THEORY, THEORISING AND CRITICALLY REFLECTIVE PRACTICE IN PRACTICE LEARNING

1. THEORY, THEORISING AND CRITICALLY REFLECTIVE PRACTICE IN PRACTICE LEARNING Siobhan Maclean November 2012

2. Ask a student or even a qualified social worker what theory are you using there? And ….

3. We are leaving ourselves open to direction from others…. “Social work is what social workers do” (Health and Social Care Bill 2011) Ask a social worker what legislation they are using and they know – chapter and verse….

4. International Definition of Social Work “The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.”

5. My Eureka Moment! It is impossible to theorise without critical reflection………. Theory – noun – ‘naming’ word Theoretical – adjective – ‘describing’ word Theorising – verb – ‘doing’ word Theorising is putting ideas into action and drawing ideas out of action.

7. Reflective practice : what is it? • Process of review to inform learning (eg: Schon, Reid etc) • Active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge (Dewey 1933) • Mental process of trying torestructure existing knowledge and insights(Korthagen 2001) CRITICALLY REFLECTIVE PRACTICE INCLUDES A CONSIDERATION OF POWER

8. WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT FOR SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS?

9. Key aspect of professionalisation • Active CPD activity • Improves accountability • Supports theorising – using theory in practice and drawing theory out of practice • Improves practice (Munro – critically reflective organisations) • Ensures ethical practice • Enhances a practitioner’s ‘core’ and their resilience

10. Social Workers who fly….. • Grant and Kinman (2009) research into the professional development of newly qualified workers identified two key factors that: • Enhance resilience to stress • Foster wellbeing • Are key qualities of those social workers who “fly” after they qualify. What are the two factors?

11. Emotional intelligence • Reflective abilities

12. Critically reflective practice: key components • Rethinking / deconstructing power • Awareness of values and implications for practice • Exploring emotions / emotional intelligence • Drawing on knowledge / developing knowledge and practice wisdom • Self awareness • Creating uncertainty through dynamic questioning – willingness to livewith that uncertainty

14. Safeguarding practice: key issues • Power and powerlessness • Changing societal values • Emotional impact / distress • Developing / emerging knowledge • Impact of personal experiences / values (self awareness) • More questions than answers (uncertainty)

15. POWER VALUES EMOTIONS KNOWLEDGE SELF AWARENESS UNCERTAINTY

16. Reflective Practice: Power • Fook – critically reflective practice • Deconstruction of ‘realities’ with a focus on power dynamics What are the power dynamics in each situation – individual,organisational, cultural, societal? Who is making decisions?

17. Reflective Practice: Self Awareness • Personal process relies on personal awareness How do you feel about the issue? How do you feel about the key players? How do you use your “self” inyour work?

18. Distress and emotions Reflection and self awareness are key aspects of emotional intelligence – “keeping distress from swamping the ability to think, to empathise and to hope” (Goleman 1996) How does a practitioner manage emotional distress and avoid the potential for helplessness? Is supervision sufficientlyemotionally supportive?

19. Drawing on Knowledge Knowledge is fixed and creates limitations to the way that we see things…… Knowledge is time, context and societally and culturally specific.. When was child sexual abuse first raised as an issue?

20. Freud’s Seminar ‘The Ateology of Hysteria’ (1896) “Almost all of my women patients told me that they had been seduced by their father. I was driven to recognize in the end that these reports were untrue and so came to understand that the hysterical symptoms are derived from phantasies and not from real occurrences…… It was only later that I was able to recognizein this phantasy of being seduced bythe father the expression of the typical Oedipus complex in women.” (Sigmund Freud 1933)

21. Reflective processes can potentially unearth any assumptions about anything…. Some crucial but hitherto deeply hidden assumptions may be uncovered. (Fook 2004) Do reflective processes bury as much as they unearth ?

