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Session 1: Defining myself and how I feel about my present situation

Introduction

Photograph of a young man gazing at his reflection in a mirror
Figure 1.1

What is reflection?

Reflection is a process that involves thinking and understanding – an honest exploration and examination of our previous experiences. Here it is thinking about things you have done and experienced in your life, and working out what you have learned from them so that you can better understand the person you are now, your qualities, what you are capable of and what you want to do. This kind of thinking can be helpful for anyone, at any time of life, whoever you are and whatever situation you are in.

The scope of your reflection can vary. For example, you might want to reflect on what you’ve learned from a recent work placement, caring responsibilities or study experience, or you might want to just take an overview of your life as a whole.

Reflection can be uncomfortable, depending on previous experiences, but it can also be liberating as we develop a better understanding of ourselves and our situation, and can then move on. This is what one student said about their reflections:

To see back – you know what you did, what was your background, and you see now, what’s your position – it’s something useful to you today – or you can use it for the future. […] It makes you stop and think … yeah … you have a degree, you have something, you are not just – because you have a problem in this country, and you can’t do much, it doesn’t mean you are not capable or you don’t have anything.

(OU student at Bridges Programmes)

Case studies

Listen to the following people talking about how they made changes in their lives. (Note that each person’s words are spoken by an actor.)

If you want to read a speaker’s words as you listen to the audios included here, click on the ‘Transcript’ link beneath the player.

Mo

Photograph of a smiling 31-year-old Iranian man

Mo is 31 years old. He was born in 1981 and grew up in northern Iran with his parents, his younger brother and sister. Like his brother and sister, Mo was encouraged by his parents to go to university and he graduated with a BSc Natural Resources Engineering. While still a student, and also after graduating, he worked with his university lecturer on an aquaculture research project.

Mo was forced to flee Iran and arrived in Glasgow, via Heathrow Airport, London, in November 2007 as an asylum seeker. He was granted refugee status in 2008. At times it has been very difficult, mainly because of difficulties with language, but also because of personal problems, and on some occasions because of racism.

Mo has worked hard and has had the support of a number of organisations, including the British Red Cross, Scottish Refugee Council, Venture Scotland and the Bridges Programmes in Glasgow.

By 2012 he was a third-year electronic and digital engineering student at Glasgow Caledonian University. He still had some contact with his family in Iran and they learned he is safe.

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Ying

Photograph of smiling 36-year-old Chinese woman

Ying is 36 years old and grew up in China. Her first job on leaving school was in a factory. She moved to the city with her sister and together they set up their own ladies’ clothing shop. Things were going well but she felt her lack of education meant she could not make the most of her business.

Ying moved to Scotland in 2000 but, unable to speak English, she struggled to find work. She knew she had to improve her English to get anywhere, so for three years she took English classes at a local college. While there she found support and links from Bridges Programmes, a work placement organisation for new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Through Bridges, Ying took a short introductory course with The Open University. This gave her the confidence to continue studying.

Having successfully passed three courses, Ying is now focusing on training at work.

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Eric

Photograph of smiling 44-year-old black African man

Eric is 44 years old and from Burundi. He was accepted for a place at the University of Burundi to study economics, but circumstances changed and he spent several years working in various voluntary and non-government organisations before seeking asylum in the UK in 2002.

Since moving to Scotland Eric has completed a college course, gained residency status and had a long-term work placement in a care home for the elderly, which resulted in an offer of full-time employment. This experience has reinforced his interest and commitment to a career in nursing.

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Natalia

Photograph of a smiling 31-year-old Polish woman

Natalia is 31 years old and lives in Glasgow. She is originally from Bilgoraj in Poland. Her parents and two brothers still live in Poland.

After completing a masters degree in geology in Warsaw, Natalia came to Scotland in 2006. She had visited Glasgow while working for a Polish humanitarian project, helping refugees. She had worked for this organisation for a short time in Poland, as a volunteer and as a paid employee.

Natalia liked Glasgow so much she decided to move there to live. Finding a job in her field was more difficult than she had anticipated, but after a few years of trying to find work in her field, voluntary work, paid work and further postgraduate study, Natalia is now settled in Glasgow and employed as a geotechnical engineer for a major Scottish company based in north Lanarkshire.

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These examples show how thinking about what you really want to do and finding out how to get there can change people’s lives. Perhaps some aspects of the above stories reflect your own experiences?

Reflection isn’t always easy – it can be painful and difficult to think through things that have happened in the past, for any number of reasons. At the same time, it’s not always easy to understand what you have learned from past experiences or decisions taken.

It’s therefore sometimes quite helpful if you can work through these reflections with some sort of additional support if this is available to you. Perhaps you have a mentor, for instance?

Your reflection

Activity 1.1 Thinking about myself

Timing: You should spend around 20 minutes on this activity.

To get you started, think about the following four questions:

  • How do I see myself now?
  • What am I most proud of?
  • What makes me happy?
  • How would I like to see myself in the future?

Before trying to answer these questions have a look at the following examples, which show how Natalia and Ying answered them.

