ABSTRACT
Notions of reflection and reflective practice have become well established in professional education since the late 1980s. While some applications of these ideas in courses have distorted their original intentions and taken an excessively instrumental approach to their use, they have nevertheless provided useful framing devices to help conceptualise some important processes in professional learning. One of the reasons why they were readily accepted is because they shared an individualised view of learning with the very programmes in which they were used. In the 2000s we are, however, seeing a questioning of an overly individualistic view of learning previously associated with reflection, a focus on the nature of professional practice and an exploration of alternative conceptions that view reflection within the context of settings which necessarily have more of a group– or team-based work orientation. This chapter questions whether we should reject earlier views of reflection, rehabilitate them to capture their previous potential or move to new ways of regarding reflection that are more in keeping with what we know about the context of practice. It suggests that the pursuit of each of these directions together is needed. It goes on to explore features of reflection that are needed for contemporary and future professional practice, provide an illustration of a non-individualistic approach to reflection in organisations and identifies some issues that are still fully to be addressed.
