Reflection as support for career adaptability: A concept for reflective learning in public administration

Reflective learning is a mechanism to turn experience into learning. As a mechanism for self-directed learning, it is critical for success at work. This is true for individual employees, but also for teams and whole organizations. Change processes are typical situations in which people question their practices, reflect on how they adopt new practice and try to learn from good or bad practice for future work. Such changes can support the development of expertise. In cases involving substantive changes in work roles and behaviours they may even contribute to a process of professional identity transformation, which leads to a deeper understanding of one’s own practice and of the processes involved in adapting it to internal and external constraints. Public administrations are examples of organisations that undergo constant change due to changes in legislation, financial pressure and demands of the public, and the public intensively observes them. These pressures are requiring staff to adapt, including by changing their professional identities. Integrating reflection into the practice of staff can support them in informal learning and improving, and it can thus lead to enhanced and more efficient services for the public. In this paper, we report on an approach of using reflection in Public Employment Services (PES) in Europe, which are currently being transformed from being principally concerned with administration of benefits and provision of advice and guidance to an increasing concern with coaching clients and co-operating with employers.