Part one: Compulsory Reflective Essay

Reflective writing plays an important role in the professional development and growth
of students (Ryan, 2011). This can be particularly relevant when it comes to students’
development and application of reflective skills in higher education (Rogers, 2001). In
this essay, I will first describe main tasks, and opportunities and challenges I
encountered during the placement. Then, I will conduct a critical interpretation of the
implications of specific events and issues over my knowledge and skill development.
Finally, I will make a conscious reflection over learned lessons, while at the same
time identifying room and directions of improvements. In practice, I will use Gibbs’s
(1988) reflective cycle to reflect over my placement experiences.
For the placement project, I mainly participated in the virtual placement offered by
the Employability Skills Development Team of the University of Sheffield. In total, I
was invited to complete three main tasks. In the first task, I drafted a proposal to
increase student enrolment in university after graduation. In an attempt to develop
viable recommendations for the university to attract more students, I conducted a
critical analysis of relevant theoretical frameworks including but not limited to, the
Generational Theory, the consumer choice theory, the human capital theory, and the
ecological systems theory (Perez-Vergara, 2019). Then, I attempted to integrate these
theoretical frameworks into the analysis of the factors affecting student enrollment.
Before reading relevant literature, I felt notably challenged, as I struggled to design
effective strategies to help increase student enrollment. Though I believed that the
Piaget’s Theory of Developmental Stages had significant educational implications
(Lefa, 2014), I was frustrated by the fact that I did not learn relevant theories about
student enrollment. The things that worked well was that I was able to develop a
rough picture of existing knowledge regarding student enrollment through using
Google Scholar to find relevant articles. The thing that did not work was that I
struggled to choose one applicable theoretical framework from a pool of theories that
addressed factors affecting student enrollment and relevant solutions. As a result, I
failed to produce a convincing proposal for the university to increase its attractiveness
for student applicants. Looking back, I think the reason behind my failure was
because I lacked adequate skills in terms of research, analysis, and reporting, which
were necessary for my proposal task. In particular, I think my poor research skills in
collecting and analyzing relevant primary and secondary sources of information was
largely responsible for the situation. Another reason was that of poor time
management, as I failed to divide the task into smaller subtasks that could be
completed gradually. To conclude, I learned that drafting proposals required adequate
research and reporting skills, as well as competent time management, because
persuasive recommendations should be based on relevant and quality evidence. In the
future, I will focus on improving my research and reporting skills through learning
how to collect and analyze both primary and secondary sources, and reporting
findings in a professional way. Meanwhile, I will also focus on improving my time
management skills, through using relevant tools, such as the Gantt Chart, and
strategies.
In the second task, I was asked to propose recommendations for improving the
community engagement of the university. I expected to collect adequate information
and evidence, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the
opportunities and challenges facing the university when it came to engaging with the
community. As such, I collected data from both secondary sources, such as reports
published by the university, and news articles, and primary sources, such as random
interviews with members of the community. Eventually, I was able to provide some
suggestions for improving community engagement. During the process of research, I
felt challenging yet rewarding to look into relevant information about how the
university engaged with the community. I believed that it was a great move for me to
collect both secondary and primary sources of information. In particular, I felt
inspiring to reach members of the community, who provided some critical insights
regarding how the university should improve its current ways of community
engagement. Here, one thing that worked well was that I succeeded in grounding my
recommendations on adequate evidence collected from both secondary and primary
sources. One thing that did not work was that I had a narrow focus on local residents
when it came to improving the community engagement, without taking other
stakeholders, including but not limited to, students, teachers, parents and the partners
of the university, into considerations. I think the reason why my proposal was partly
successful was that I strategically focused on collecting both secondary and primary
sources of information. However, I failed to consider the engagement with diverse
groups, because I did not take an inclusive approach to the community engagement.
In conclusion, I learned it was greatly important to clearly define and establish the
scope before embarking on any task. In the future, I would focus on adopting
inclusive approaches when it comes to research and work-related tasks.
In the third task, I was responsible for making recommendations updating the
equality, diversity and inclusion policy for staff and service users in the Sheffield
school. I submitted my recommendations based on research. However, I failed to use
recent and updated evidence to support my recommendations. I felt frustrated,
because I worked alone throughout the virtual placement. Thought the task appeared
inspiring for me, I also felt stressed to propose viable recommendations. One thing
that did not work well was that I only generated general suggestions without referring
to specific details of implementation. I think the reason was that I lacked relevant
knowledge and experiences in terms of diversity and inclusion. As a student from
China, I seldomly though about these issues. In the future, I will pay great attention to
ethical issues, such as equality, and inclusion, in my work place.

