Being the first year to complete the ‘Values; self, society and the professions’ module I feel I have been put in a strong position to undertake my first professional placement in April. Previous to this I feel I was very naïve to the impact values had on education. Values are at the heart of every decision we make and therefore teachers must hold and demonstrate good values in order for the pupils to develop these too.

The module went on to highlight the relationship between your personal and your professional values suggesting within teaching they are both very similar. Professional values are at the heart of the SPR therefore I knew it would be vital for me to establish my values before my first placement. This was my first step towards becoming a reflective practitioner.

Finding your values involves deep reflection on many aspects of your life including your; upbringing, friends, religion and so on. To add to this your values are also constantly changing with every new experience.

After establishing my values I found reflection was going to be fundamental if I were to succeed as a teacher. Teachers must also become Life Long Learners who constantly reflect and evaluate their practice in order to improve. Teaching is not a practice you can simply master and be done with. It is ever changing and therefore you must also constantly strive to develop.

During my placement I will begin to experience a new form of reflection where others (my class teacher and tutor) will also be reflecting on and evaluating my practice. This will bring me many challenges and benefits such learning to cope with constructive criticism while ensuring I take every piece of advice on board. However, despite this, I can’t wait to get started!