Action Planning with Gibbs

The action plan is the sixth and final phase of Gibbs’s cycle. It is also the phase most commonly skipped or rushed. A reflection that ends without a clear action plan has produced thinking but not change. A reflection that ends with a sharp plan has converted the work into something the next class will see.

What an action plan does

Action plans sum up anything you need to know and do to improve for next time.

This is a deliberately simple statement. The plan is not a research proposal or a manifesto. It is a list of things the practitioner will know or do differently because of the reflection.

Two questions sit underneath the plan.

What do I need to learn or train in? Sometimes the reflection reveals a gap that further study or training will fill. The plan names that study or training, with enough specificity to act on.

What can I do differently to be better equipped for a similar event? Sometimes the reflection reveals a behaviour or approach that needs to change. The plan names the change in terms specific enough that the practitioner could write it on a sticky note for their desk.

A plan that fails on either question has not produced the action it promised.

What makes a plan specific enough

The line between specific and vague is the key one. Three tests help.

Could I do this on Monday? A plan that names something concrete enough to be done in the coming week is likely workable. A plan that says “develop better classroom management” cannot be done on Monday because it is not clear what to do first.

Would another teacher know what I meant? A plan that another colleague could pick up and execute is specific. A plan that only the writer can interpret is too vague.

Does it name names, places, or times? Plans with proper nouns tend to get done. Plans with only common nouns tend to slide.

A teacher writing “I will speak to my mentor about this issue this week” has a workable plan. A teacher writing “I will seek mentorship and develop my reflective practice” has written something that sounds professional and means very little.

The worked example: behaviour and team-teaching

The literature often presents a specific example of a Gibbs action plan, written by a teacher dealing with student behaviour and feelings of pressure. The example shows what specificity looks like in practice.

The plan, paraphrased, runs along these lines.

In future, the teacher will ensure that they build up a relationship with colleagues. They are working alongside several different teachers and intend to speak to each of them about their worries about students’ behaviour. A useful conversation has already happened with one teacher, and together they have developed a programme of team-teaching for the next few weeks so that the writer does not feel so pressurised.

The teacher plans to do this with the other class teachers as well, because it will help them understand how the writer feels. The teacher also needs to speak to colleagues more often about how they feel, because there is learning to do from them.

In terms of training, the teacher has booked onto a behaviour management workshop.

Several features of this plan are worth noting.

It names specific people. “The other class teachers I work alongside.” Not just “colleagues.”

It names specific actions. “Speak to each of them about my worries.” “Develop a programme of team-teaching.” “Book onto a behaviour management workshop.”

It already has a started piece. “A useful conversation with one teacher” has happened. The plan is not entirely future. It is partly already in motion.

It combines personal practice with external resources. The teacher will both change how they talk to colleagues and seek formal training. Neither alone is enough.

It builds in mutual support. The plan is not a list of solo actions. It involves colleagues hearing the writer’s worries and the writer hearing theirs.

Demonstrating support and activity

The example demonstrates a number of options aimed at support and activity within the reflective thinking process. The pairing of support and activity matters.

A plan that has only activity (do this, do that) without support tends to fail. The teacher is on their own. When the activity gets hard, there is nothing to fall back on.

A plan that has only support (talk to colleagues, see a mentor) without activity tends to drift. The teacher feels held but does not change practice.

A plan that combines both has a chance of producing real change. The activity is the actual change in practice. The support is what keeps the activity going when it gets hard.

Action plans and the iterative cycle

A Gibbs cycle does not end with the action plan. It ends with starting the next cycle.

The action plan is the bridge. The teacher acts on the plan. The new actions produce new experience. That experience becomes the description for the next round of the cycle.

This is what makes Gibbs iterative rather than one-off. A reflective teacher running Gibbs over a year produces 10 or 20 cycles, each one feeding the next. The action plan from cycle 4 becomes the data for cycle 5, which produces a sharper action plan for cycle 6.

A teacher who treats each Gibbs reflection as a closed event has missed the point. The action plan is what stitches the cycles together.

Flashcard

What are the three tests for whether a Gibbs action plan is specific enough?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Could I do it on Monday? Would another teacher know what I meant? Does it name names, places, or times?

A plan that fails any of these tests is too vague to drive change. Specific plans use proper nouns, name concrete actions, and could be picked up and executed by someone else. Vague plans (improve classroom management, become more reflective) sound professional but rarely produce action.

Common failures of the action plan phase

Several patterns of failure show up in teacher reflection journals.

The motherhood plan. “I will be more patient. I will be more student-centred. I will listen better.” These are virtues, not actions. They cannot be done. They can only be aspired to.

The training-only plan. “I will read more about this topic. I will attend a workshop. I will research this approach.” Reading and training have their place, but a plan made entirely of them never reaches the classroom.

The over-ambitious plan. “I will redesign my entire approach to assessment, restructure my grading, retrain in three new methods, and implement project-based learning across all my subjects.” Too much to start in any reasonable time frame. The plan dies of its own weight.

The plan with no time horizon. “I will speak to my mentor at some point.” Without a sense of when, the action drifts indefinitely.

The fix for each of these is the same: smaller, more specific, named, time-bounded. A plan with two or three sharp actions tends to work better than a plan with ten vague ones.

Where the action plan fits in teacher development

The action plan is the smallest unit of teacher growth.

A teacher who completes one strong Gibbs cycle a month has produced 12 action plans in a year. If half of those plans actually got executed, the teacher has made six concrete changes to their practice in 12 months. That is faster growth than most teachers experience in a decade of unreflective work.

The arithmetic is simple. The discipline is the hard part. The action plan is the moment when the reflective practice has to make a promise to itself, and the rest of the cycle becomes meaningful only when the promise is kept.