Reflective practice in the helping professions: how to critically reflect on practice in education, health and social work

Reflective practice is a well-established approach within the helping professions.  Its application to practice has been identified, through robust research, to have the potential to be a powerful, transformational tool for improvement.  The construct was enunciated, most famously, by Donald Schon in the 1980s and its application to medicine, teaching, nursing, social work and for criminal justice professionals has become widespread.  However, despite the foundations of reflective practice being the same across the helping professions, its application can be very different depending on our professional culture.  What can we learn from other professions, as we go about maximising the value of reflective practice to our professional lives?  How can we make reflective practice work for us, in the context of our busy days?

This webinar is presented by Alexander Kemp.  Alexander is a qualified and registered social worker, and former senior leader of children’s social care services.  Alexander was an assistant director at Cafcass, the largest employer of social workers in the UK before being appointed as Her Majesty’s Inspector of children’s social care in England.  He now works across health services, in education and with social care professionals to support improvement.  Alexander holds a degree in social work and a master’s degree in public administration with distinction.  He has undertaken academic research into the value of reflective practice for busy professionals, trying hard to make a difference. Alexander is care-experienced.  He is a doctoral researcher at the University of York.

This webinar will support you to:

• Understand what reflective practice is (and is not)
• Compare and contrast the differences in the application of reflective practice across the helping professions, learning from how other colleagues with different areas of expertise make reflective practice work for them
• Begin to explore the benefits and potential limitations of reflective models
• Understand how to start (or re-start) engaging with reflective practice in your context