Part Two – Critical Incident Analysis

This essay focuses on analyzing a critical incident I encountered during my virtual
placement. McAteer et al (2010) defined a “critical incident” as “one that challenges
your own assumptions or makes you think differently” (p. 107). Throughout my
placement, I have experienced many positive as well as negative incidents, which
have direct and consequential impacts over my growth as an early-career student.
With regards to professional development, carrying out a critical incident analysis has
the promise to enable and empower individuals, such as in-service teachers (Yu,
2018), to address everyday challenges relating to their on-task performance. Finally,
this essay will reach a conclusion that
An account of the incident
In collecting evidence for my first task, I attempted to seek advice from uncle, who
worked as a principal in one Chinese private school. I invited him to share some
strategies for me to narrow my focus when it came to making recommendations for
improving student enrollment for the university. He suggested that I should focus on
targeting a particular group of students, especially those from socioeconomically
advantaged families, in an attempt to ensure and improve profits for the university. I
was astonished by his utilitarian motive in approaching student enrollment. later, I
challenged his view by pointing out the need to provide equal access and
opportunities to students from diverse backgrounds. In this aspect, I thought my view
was in line with recent policies that highlighted the need of addressing issues of
inclusion and diversity in student enrollment (Tienda, 2013). However, my uncle
laughed at my view by saying that it was too naïve to ignore the gap between the
rhetoric and the practice in real-world enrollment decision-making processes. He later
explained that universities at large were under pressing financial pressures to obtain
adequate funds from various sources, among which the tuition fees collected from
students played an important part. I was partially convinced by his argument, as he
pointed to the tough decision that might be made by admission officers in making
tradeoffs between inclusion and profits when it came to student enrollment.
Nonetheless, I was confused about whether I should follow the profit logic or stick to
ethical principles relating to equality and inclusion, when it came to making a
proposal to improve student enrollment.
Initial responses
With regard to the incident, I had complex and competing responses. Upon hearing
the recommendation from my uncle, my initial response was that his view was partial
and wrong. I thought that it was ethically problematic to focus on a particular group of
students when it came to improving their enrollment into universities, in an attempt to
bring more profits for universities. This is largely because such a focus is likely to
shape and sustain discriminatory treatments and considerations regarding student
enrollment. As a result, I thought that some students, especially those from low-
income families, would be left behind and become increasingly vulnerable to social
inequalities. This was in part because education played a vital role in affecting social
mobility (Brown, 2017). I rejected my uncle’s view by referring to the lack of
educational opportunities and resources for Chinese students from the rural region,
and urged him to take a look at the link between inadequate education and poor job
prospects among these students.
In response to my argument, my uncle first acknowledged the fact that education
mattered vitally for social equality, and then moved on to highlight the so-called
responsibility of universities to align their operations and management with the needs
of shareholders. My uncle challenged me to see that many universities struggled to
obtain adequate revenues needed to sustain their operations. My response to his new
ideas was that I agreed with him on the importance and urgency for universities to
collect adequate money from various sources, including but not limited to, students,
partners and advertisements. Gansemer‐Topf et al. (2021) suggested that there was a
profit drive behind student enrollments into liberal arts colleges. In this regard, I
thought that my uncle was right to point out that it could be a priority for universities
to consider when it came to student enrollment. However, I soon realized that
universities should take social responsibilities by admitting diverse groups of
students, just as corporations were expected to make more social contributions in the
current world. Nonetheless, I encountered a dilemma when it came to deciding the
focus in terms of student groups for improving student enrollments. This was because
different student groups could have different needs and expectations that played
important roles in affecting their preferences and considerations in enrollment