22. The earth was flat……….

23. Child sexual abuse didn’t happen…. Sula Wolff (1973) Seminal text No mention of child sexual abuse

24. 10 years on….. Judith Herman “This disturbing fact…. Has been repeatedly unearthed in the past hundred years, and just as repeatedly buried….. The information was simply too threatening to be maintained in public consciousness.” (1982:7)

25. Kristy Bamu’s murder raised issues of beliefs in witchcraft and evil spirit possession – but this issue has been raised a number of times since the deaths of Victoria Climbie and Khyra Ishaq. ……………..is this information “simply too threatening to be maintained in public consciousness?”

26. We talk about the realities of childhood sexual abuse – but how do we “know” what they are? Critically reflective practice recognises that there is no truth and that we need to be open to all possibilities…..An ability to “imagine” or thinkbeyond knowledge

27. What about childhood sexual exploitation? Think about the Rochdale Serious Case Review What about Jimmy Saville and the BBC…. The new North Wales inquiries……………

28. Despite the known importance of critical reflection there are a number of barriers….

29. Difficulties / barriers • Time constraints • Striving for certainty • Evidence based practice • Reflective practice can be painful and create a crisis of confidence • Organisational constraints • Lack of reflective supervision • Lack of clarity about reflective practice

30. So how can we support students to be more reflective? • Support them to find a model of reflective practice which they are comfortable with – this will vary for each individual • Enable them to understand the need for “critical friendships” – and be a critical friend to them during placement • Develop their awareness of what is impacting on their reflection • Make sure that they don’t avoid the questions – but likewise don’t delay actions

31. Critical Friends…. Introduced by Stenhouse (1975) as a method to support action research. Research indicates that whilst having a critical friend is useful, acting as one is even more helpful to professional development (Dahlgren et al 2006)

32. Schön • Reflection in action • Reflection on action • reflection for action (Killian and Todnem 1991)

33. Reflective cycle Plan – reflection for action Do – reflection in action Review – reflection on action

34. So what are the models? Remember Schön is a theory of reflection not a model – it highlights the need to do it but not how to do it! The models include: • Gibbs • Borton • Boud, Keogh and Walker • Fook • Korthagen

35. Theorising on practice Examples of students and practitioners theorising on models of reflective practice…

36. RACHEL RAYNER HAIR-RAISING MOMENTS What were the moments that made you think “wow”? i.e. the things that shocked you; That you were not expecting? What gave you goose-bumps? HEART-WARMING MOMENTS What went well? What made you feel good about your work/practice? What are you proud of? TOE-CURLING MOMENTS What were the moments that made you feel uncomfortable? The moments that you had not/could not plan for that you learn from the most? i.e. the moments that in years to come you will look back and say, “I remember… and these “awful” moments are often the ones that we learn from the most. TUMMY-SINKING MOMENTS What are the moments you think did not go as hoped? What, if anything, gave you the “sinking feeling”? i.e. what might you do differently next time?

37. Practice Educators: The Roller Coaster • Before you get on the ride – what are you expecting? Any apprehensions? etc • During the ride – how does it feel? Do you want to get off? etc • After the ride – how do you feel? What was it like? etc • POWER – who put you on the ride? Did you have any choices? etc

38. “The weather model” • Sunshine – what went well? What felt good? • Rain – what didn’t go so well? • Lightening – what came as a shock? • Fog – where did you get lost? What couldn’t you see? Why?

39. The Cake model (Welsh Practice Educators) Preparation What ingredients have you got? What recipe are you using? How are you feeling about making the cake? Making the cake Did you follow the recipe? Did you add any spice? Did you make a mess? If so, how did you tidy it up? Cont….

40. Digesting the cake Did you burn your fingers? Did you share the cake? Did it sink or did it rise? What did it taste like? If you had changed the ingredients would it have tasted the same? Did you cater for all tastes? What was the “icing on the cake”?

45. Reflective practice is more than the icing on the cake……. It is the cake And we can have our cake and eat it……….

46. SOME OF THE TRADITIONAL MODELS……

47. Gibbs (1988) Stage 1: Description Stage 2: Feelings and thoughts Stage 3: Evaluation Stage 4: Analysis Stage 5: Conclusion Stage 6: Action planning

48. GIBBS

49. Borton (1970) • What? • So what? • Now what?