Example 1: Natalia

We know that Natalia now has a good job as a geotechnical engineer in Scotland but this didn’t happen overnight. Look at Natalia’s table, which refers to her situation before she found this job.

Table 1.1 Natalia’s table
How do I see myself now?What makes me happy?

In a conflict, needing to work and earn, but wanting to make a success of moving to Glasgow and do something fulfilling in my field of geology

= Stress, frustration, feeling stuck

My friends and my boyfriend

My family

Achieving something that I have worked hard for and that is worthwhile

Making other people happy

What am I most proud of?How would I like to see myself in the future?

Graduating with a masters degree from university in Poland

The work I have done with the Polish humanitarian organisation

My family

To feel less stressed

To feel that coming to Glasgow was a good decision

To be in a good job in my field

To feel proud of what I have achieved

Now listen to Natalia talking about her experiences soon after moving to Glasgow.

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Think about the following questions:

  • Do you identify with anything Natalia is saying?
  • Do you have anything in common?
  • What is different about your situation and how you feel?

Example 2: Ying

Now look at Ying’s table and listen to her describing her experiences.

Table 1.2 Ying’s table
How do I see myself now?What makes me happy?

Trying to work, earn, study for a better future

Spend time with my daughter

Being successful in study

Having work I enjoy

Spending time with my daughter

Having friends from other countries and cultures

What am I most proud of?How would I like to see myself in the future?

How much I have achieved since arriving in the UK

Gaining further education qualifications

Finally I feel like I fit in to the community around me

Being able to manage my time better

Having more speaking and writing skills in English

To progress in my job at work

To be involved in helping other people who started out in the same situation as me

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Your table

Now fill in the boxes for yourself on the table  we have provided for you. We will return to this activity in Session 5 so you may want to keep a copy of your table.

OR

Open your Reflection Log and go to Activity 1.1. Once you have completed the activity, make sure you save the document again.

If you are working in a group and would like to share your answers, do so now.

Activity 1.2 Defining myself

Timing: You should spend around 20 minutes on this activity.

This activity asks you to think of the various roles you have in your life and what these involve.

You listened to Natalia’s experiences of moving to Glasgow to live and work. It wasn’t easy at first, but her situation changed over time. Have a look at Natalia’s list of the roles that she now has in life, and then listen to her talking about these in the audio clip.

Table 1.3 Natalia’s roles and responsibilities
My main roles in lifeWhat I do
Daughter, sisterKeep in touch with my family and let them know how I am
FriendSupport and encourage my friend in achieving her goals
FlatmateTake care of the household tasks with my flatmate
Employee and colleagueWork as a geotechnical engineer; communicate with my team and my manager, keep up to date with developments in my field
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The example above shows how we have different roles in life. We all have many roles in which we use a variety of skills and abilities.

Think about the following questions:

  • Do you have anything in common with Natalia?
  • Have you had to deal with some of the same difficulties?
  • Do you have goals you want to achieve?

Now define yourself at the present time, and the roles you fulfil, in the table provided.

OR

Open your Reflection Log and go to Activity 1.2. (If you forgot to save your Reflection Log, you can open a new document.) Once you have completed the activity, make sure you save the document again.

If you are working in a group, you might want to share your answers and discuss your roles with each other. Similarly, if you are working one-to-one with a mentor, use this time to tease out some of the ideas above.

Summary

Session 1 aimed to get you started on thinking about yourself and was designed to help you get an idea of how you feel about your present situation.

You probably discovered that you do a lot of things using a variety of skills and abilities. Maybe you didn’t recognise how skilled you actually are, or what qualities you have? One of the aims of reflection is to help you recognise your own skills and talents.

You have now completed Session 1. In Session 2 you’ll look at how these skills, abilities and qualities are developed over time.

Quiz

To conclude this part of the course and to consolidate your learning you may like to complete the first quiz.

Quiz 1  provides evidence that you are achieving the following learning outcomes:

  • the ability to use information technology (IT) to carry out simple activities in writing and communicating
  • the ability to use new ways of expressing ideas.

If you need a reminder about the quizzes and the criteria for getting a badge, visit How to complete the course quizzes.

 

Session 2: Learning by looking at my life over time

References

Bridges Programmes, http://www.bridgesprogrammes.org.uk/ (accessed 1 September 2012).

Acknowledgements

Reflecting on Transitions was developed by Lindsay Hewitt and Christine McConnell of The Open University in Scotland in collaboration with Bridges Programmes. The optional quizzes for the related digital course badges for learners and support workers, respectively, were developed by Julie Robson (The Open University) and Jonathan Sharp (Bridges Programmes). The course was edited by Lindsay Hewitt and Jennifer Nockles (The Open University).

We are hugely grateful to Bridges’ clients, Mo, Ying, Eric and Natalia, whose stories have informed the development of this course and bring to life the activities within it. We hope you find something in their experiences that speaks to you as well.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.   

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:

Images

Figure 1.1: © iStockphoto.com

Image of Mo: © The Open University

Image of Ying: © Joanna Rodzik

Image of Eric: © iStockphoto.com

Image of Natalia: Natalia for © The Open University

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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