Promoting reflective practice: tips for practice educators

What is reflection?

There are many definitions of reflection, but essentially it is about thinking things through carefully, considering things from different perspectives and possibly restructuring the way that we see things.

In many ways, it is about the way we think. Reflection also helps us to learn from experiences. When the learning from reflection is put into practice, this becomes reflective action/reflective practice.

Why is reflection so important for students?

It is generally agreed that reflective practice is important in social work. However, it is worth asking a student why they think there is an emphasis on critical reflection. When we understand why we need to do something, it generally motivates us to develop our skills in that area.

Reflection is vitally important for social work in general, but it is perhaps even more important for students, because it is so closely linked to the process of learning. A deeper approach to learning involves critically reflecting on new ideas and linking them with existing knowledge.

Taking a reflective approach means the learner will understand the knowledge they acquire and apply their learning to new situations. Deep learning assists with problem solving and making wider connections, resulting in a new and different understanding.

Sometimes students are not always aware of the importance of reflection and see it as simply something that is required as part of their portfolio evidence.

Supporting students to recognise the vital importance of reflective practice and asking them to read around the subject will be important if they lack commitment.

Reflective questioning

It can be very tempting for practice educators to ask information-based questions in supervision to find out what is happening for the people who are receiving support and to ensure the student is meeting agency requirements. They may also be tempted into providing solutions, advice and guidance to students.

This often cuts across students developing as truly reflective practitioners. Learning is much more likely to occur where a practice educator asks reflective questions to assist the student to consider the situation and find their own solutions. This also role models good practice in social work.

People sometimes look to practitioners to provide the solution, which can lead to them developing ‘learned helplessness’. Social workers who are able to use their skills to support people to develop their own ‘solutions’ are generally better, more effective practitioners.

McClure (2002) suggested that reflective practice is about a process of dynamic questioning and developed a range of “reflective questions” that can be used to assist in reflective practice – either in writing or in reflective discussions. The following questions are adapted from those suggested by McClure for use in supervision with a student:

• Tell me about what you did…
• What were you aiming for when you did that?
• What exactly did you do?
• Why did you choose that particular action?
• What theories/models/research informed your actions?
• What were you trying to achieve?
• What did you do next?
• What were the reasons for doing that?
• How successful was it?
• How do you know? What criteria are you using to judge success?
• What alternatives did you have?
• Could you have dealt with the situation any better?
• How would you do it differently next time?
• How do you feel about the whole experience?
• How did the person/carer/other worker feel about it?
• How do you know they felt like that?
• What sense can you make of this considering your past experiences/what we have discussed/your university studies (and so on)?
• Has this changed the way in which you will do things in the future? How?

Skilled, dynamic reflective questioning very often leads to more questions rather than ‘answers’. This can be very challenging for students who feel a pressure to ‘know’ something.

I find it useful to explain that even after over 30 years in social work I don’t know things. Sharing this with students can be helpful because the creation of uncertainty through reflective questioning and reflective practice more generally may create a crisis of confidence.

A willingness to live with uncertainty is important to social workers. In his report into the death of Victoria Climbié, Lord Laming introduced the phrase “respectful uncertainty” to describe the attitude social workers need to maintain in their work (Lord Laming, 2003).

References

Lord Laming (2003)
The Victoria Climbié Inquiry
Command Paper 5730

McClure, P (2002)
Reflection in Practice: Making Practice Based Learning Work
University of Ulster

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