An introduction to
Critical Reflection
Jan Fook
School of Social Work
Dalhousie University
Why critical reflection?
Is everyone here reflective?
Does anyone know someone else who is
not reflective?
Is everyone here critically reflective?
Does anyone here know someone else
who is not critically reflective?
DOES IT MATTER?
A sceptical voice…..
Does anyone not reflect?
Do we really know what it means (in
practical terms)?
Is it possible to pinpoint in concrete
terms how it changes your actions?
How do you do it when most
workplaces are too busy, and
bureaucracy and outcome led?
Many challenges for all
professionals…..
Contexts of uncertainty,
unpredictability, complexity
Increasing demands on professionals
Accountability and effectiveness in
uncertainty?
The need for values
Therefore……
THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY
OF CRITICAL
REFLECTION…….
which is:
Structured
Practical
Meaningful
Speaks to workplace demands
What is critical reflection?
Learning from/making (positive) meaning of
experience (eg.Dewey, Boud, Mezirow) (we all do it
but may not be aware of it, but there are better and worse
ways of doing it)
Process of unearthing deeper assumptions (eg.
Schon) (not as easy to do as it looks)
What makes it critical – unearthing fundamental
(dominant) assumptions about power– “ideology
critique” (eg. Brookfield) (good PC analysis but not
always where people are at?)…THE PROBLEM OF POWER
AND TRANSFORMATION??
What is it? Learning from
experience (Dewey, Boud)
What is learning?
Learning which is adaptive (not
restrictive)
Transferable between contexts
Makes meaning
– Provides a framework of guidance for
further living)
– Integrates past experiences into coherent
sense of self
What is experience?
A holistic amalgam of thoughts,
feelings, actions and meaning
Both “sensed” and “theorised”
Both personal and social
How is critical reflection done?
It uses a (reflective) process of
uncovering and unsettling
(fundamental) hidden or implicit
assumptions (ie. the “taken for
granted”) (Schon) (especially as they
relate to how power is created or
maintained) (Brookfield)
…..therefore….
..therefore we should be able
to….
 Identify and examine the bases of our
practice (critical ability)
 Link our personal experiences
(practice) with an understanding of
how our the broader social/political
context influences them (critical
ability) …..therefore…
..we should be able to…
Understand and analyse our own
experiences in relation to:
broader policies,
the expectations of our organisation or profession
expectations,
expectations of the wider society or culture,
the historical context,
gender or race relations, etc.
 (critical
ability)
…we can also…
Recognise many and different perspectives or
interpretations of a situation and accept
contradictionsbetween them (post-modern/
constructivist influence)
Recognise the influence of many facets of
ourselves (personal, professional, social) on
situations (knowledge and interactions) and
vice versa (reflexivity)
Connects awareness and action and
envisages new possibilities for action
(critical ability)
My version…
Involves both theory and practice:
a clear rationale and analysis
and..
A clear and structured process for
conducting it
Aims of critical reflection…
To learn from experience and
therefore
to improve practice (by learning
directly from own practice
experience)
The process involves….
engaging in a process of examining the
fundamental assumptions implicit in practice
experience
(this often leads to a re-examination of past
experience (and meanings) in the light of current
contexts)
And devising changed thinking and practices
from this new awareness
….And a new way of framing (past and
present) experience
Can be used for….
Learning from experience and
creating practice theory and meaning
from it
Ongoing scrutiny of practice
A form of accountability/supervision
A form of personal, professional and
organisational learning
A form of research
Can therefore be theorised in a whole
variety of ways……………………
Relevat theories/concepts
Reflective practice
Reflexivity
Postmodernism/the linguistic
turn
Critical social theories
Spirituality and eastern
religions
Related theories
Reflective practice
– the gap between theory and
practice (eg. Schon)
Postmodernism/deconstruction/the linguistic
turn – how our language/discourse constructs our
knowledge
Reflexivity
– how who we are (socially and
personally) constructs our knowledge (eg. Taylor and
White)
Critical perspectives - how personal experience is
linked with social/power arrangements, and how social
Reflective practice
Gap between theory and practice,
between implicit and explicit ideas
The limitations of explicit rules or
theory
The need to create theory (practice)
in context
How our practice actually creates
knowledge
Reflexivity – how who we are personally
and socially constructs the way we see and
act in the world
The mirror
We ourselves are instruments for
creating knowledge, therefore who we
are (all aspects) has a role in how we
see/understand the world
physical, emotional, social, historical,
structural influences in shaping
knowledge
Postmodernism/deconstruction/the
linguistic turn
How we speak about things
constructs the way we
see/understand them – some things
are left out; others are constructed as
binary categories
There may be many different (and
contradictory ways of seeing things)
How things are see often has to do
with POWER
Critical social theories
how personal experience is linked with
social/power arrangements, and how social
awareness leads links with social change (eg.
