Reflective practice, reflexivity, and critical reflection in social work education in Australia

Authors

Lynelle Watts

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Australian Social Work

Publisher

Taylor & Francis Group

School

School of Arts and Humanities

RAS ID

27661

Comments

Watts, L. (2018). Reflective practice, reflexivity, and critical reflection in social work education in Australia. Australian Social Work, 72(1). 8-20.

Available here.

Abstract

Reflective practice, reflexivity, and critical reflection are now widely accepted as important in contemporary social work practice. Despite this, there remain differences in how the terms are discussed within the literature. This results in confusion in how students are instructed about reflective practice, reflexivity, and critical reflection. This paper presents a proposal for clarifying these concepts based on the results from an interpretive study of reflective practice in social work education and practice in Australia. The study utilised three different methods: autoethnography, an archaeological analytic, and qualitative interviews. It found that reflective practice is understood as a capability, a form of critical thinking, a discipline response to a changing sector, and a way of theorising from practice. Conceptual clarifications of reflective practice, reflexivity, and critical reflection are presented.

DOI

10.1080/0312407X.2018.1521856

Access Rights

free_to_read

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