decision-making.
Issues and dilemmas
Overall, I struggled to deal with two main issue and dilemmas relating to the incident.
My uncle’s arguments challenged me with two pressing issues. The first issue was
educational equality in terms of student enrollment. I think this issue is of great
importance for student enrollment, because it directly relates to the access of
educational resources and opportunities. My initial response to the incident seemed to
be in line with emerging emphases from the mainstream society and within many
policies that highlighted the need of improving inclusion and diversity of students in
higher education. In this regard, I initially assumed that universities should stick to the
principles of educational equality through providing equal access and considerations
for students to be admitted into universities. Meanwhile, I also held the assumption
that equal considerations for students in student enrollment played a crucial role in
ensuring and improving social mobility. Later, my response shifted to a much more
complex one, as I was challenged by the fact that many universities, especially those
with private ownership, seemed to prioritize profits when it came to designing and
implementing policies and practices relating to student enrollment. In this regard, I
had to deal with another issue, which was universities’ pressure in collecting adequate
revenue, when it came to improving student enrollment. This issue seems to have
practical implications for the survival and development of universities. As such, I
think it requires practical approaches to develop a critical and contextualized
understanding of the needs of the university, to align the proposal more closely with
the university’s long-term interests regarding student enrollment.
These two issues combined together to generate two main dilemmas that I had to
navigate through when making improvements for the university’s student enrollment.
One dilemma was that I had to choose between profitability and equality, in order to
select a priority to improve student enrollment. Eventually, I decided to focus more on
educational equality through attracting students from diverse groups, because I
believed that the university had particular social responsibility to address social
mobility through providing equal access to adequate and quality educational
opportunities. Another dilemma I faced was that I struggled to determine the
responsibility of the university. Apparently, the university was accountable to various
stakeholders, including but not limited to, shareholders, students, teachers, and
parents. However, it was a tough decision to decide and determine the weights of
responsibilities that the university should take for different stakeholders. In this case, I
concentrated on the university’s social responsibility when it came to making
recommendations for improving student enrollment, because I thought the university
could make contributions to the society while at the same time gaining favorable
social capital by focusing on improving inclusion and diversity in student enrollment.
Learning
Overall, this critical incident allowed me to obtain three main lessons. Tripp (1993)
developed the theory relating to critical events, which provided a promising
framework for teachers and learners to tap into the power of critical reflections for
professional development. By applying such a framework, I learned that there could
be particular dilemmas that would challenge individuals to renew their understandings
regarding practical issues and their work. However, I thought dilemmas could only
occur when individuals were ready and willing to challenge the views from others,
and critically reflect over different arguments. Otherwise, if individuals simply
conformed to ideas of the authority, or attempted to avoid conflicts by making
compromises whenever different views emerged, dilemmas might not occur.
However, I think dilemmas, though challenging, serve as the starting point of
learning, because individuals can be stimulated to take new approaches to understand
and address existing and emerging challenges in their daily life and at the workplace.
Another lesson I engaged with the incident was that making proposals for
improvements often required tough tradeoffs between different criteria and principles.
In this aspect, I think I managed to make reasonable tradeoffs between profitability
and equality when it came to deciding the priority for improving student enrollment.
Nonetheless, I failed to reach different stakeholders to represent their voices and
experiences when it came to student enrollment. In the future, I will take more
inclusive approaches to addressing dilemmas by collecting and addressing different
views and experiences of different groups of individuals that are affected by these
dilemmas.

Appendix

References
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