Brookfield)
Recognises that power is both personal
and social and they are linked
Individuals can hold social beliefs
Understanding the link is important in
making social changes
Spirituality and eastern religions
The making of greater meanings,
based on holistic connectedness and
interconnectedness between
individuals experiences and the
greater worlds in which they live
Eg. Concept of mindfulness
The transformative potential of
critical reflection?
Can free us from the restrictive learning of
past experiences towards more creative
practice
Recognising and naming deep taken for
granted assumptions effectively reduces
their power
Enables more conscious choice (power)
Reveals how some assumptions we hold
can work to disempower ourselves or
others
Basic method/process
Focuses on:
Specific instances of practice (critical incidents)
To unsettle (dominant) implicit assumptions
(stage 1)
In order to discover and change relevant thinking
and practices (stage 2)
Uses critical reflective questions derived from
theories
May be used in a number of ways (eg. Small
groups, self-reflection)
In an ethical learning climate
The generic process
Use critical incident description and critical
reflective questions to:
Stage 1
Identify our hidden theories (or assumptions),
particularly as they relate to power
Examine where these come from, and how they
are relevant to our current situation
Stage 2
Identify what we think needs to change
about the way we think or work (as a
result of being aware of these deep
assumptions)
Devise a label for this new way of
thinking/working (ie. reformulate our new
theory of practice)
Critical reflective questions: reflective
what are my implicit assumptions and
how do they differ from my explicit ones
How can I use this awareness to
change my practice?
Eg. what does my practice imply about my
fundamental values? What am I assuming
about the nature of human beings? Society?
power and conflict?
Reflexive questions
How do I influence what I see?
How does what I am looking for
influence what I find?
how does who I am influence the way I see
things? How do my past experiences
contribute to my biases? Do my own needs
cause any “blind spots”?
Postmodern/deconstructive
How does my language construct
what I see?
 Eg. What particular words or phrases do I
use? What do these indicate about the way I
see things? What(or whose perspectives) am
I leaving out? Why have I chosen one way of
interpreting over another? Why did I choose
this action (and not another?)What binaries
exist?
Critical questions
How do I participate in power? What are
the connections between my personal
experience and my social context? And
how can I change my practice with this
awareness?
 Eg. what self-defeating beliefs do I hold? Do I see
myself as powerless? How do I see other people’s
power? How do I understand responsibility? What
do I believe about how organisational and
personal power is connected?
Stage 2 questions
What are my main assumptions?
How does my thinking change as a
result of being aware of these?
How does my practice need to
change as a result?
How would I relabel my personal
“theory of practice”?
Critical incident
An event which is significant in some
way to the learner/participant
Descriptive and basic as possible
Used as “raw” material for reflection
The ethcal learning climate of “critical
acceptance”(Safe climate to enable challenge)
Trust & respect
Acceptance NOT affirmation
Focus on professional learning
Right to draw limits
Focus on story or construction
Openness to multiple and contradictory
perspectives
Responsibility (agency) not blame
An example of critical reflection…
Barbara…..
 A social worker/manager in a large government
bureaucracy
 Incident from personal life – she intervenes between
2 men in angry argument
 Didn’t want to be a ‘control freak’
 Assumptions about control, someone needing to be
in control, and equated with the need for action
 Reflected on her own needs to be in control and
assumptions about good professional practice
equated with need to take action
Barbara…cont….
Fear of uncertainty?
Emotions and assumptions come together in
the experience……
Caught herself telling a staff member that he needed to
“stay with the uncertainty”….
Stage 2…..
Therefore a need to reconstruct her desired
practice as “being powerful in uncertainty” or
“structured uncertainty”
She spoke of creating her own “emotional
scaffolding” to help her in new situations
Using this critical reflection process
in supervision
One to one
Diaries
Group/peer supervision
Researching practice
Benefits and outcomes of critical
reflection
Rational
Emotional
Values
Practice
Rationality
Better able to abstractify and understand
theory
More considered and evidence-based
Better decision-making and more choice
Better able to work with uncertainty and
multiple perspectives
Self and emotions
Increased self awareness
Overcome personal blocks
Resolve dilemmas
Recognise and use power of emotion
Value-based practice
More inclusive (less judgemental)
Able to recognise different perspectives
more awareness of personal agency ie.
empowerment
Direct links with practice
Enhanced sense of professionalism
Better connected with colleagues
Practice not entirely solution-focused leads to
better sense of having skills
Better integration of personal/professional
Better ability to learn from practice
References
Fook, J. & Gardner, F. (2007)
Practising Critical Reflection, Open
University Press, Maidenhead
Fook, J. & Gardner, F. (eds) (2013)
Critical Reflection in Context,
Routledge, London