Reflecting on reflection, leadership and social work: Social work students as developing leaders

Abstract

Numerous social workers discuss the importance of critical reflection and refer to its capacity as an educational tool to improve practice, yet there is relatively little evidence to support the claims made about the benefits of critical reflection by its proponents. This paper contributes to addressing this gap by reporting on the critically reflective educational process undertaken by one practitioner. The transformative learning gained by this practitioner provides a concrete example of how critical reflection improved her thinking about practice by increasing congruence between her espoused theoretical framework and her actual practice, and by creating opportunities for emancipatory practice within a context where she felt constrained to achieve critical practice aims. The paper suggests critical reflection is an important component of social work education.