Gibbs, Kolb or Driscoll: which reflective model should you use?

Three models side by side, what each is good at, and the same event written three ways.

The three models in one place

They are not rivals. Driscoll is the shortest way to a usable reflection, Kolb turns an experience into a lesson you then test, and Gibbs makes room for how it felt and what was good and bad about it.

Which to pick

If you are a student, check your module handbook, which often names one. If you are reflecting for a regulator, the requirement is usually about what your reflection has to cover rather than which model you use: the NMC has its own reflective account form, and the HCPC sets standards for CPD without prescribing a model. Check your own regulator’s current guidance, then use whichever model gets that content out of you.

The same event, three ways

The event: a team meeting where I disagreed with a decision and said nothing at the time, then raised it afterwards by email.

As Driscoll

What? I disagreed with a decision in the meeting and did not say so. I emailed my concern the next morning.

So what? By email it read as a challenge rather than a contribution, and the decision had already been passed on to the team. My silence cost more than the disagreement would have.

Now what? When I disagree, I will say so in the meeting, even if it is only to ask for the reasoning.

As Kolb

Concrete experience: I stayed quiet during a decision I disagreed with, then raised it by email afterwards.

Reflective observation: nobody had blocked me from speaking. I was waiting for a gap that suited me, and it did not come.

Abstract conceptualisation: objections have a window. Raised inside it they are part of the decision, raised outside it they are a complaint about one.

Active experimentation: in the next three meetings I will say one thing at the point I think it, and see whether it is as awkward as I expect.

As Gibbs

Description: in a team meeting a change to the duty rota was agreed. I thought it would leave Friday evenings thin. I said nothing, and emailed my manager the next morning.

Feelings: irritated with myself, and anxious that the email would look like going behind the team.

Evaluation: raising it at all was better than letting it go. The timing and the channel were both wrong.

Analysis: I tend to wait until I can put an objection perfectly, which in practice means waiting until the moment has passed. The email carried a tone I had not intended because it arrived alone, after the fact.

Conclusion: a half-formed question in the room is worth more than a well-written objection the next day.

Action plan: I will ask one clarifying question in the meeting whenever I notice I disagree, rather than waiting to have the full argument ready.

What all three have in common

Each one ends in something you will do. If your reflection stops at what you learnt, it is a description with feelings attached. The stage names differ, and the last step does not.

Speak it and let it sort itself

ReflectReady has Gibbs, Kolb, Driscoll and Schön built in. You speak about what happened, and your own sentences are sorted under the stages of whichever model you picked, ready to read, edit and keep. It never writes the reflection for you. Free to try.

Sources: University of Edinburgh: Reflection Toolkit, University of Cambridge: Reflective Practice Toolkit, NMC: written reflective accounts, HCPC: standards of continuing professional development.

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