REFLECTIONANDREFLEXIVITY: WHATANDWHY

1 SECTION1 REFLECTIONANDREFLEXIVITY: WHATANDWHY01-Bo lton3e-3948-Ch-01:Bolton3e-3948-Ch-0124/ 11/20095:33 PMPage101-Bolton3e-3948-Ch-01:Bolton3e-3 948-Ch-0124/11/20095:33 PMPage2 CHAPTER1 REFLECTIVEPRACTICE:ANINTRODUCTIONC hapter 1 introducesand describes reflective prac tice, outliningits po litic al and soci alre spons ibili ty. Reflectionand reflexivityare de fin ed and par ti cularnatureofthr ough-the-mi rrorwritingis intro duced,its relationshipto mindfulness, andth e wa y it can tell the truth whileacceptingthe im possibility of donot store experienceasdat a,likea computer:we story it.(Wi nt er1988, )Youunderstandhowtoactfr omknowledge,butyouhavenotyetse enhowtoact fromnot-knowing.(ChuangTsu1974,p. 68)I mnolo ngeruncertainaboutbeinguncertain:uncerta intyis nowmymantra.

2 (Reflectivepr ac ti cestudent)RReefflleeccttiioonn is a state of mind, an ongoing constituent of practice, not atechni que, or curriculum ele ment . Reflective Practice can enable practitionersto learn from experience about themse lves, t heir work, and the way theyrelate to home and work, significant others a nd wider society and cultu re . Itgives strategies to brin g things out into the open, and f rame appropriate andsearching questions never asked before. It can provide relat ively safe a ndconfidential ways to explore and express experiences otherwise difficult tocommunicate. It challenges assumptio ns , ideo logical illusions, damagingsocial and cultural biases, inequalities, and questions per sonal behaviourswhich perhaps silence the voices of others or otherwise marg inalis e Practicecan enable enquiry into:01-Bolton3e-3948-Ch-01:Bolton3e-394 8-Ch-0124/11/20095:33 PMPage3 what you know b ut do not know you know what you do not know and want to know what you think, feel, b elieve, value , under stand about your role andboundaries how your actions match up with what you believe how to value and take in to account pers onal form of reflection seems to enable practitioners to explore and experimentwith areas of experience di ffi cult otherwise to approach, such as.

3 What you can change in your context; how to work with what you cannot how to value the perspective of o thers, however different they are to you how others perceive you, and their feelin gs and thought s about events why you become stressed, an d i ts impact on life and practice how to counteract seemingly gi ve nso cial, cultu ra l and p olitica l ough-the-mirror wri ting is intuitive spontaneous, similar to initial ti ngs then inf orm discussion in trusted confidential forums. Reflectiv epra ctitioners write for self-illumination and exploration, not to cr eate a know a great deal more than we ar e aware, ab sorbing info rmatio nunwittingly, and data we do not use and think we have forgott en , andcha llenging material shoved into boxes mental ly lab el le d do not writing can give confident ial a nd relatively safe acce ss,usi ng narrativ e and close and accurate observation.

4 It enables the vital skillto use knowledge thus gained (for perceptive diagnosis for example).Constraining structures and metaphors can become cl ear, offering power totake more responsibil ity for action is founded upon personal ethical values. We are what we do, ratherthan what we sa y we are. Yet it is hard to gain clarity about ethical values expressedin practice, far easier to saywhat we believe (espoused values). Through-the-mirrorwriting enables discovery of who and what we a re in pra ctice, and whywe act as we do ( for an exercise, see Bolton, 2009). This process can be unsettling(Po llner 1991) or even uneasy, leading to the uncertainty of genuine questionin g,the foundation of a ll education. Education is about perceiving and developing ourown searching ques tions, rather than being given answers.

5 The search forsolut ions leads to yet more pertinent questions and more learning. In learningand understanding about human rig hts, for example, law students need to learn not only the p ractice of law. Rather it means the practice of people, their lives andthe values, needs, beliefs that people ho ld and wish to protect, or promote, oradvocate (Hin ett 2002; Williams 2002, p. 134). Through- the-mirrorwriting can help practitioners t oward s perceiving andtaking full responsibili ty. It i s never good enough to say: I d on t have t ime todo X , I did that because my senior instructed me t o/it was in t he protocol ,4 REFLECTION AND REFLEXIVITY: WHAT AND WHY01-Bolton3e-3948-Ch-01:Bolton3e-3948- Ch-0124/11/20095:33 PMPage4 REFLECTIVE PRACTICE: AN INTRODUCTION5 I thought everyone did Y , Oh I ve never t hought a bout why I do that, or ifI should!

