Looking for What it's Really Like: phenomenology in reflective practice

ABSTRACT

Reflective processes in a reflective practice cycle tend to begin with accounts of significant incidents in a practitioner's activities which are then appraised, interrogated and assessed in a variety of ways depending on the agenda of the inquirer. This paper suggests that instrumental and critical accounts of practice may be enriched by an expressive approach which seeks to portray rather than analyse the activities that make up professional practice. Using an expressive approach, significant events can be explored as experiences of the practitioner and their “livedness” and texture made apparent. The foundations of the expressive approach are shown to be two linked forms of phenomenological inquiry, the empathetic and the intuiting. When the expressive approach is applied to reflective practice, it is seen to make an enriching contribution particularly, but not exclusively, to its initial describing phase and through it to the whole reflective cycle.