area that requires good skills in organisation, communication, teamwork and self-reflection. Using SMART goals will enable you to.

Maintain a clear focus on your priorities

Monitor your academic and skill progression

Enhance time management

Improve confidence by achieving success and milestones

Allow for future careers or further education

SMART goals also demonstrate accountability for your learning. This is an essential aspect in all health care professions.

2.4 What Will You Get?

If you establish SMART goals, you are creating a personal map to help you succeed throughout your course. SMART goals provide structure and direction to your learning by giving you a   whether that be time management, teamwork, presentation skills or postgraduate opportunities.

In the second part of the task, you will see how these goals are formatted in a table with all five aspects for each goal.

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Conclusion

Reflective practice and goal setting are two vital tools which enable health and social care students to realise further academic and professional development. Students are encouraged, through Gibbs' Reflective Cycle, to reflect upon their experiences to assess what skills, emotions, and outcomes impacted the experience, what they can improve upon, and how they might respond differently given the chance to experience the situation again. A reflective process, like Gibbs' developed way of thinking, allows students to build skills such as communication, teamwork and critical thinking.

In addition to the reflective process, setting SMART goals as the method for making learning actionable provides students with a way to remain focused on their priority actions, to improve their time management, and to work in increments towards future development.

Both methods support student learning, but planning for a career in health and social care adds additional importance beyond academic improvement; it adds rigour, which is aligned with the challenges and responsibilities of professional practice

About the Author

Authored by Dr. Eleanor Vance, a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) with 15 years of experience in health policy analysis and non-profit healthcare operations, specialising in international development and community health initiatives.

References: 

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic.

Jasper, M. (2013). Beginning Reflective Practice. 2nd ed. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Wain, A. (2017). Learning through reflection. British Journal of Midwifery, 25(10), pp.662–666.

Weller, J., Boyd, M. and Cumin, D. (2014). Teams, tribes and patient safety: Overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 90(1061), pp.149–154.

Hargreaves, J. and Page, L. (2013). Reflective Practice. Hoboken: Wiley.

Masuku, S. (ed.) (2022). The Healthcare Professional MOD005910. London: ARU London, John Wiley & Sons.

McKibben, L. (2017). Conflict management: importance and implications. British Journal of Nursing, 26(2), pp.100–103.

Thompson, S. and Thompson, N. (2023). The Critically Reflective Practitioner. 3rd ed. London: Red Globe Press.

Care Learning. (n.d.). How to Use the Gibbs' Reflective Cycle in Health and Social Care. [online] Available at: https://carelearning.org.uk

Doran, G.T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), pp.35–36.