6 There is much in life we are genuinely not in control of, such asbirth, death, illness, ac cidents, and others impingements upon ours elves(f or example, a bureaucratic rule-bound manager with no interest indeveloping staff). We may not be in contro l of respons ive feel ings andth oughts, but we are surely res ponsible for our and reflexivity are essential for responsible and ethical practice,yet there have been arguments against it. One is lack of time (Copeland et ) and packed curricula taught by demotivated a nd over-str et ched tu to rs(Davis 2003). Curr ent expectations of consta nt a ctivity and busyness makereflection a luxury; this, paradoxically makes it more important to point outth e value of reflection (Hedberg 2009).

7 Reflection and refl exivity can be seenas threats to position or s tatus in o rganisations , where such practices are oftenimpeded by prescri ptive meetings with a l ow level of engag ement, high role-based demarcated and political dimension, high degr ee of threat and taskor ientation (Heel et al. 2006).Reflective practice leading to change and development only happens inlearning organisations (Gould 2004), with supportiv e mechanisms of coach,mentor or facilitator (Gray 2007), and not whe n top-down, organisat ionalvi sions are imposed leading to compliance (Seng e 1992). E ff ectively fa cilitatedreflective and reflexive professional deve lo pment is amply repaid h owever, aspracti tioners take deci sions more accurately and quickly by drawing uponeffective trustworthy intuit ion (Cartwright 20 04).

8 And organisations gain fromworkp lace reflection because critically refle ctive practitioners have increa sedmorale, commitment to clients, ope nness to multiple pers pectives andcreative innovative non-dichotomous solutions, and clearer boundarie s (Fook2002). Reflection on the part of professional evalu ators is also crucial, giventh e inherently politicised and v alue-based nature of evalua tion, and t he n eedfor critical monitoring of bias (Clark/Keefe 2007).Reflective practice which genuinely affects practitioner s lives, and thos earound them, needs confident experienced teaching and facilitating. Studentsor employees required to wr ite journals and account s of pra ctice withoutbeing inducted an d facilitated well are likely to experience feelings ofhelplessness, frustration an d eventual burnout (Gray 2007), be resistant(Bulpitt and Martin 2005), negative (Hobbs 2007), or even a ngry, challe nged,th reatened, demoralized, shocked, and put off by the leap into the unknown (Trelfa 2005, p.)

9 206), and they might focus merel y on te chnical s kil ls (T ruscottand Walker 1998), or write safely and hypoth etically about themes rather t hanspecific experiences (Clarke 1998). Leadership development students inbusiness environments often block reflection due to negative mindsets (Smith 2001) if appropriate educational environments are not creat ed, andtuition offered. There are no half measures : if orga nisations want refle ctivereflexive practitione rs they need to pay in time and facilitat :Bolton3e-3948-Ch-0124/11/20095:33 PMPage5Cr eating this environment can be complex and per pl ex in g, andmanagerialism will always be a significant block to prac titioner criticalreflection (Heel et al.

10 2006; Redmond 2006). The most effe ctive education hasnever been easy, as any reader of Socrate s (Pl ato) s dial ogues knows. Goodfac ili tation can lead to: 83% of the professionals with whom I had workedwithin the reflective teaching model considere d that, over two years aft er theend of the course, they were significantl y more confident of being able tointroduce change within their organisat ion (Re dmond 2006, p. xii).Change and development take time, energy an d commitment. Instru ctionalhow-to and information-giving can seem to give instant results makingreflective practice seem soft and unquantifiable (Regan 2008, p. 219), self-indulgent (Bulman an d Schutz 2008). Instru cti on resulting in neatly ticked competencies is tidier, less demandingthan challenging students and practitioners to question the very root s of theirpra ctice, themselves as practit io ners, and significantly critique their rd ing to Gr oom and Maunonen-Eskelinen, narrative exploration andreflective practice a re more used and valued in teacher educ ation in Finland thanin the UK, where development of competencies is valued more highly.