In this chapter, I lay out what I call the reflective continuum, a non-linear and recursive journey of reflection that individuals travel in different ways and at different speeds. The participants accessed the continuum in unpredictable and very individual ways. For convenience, I will discuss different dimensions of reflection as separate and distinct points of entry to the reflective continuum, but it is important to keep in mind that the different dimensions of reflection at each entry point do not have to happen in a strictly ordered way, and that any point can be reaccessed at any time.

Many different attempts have been made over the years to categorise different types of reflection. These taxonomies have arisen from the specific theories of learning that the researcher subscribes to, and from the specific contexts of investigation. One element that they often share, and that I reject, is the notion that the types or categories of reflection stand in a hierarchical relationship to each other. In other words, taxonomies of reflection tend to be laid out in a series of stages or levels through which the reflective practitioner must pass. I argue that reflection cannot be described in hierarchical stages; rather, the reflective process is non-linear and recursive, and that someone engaged in reflective practice may pass through several stages of reflection that are unpredictable, a process that I call the reflective continuum. In this chapter, I will introduce the five types of reflection that the participants in my study experienced, and propose that each type comprises a part and an entry point in the reflective continuum.