reflection in action: developing reflective practice in health and social services

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Book Review Reflection in Action: Developing Reflective Practice in Health and Social Services B. Redmond Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2004 ISBN 0-7546-3356-X, 172 pp., £30.00 The overall level of satisfaction experienced by service users who access health and social services may often be determined by the authenticity, openness and responsiveness shown to them by individual professionals. However, many service users leave encounters with professionals with feelings of helplessness and a sense that they have neither been listened to nor understood. This opening statement of Redmond’s book defines the intent of the content. The author agues that the fundamental solution to the problem that she defines is reflective learning and reflective practice. She proposes that creating a reflective teaching and learning environment will bring about positive change in helping professionals’ underlying attitudes to those they provide services for. The author was a social worker providing services for those with intellectual disability and their families before becoming an academic and engaging in research into the issues described in this book. In particular her work is influenced by the seminal work of Donald Scho ¨n and supplemented by the work of Chris Argyris. The book is divided into nine chapters which overview the literature on reflection and in particular the reflective theories of Argyris and Scho ¨ n. The author describes a reflective teaching model which involves creating an environment and a set of experiences for student that ensure that they reflect as fully as possible on their teaching and learning in the context of subsequently working in a caring environment. Five phases of encouraging reflection during the teaching and learning processes are described. The first two involve the introduction of students to the reflective learning model and to new ideas. The second stage allows service users to talk to the class about their experiences and to give students the opportunity to discuss with them their own current work with parents. The third phase enables students to develop new perspectives in relation to the parents with whom they work and to implement the reflective teaching and learning model by encouraging students to develop critically reflective learning. The fourth stage of the reflective teaching and learning model encourages students to develop still more complex views of service users and to encourage students to analyse their own practice in an effective and productive manner while reducing students’ defensiveness. The final phase is ending the research and reflecting on the whole teaching and learning process to see whether the reflective model was helpful and, if so, in what ways. The author concludes: ‘‘the reflective model offers both teachers and professionals the opportunity to review and restructure their work in a way that can make it more accessible to those they aim to serve’’. ‘‘It also offers teachers, professionals and those with whom they work a relationship which is more considered, more responsive and, ultimately more likely to achieve long-lasting and meaningful change.’’ Journal of Interprofessional Care, March 2006; 20(2): 213 – 214 ISSN 1356-1820 print/ISSN 1469-9567 online Ó 2006 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/13561820600617323 J Interprof Care Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Cambridge on 10/30/14 For personal use only.

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Page 1: Reflection in action: Developing reflective practice in health and social services

Book Review

Reflection in Action: Developing Reflective Practice in Health and Social Services

B. Redmond

Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2004

ISBN 0-7546-3356-X, 172 pp., £30.00

The overall level of satisfaction experienced by service users who access health and social

services may often be determined by the authenticity, openness and responsiveness shown

to them by individual professionals. However, many service users leave encounters with

professionals with feelings of helplessness and a sense that they have neither been listened

to nor understood.

This opening statement of Redmond’s book defines the intent of the content. The author

agues that the fundamental solution to the problem that she defines is reflective learning

and reflective practice. She proposes that creating a reflective teaching and learning

environment will bring about positive change in helping professionals’ underlying attitudes

to those they provide services for. The author was a social worker providing services for

those with intellectual disability and their families before becoming an academic and

engaging in research into the issues described in this book. In particular her work is

influenced by the seminal work of Donald Schon and supplemented by the work of Chris

Argyris.

The book is divided into nine chapters which overview the literature on reflection and in

particular the reflective theories of Argyris and Schon. The author describes a reflective

teaching model which involves creating an environment and a set of experiences for student

that ensure that they reflect as fully as possible on their teaching and learning in the context

of subsequently working in a caring environment. Five phases of encouraging reflection

during the teaching and learning processes are described. The first two involve the

introduction of students to the reflective learning model and to new ideas. The second stage

allows service users to talk to the class about their experiences and to give students the

opportunity to discuss with them their own current work with parents. The third phase

enables students to develop new perspectives in relation to the parents with whom they work

and to implement the reflective teaching and learning model by encouraging students to

develop critically reflective learning. The fourth stage of the reflective teaching and learning

model encourages students to develop still more complex views of service users and to

encourage students to analyse their own practice in an effective and productive manner

while reducing students’ defensiveness. The final phase is ending the research and reflecting

on the whole teaching and learning process to see whether the reflective model was helpful

and, if so, in what ways.

The author concludes: ‘‘the reflective model offers both teachers and professionals the

opportunity to review and restructure their work in a way that can make it more accessible to

those they aim to serve’’. ‘‘It also offers teachers, professionals and those with whom they

work a relationship which is more considered, more responsive and, ultimately more likely

to achieve long-lasting and meaningful change.’’

Journal of Interprofessional Care,

March 2006; 20(2): 213 – 214

ISSN 1356-1820 print/ISSN 1469-9567 online � 2006 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/13561820600617323

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Page 2: Reflection in action: Developing reflective practice in health and social services

The audience for this book is those involved in teaching students intending on training in

care-giving professions. The book is, in my opinion, rather dry and academic. It is quite

difficult to discern how it could be used in practice in many teaching and learning

environments. The book seemed more theoretical than practical and has a narrow

perspective, not taking into account international environments or diverse audiences. In a

multicultural world the omission of a focus on diversity issues was unfortunate.

The other major concern I had about this book was that it failed to take account of the

wider context within which teaching and learning practice occurs. The author describes the

teaching and learning experience but the focus is very much on her as an individual teacher

and her students as a group, and does not take account of the wider teaching milieu in the

department or organization or institution within which the teaching takes place.

It is good of course to have a profound and dynamic model of reflective teaching and

learning but if it is one course run by one tutor, and the wider department and organization

do not foster and sustain such an orientation, the course could create problems for students.

Their attempts to apply this highly introspective model to other aspects of their learning

could result in poor performance if this orientation is not valued by other educators.

Moreover if reflective practice is pursued by one individual in a care-giving environment it

may actually harm that individual in the sense that it brings them into opposition with a

wider political and managerial structures of the organization within which they work. These

broader political and organizational issues are neglected in the book, as is the provision of

research evidence to substantiate the fundamental claims for the efficacy of the approach the

author advocates.

Overall, I felt this book was not particularly relevant to the kinds of interprofessional issues

with which readers of JIC tend to be concerned and would be of more interest to a particular

group of teachers of healthcare professionals with an interest in reflective practice as a way of

teaching. It is a brave book based very much on one individual’s experiences and one

individual’s teaching strategy. However, I feel that it will not repay the hard work required

for most readers of the Journal of Interprofessional Care.

MICHAEL A. WEST

Organizational Psychology,

Aston Business School,

Aston University,

Birmingham, UK

214 Book Review

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