Reflective practice describes the thought processes that professionals, who have mastered a certain skill set, experience when they encounter a new or unexpected situation.

Reflection in action, which occurs immediately, is the ability to learn and develop continually by creatively applying current and past experiences and reasoning to unexpected events while they are occuring.

Reflection on action occurs later, after the event has occured. It is the process of thinking back on what happened, what may have contributed to the unexpected event, whether the actions taken were correct or appropriate, what could have been done better, what should be done in the future to prevent a recurrence.

The ability to understand how past experiences affect future practice is a necessary for individuals to effectively improve their performance.