University
University of Bristol, UK
Title of Keynote
‘A quiver full of arrows’: stimulating evaluative thinking using Directional Reflection
Biography
Dr. Simon Brownhill is Senior Lecturer in Education (Teaching and Learning) at the School of Education, University of Bristol, England. Specialising in pedagogical innovation, he teaches on the MSc Education programme and supervises doctoral students (EdD and PhD). He is a founding co-director of the Research Centre for Teaching, Learning and Curriculum (TLC) in the School of Education and serves as a key English member of the Editorial Board for Pedagogical Dialogue, an information and methodical journal for educators in Kazakhstan. His varied research and writing interests include supporting and training adult learners, children’s writing (fiction and non-fiction), self-reflection, effective behaviour management in the classroom (3-11), children’s physical development, creative assessment, and men who work in the Early Years (0-8). He is the editor of Creative Practice in Higher Education: Engaging Adult Learners through Theory and Pedagogy (Routledge, 2025)
Abstract
The importance of reflection as a sustained human activity cannot be underestimated (Boud et al., 2005). Its influence in motivating personal ‘learning and professional growth, transformation and empowerment’ (Hilden & Tikkamäki, 2013, p.77) emphasises the significance of reflection for everyone, irrespective of age, role or ability. Despite being considered ‘one of the so-called ‘21st century’ or ‘transversal’ skills, or ‘life competencies’’ (Shaw et al., 2018, p.2), Philip (2006, p.37) argues that reflection, education-wise, is ‘difficult to teach, difficult to encourage and not a process that [children/young people] and indeed some [adults] are entirely comfortable with’. In an effort to positively address these concerns, this interactive keynote presentation will introduce conference attendees to the notion of Directional Reflection (Brownhill, 2025*). Offered as a novel, creative and adaptable idea, conference attendees will develop a critical appreciation of select theoretical underpinnings which inspired the development of this pedagogical strategy. A collaborative exploration of the practical use of different arrows [think 🡩, 🡭, 🡪, 🡫, 🡨], both during and outside of the conference, will be facilitated, purposefully stimulating evaluative thinking (as part of the reflective process) to aid conference attendees, their work, and those that they support/engage with.
* Brownhill, S. (2025). Directional Reflection: stimulating the evaluative thinking of students at the university level. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2025.2545207
