Transcript Critcally reflective practice – Siobhan MacLean

CRITICALLY
REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE IN SOCIAL
WORK
Siobhan Maclean
NOPT Conference Workshop
July2012
Critical reflection
• Domain 6 of the PCF: Critical reflection
and analysis
• Essentially draws together holistic
assessment
• HCPC Standards of Proficiency for Social
Workers in England – standard 11: be able
to reflect on and review practice
• Guidance on critical reflection is in
development to support the PCF
Despite this there are a number
of barriers….
Difficulties / barriers




Time constraints
Striving for certainty
Evidence based practice
Reflective practice can be painful and create
a crisis of confidence
 Organisational constraints
 Lack of reflective supervision
 Lack of clarity about reflective
practice
Reflective practice / critical
reflection : what is it?
• Process of review to inform learning (eg:
Schon, Reid etc)
• Active, persistent and careful
consideration of any belief or supposed
form of knowledge (Dewey 1933)
• Mental process of trying to
restructure existing
knowledge and insights
(Korthagen 2001)
Characteristics of a reflective
practitioner (Brookfield 1998)
• Assumption analysis : challenging our own
beliefs and values
• Contextual awareness : recognition of social
construction of beliefs and practice
• Imaginative speculation: ability to imagine a
different way
• Reflective Scepticism: Challenging
or suspending existing knowledge
and beliefs
Critically reflective practice:
key components
 Rethinking / deconstructing power
 Awareness of values and implications
for practice
 Exploring emotions / emotional intelligence
 Drawing on knowledge / developing knowledge
and practice wisdom
 Self awareness
 Creating uncertainty through dynamic
questioning – willingness to live with
that uncertainty
Schon
 Reflection in action
 Reflection on action
reflection for action
(Killian and Todnem 1991)
Reflective cycle
Plan – reflection for action
Do – reflection in action
Review – reflection on action
So how can we support students to
be more reflective?
 Support them to find a model of reflective
practice which they are comfortable with –
this will vary for each individual
 Enable them to understand the need for
“critical friendships” – and be a critical friend
to them during placement
 Develop their awareness of what is impacting
on their reflection
 Make sure that they don’t avoid the
questions – but likewise don’t delay
actions
Critical Friends….
There is a limit to
what each of us can
do alone… critical
friends help to
shape and frame
our reflection.
Theorising on practice
Examples of students
and practitioners
theorising on models
of reflective practice…
RACHEL RAYNER
HAIR-RAISING
MOMENTS
What were the
moments that made
you think “wow”? i.e.
the things that
shocked you;
That you were not
expecting?
What gave you
goose-bumps?
TUMMY-SINKING
MOMENTS
What are the moments
you think did not go as
hoped? What, if
anything, gave you the
“sinking feeling”?
i.e. what might you do
differently next time?
HEART-WARMING
MOMENTS
What went well? What
made you feel good about
your work/practice?
What are you proud of?
TOE-CURLING MOMENTS
What were the moments
that made you feel
uncomfortable? The
moments that you had
not/could not plan for that
you learn from the most?
i.e. the moments that in
years to come you will look
back and say, “I remember…
and these “awful” moments
are often the ones that we
learn from the most.
Practice Educators: The Roller
Coaster
 Before you get on the ride
– what are you expecting?
Any apprehensions? etc
 During the ride – how
does it feel? Do you want
to get off? etc
 After the ride – how do
you feel? What was it
like? etc
 POWER – who put you on
the ride? Did you have
any choices? etc
Students: The weather model
 Sunshine – what went
well? What felt good?
 Rain – what didn’t go
so well?
 Lightening – what
came as a shock?
 Fog – where did you
get lost? What couldn’t
you see? Why?
Practice Educators : Cake model
Preparation
What ingredients have you got?
What recipe are you using?
How are you feeling about
making the cake?
Making the cake
Did you follow the recipe?
Did you add any spice?
Did you make a mess?
If so, how did you tidy it up?
Cont….
Digesting the cake
Did you burn your fingers?
Did you share the cake?
Did it sink or did it rise?
What did it taste like?
If you had changed the
ingredients would it have tasted
the same?
Did you cater for all tastes?
What was the “icing on the cake”?
SOME OF THE
TRADITIONAL
MODELS……
18
Gibbs (1988)
Stage 1:
Stage 2:
Stage 3:
Stage 4:
Stage 5:
Stage 6:
Description
Feelings and thoughts
Evaluation
Analysis
Conclusion
Action planning
GIBBS
Borton (1970)
 What?
 So what?
 Now what?
Boud, Keogh and Walker
(1985)
An individual:
 recaptures their experience
 thinks about it
 mulls it over (perhaps with others)
 evaluates it
 acts on the reflection
Korthagen’s reflective onion
o Environment
o Behaviour
o Competences
o Beliefs
o Identity
o Mission
Jan Fook
1. Telling the narrative – ‘describing’ the
practice.
2. Deconstruction – reflective questioning,
exploring practice. Focus on power.
3. Reconstruction – planning
future practice and putting the
plans into action – again focus
on power.
Kolb: Experiential learning
Concrete experience
Reflective Observation
Abstract Conceptualisation
Active Experimentation
- What was the event?
- What are your
personal thoughts and
feelings about the
experience?
- How can you draw on
previous experiences and on
your knowledge to help you
‘make sense’ of this
experience?
- If this event were to occur
again, what would you do
differently?
- What additional knowledge
do you need to gain?
Williams and Rutter (2007) based
on Gibbs
Description: What happened?
Feelings: What were you thinking and feeling?
Evaluation: What was good and bad about the
experience?
Analysis:
What sense can you make of the
situation?
Conclusion: What else could you have done?
Action Plan: What was learnt? If it arose again,
what would you do?
University of York (2000)
 Surprises
 Satisfactions
 Dissatisfactions
 Learning
References
Brookfield, S. (ed) (1988) Training Educators of adults: The Theory and
Practice of Graduate Adult Education. (New York) Routledge.
Borton, T. (1970) Reach, Teach and Touch. (London) McGraw Hill.
Boud D, Keogh, R. and Walker, D (1985) Reflection: Turning
experience into learning. (London), Kogan Page.
Dewey, J. (1933) How we think: A restatement of the relation of
reflective thinking to the educative process. (Boston) DC Health.
Fook, J. (2004) Critical Reflection and Organisational Learning and
Change: A Case Study. In Gould, N and Baldwin, M. (eds) Social Work,
Critical Reflection and the Learning Organisation. (Aldershot) Ashgate
Publishing.
Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning
Methods. (Oxford) Further Education Unit Oxford Polytechnic.
Killian, J. and Todnem, G. (1991) Reflective Judgement: Concepts of
Justification and there relationship to age and education. Journal of
Applied Developmental Psychology 2 (2) pp 89-116.
Kolb, D.A. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of
learning and development. (New Jersey) Prentice Hall.
Korthagen, F. (2001) A Reflection on reflection. In Korthagen, F. Linking
Practice and Theory: The Pedagogy of realistic teacher education. (New
Jersey) Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Reid, B. (1993) But we’re doing it already! Exploring a response to the
concept of reflective practice in order to improve its facilitation. Nurse
Education Today, 13 pp.305-309.
Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals think in
action. (London) Temple Smith.
University of York (2000) Facts, Feelings and Feedback: A
Collaborative Model for Direct Observation. (York) University of York.
Williams, S. and Rutter, L. (2007) Enabling and Assessing Work Based
Learning for Social Work: Supporting the Development of professional
Practice. (Birmingham) Learn to Care.