Reflective practice: origins and interpretations

Abstract

The idea of reflection is central to the theory and practice of learning – especially learning which is grounded in past or current experience. This paper proposes a working definition of reflection and reviews its origins and recent developments. The author also provides an account of ‘critical reflection’, including its rationale and characteristics, and argues for its particular suitability in the practice of action learning.

Keywords:

• reflection
• experiential learning
• critical reflection

Notes

The ideas in this paper have been developed through recent collaborations with Russ Vince.

See Reynolds (1998) for a more detailed discussion of this framework, which is based on the ideas of Jurgen Habermas and others.

See Reynolds (1999) for more on this aspect of critical reflection.