REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

This is a one day course. The course is suitable for all staff working in the social care field.

Our extensive experience of Mentoring post qualification social work students (more than 200 with a 96% success rate) has taught us that the capacity to reflect and the meaning of reflective practice is not something that is generally familiar. This one day course is intended to serve as a short but significant introduction to the practice and process of reflection. It is intended for qualified staff undertaking post qualified training but will prove useful to all staff with social care.

The concepts of evidencing and reflecting are intimately connected. If a worker cannot perform well on one of these it is unlikely that they will perform well on the other. To evidence a decision or conclusion means that not only must what is observed or reported be accurately recorded but that it is also interpreted (given meaning) in terms of a body of researched knowledge and theory (a system of professionally accepted understanding) and is assessed (given a value) in terms of normative based understanding (including legal and professional precedent) whilst taking fully into account corroboration and cultural issues. 

The process of reflecting concerns the proper and judicious application of all of the above coupled with assessing how the process impacts on the client and worker and how or if it might all have being done differently and with what result. It is an exercise in comparative assessment and judgement looking not just at the possible causes and actual outcome but also at possible “might have been” outcomes in conjunction with the processes of developmental learning of the worker.

LEARNING THEMES: by the end of the course, participants will have understanding and awareness re the importance of the following and in terms of reflective and evidenced – based practice. 

• ·         Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain; the meaning and  significance of the
          Affective Domain (emotional intelligence and values) and the Psychomotor domain (picking up cues /  
          non-verbal communication etc). 

• ·         Kolb’s experiential learning cycle

• ·         Personal learning style (test)

• ·         How people “map” the world through representations and personal “representational style” (test).

• ·         Gibbs’ reflective cycle

• ·         Models of reflection: Dewey, Boud, Schon, Evans, DIKW model etc

• ·         Analysis and logic (quiz and referral on to a free self-teaching online resource)

• ·         Values and Emotional intelligence and their role in reflective practice

• ·         Imagining what could happen or be done differently – the realm of Possible Worlds.

• ·         Nature of theory and use of theory – developing your use of theory

• ·         A matter for reflection - issues of discrimination: Inclusion / Exclusion

• ·         Tips for Reflective Practice

And also:

v     CONSIDERATION OF PAST HISTORIES

v     HYPOTHESISING and "What If"

v     WHAT IS ANALYSIS & ASSESSMENT?

v     OUTCOME FORMULATION

v     SUPERVISION & CONSULTATION

v     HOW VALUES IMPINGE (Own, Organisation, Client, Society, Social Care values)

v     JUDGEMENT PROCESSES

v     KNOWLEDGE BASE, including policies and procedures.

v     RESEARCHING NEW KNOWLEDGE

v     EVALUATION OF WORK

This course combines well with the following Osiris courses: Analysis & Assessment, Outcomes, Risk Options.

 Course Key Texts:

Osiris Course Handout

Angela Everitt and Pauline Hardiker (1996) Evaluating for Good Practice

Davies C, Finlay L & Bullman A (eds) (2000) Social Work Values (London, Sage)

Nigel Parton and Patrick O’Byrne: Constructive Social Work

Supplementary Further Reading:

Browne N & Keeley S (2001) Asking the Right Questions: a guide to critical thinking (New Jersey, Prentice Hall)

Dawes R (2001) Everyday Irrationality (Oxford, Westview)

Hacking I (2001) An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic (Cambridge, CUP).

Scott Plous (1993) The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making

Robert Wilson (1997) The New Inquisition

Simon Blackburn (1999) Think

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