Critical Incidents and Learning about Risks: The Case of Young People and Their Health

Peter Woods has demonstrated that the process of teaching and learning is significantly influenced by both ‘critical events’ and ‘critical incidents’ (Sikes, Measor and Woods, 1985; Woods, 1993). The distinction between the two is that critical events take the shape of planned occasions, such as the production of a drama or a school visit. These events are consciously orchestrated over a period of time; they are intentional and planned. Critical incidents, by contrast, are characteristically ‘unplanned, unanticipated and uncontrolled. They are flashpoints that illuminate in an electrifying instant’ (Woods, 1993, p. 1).