ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief description of critical reflection, and then develops the idea of critical reflection from a number of different theoretical traditions. After outlining a process for critical reflection which derives from the theoretical background, it discusses the emancipatory elements of critical reflection, based on material from existing literature, as well as results of evaluations from the critical reflection programs. Critical social theory involves a recognition that domination is both personally experienced and structurally created. Postmodern thinking opens up the possibilities for contradiction, change and conflict in thinking, thus recognizing that many different experiences can be legitimate. In order to be transformative, the process of critical reflection needs to be able to counteract feelings of fatalism. An important way in which critical reflection can be transformative is in the ability to develop skills in practicing in uncertainty.
