ABSTRACT
Being aware of our professional decisions, actions and the perceptions, beliefs and understandings on which they are based allows us to be able to provide reasons and justifications for the decisions we make. This chapter begins with a review of the literature about reflection. before defining reflection and reflective practice.
The main definitions of reflection and important terms associated with reflective practice are then briefly reviewed (Descriptive/Technical, Communicative/Hermeneutic and Critical derived from the work of Jurgen Habermas). The differences between Critical Understanding and Critical Reflection are described. The most prominent theoretical frameworks including Habermas’ critical theory, Van Manen (1991), Palmer (2007; 1998); Brookfield (2016) are also considered.
One of the key features of this chapter will be to question a number of the ‘shibboleths’ that have been associated with much of the writing related to reflection and reflective practice. A westernised focus on reflection that over-emphasises reflection as ‘thinking’, rather than recognising that reflective practice can occur through action which includes the thinking on which the action is based. Donald Schön’s recognition in 1983 of the significance of ‘reflection-in-action’.
