Читать книгу Becoming a Reflective Practitioner - Группа авторов - Страница 22

Mezirow viewed reflection as a process leading to emancipatory action. He posited a depth of reflection through seven levels of reflectivity spanning from consciousness, the way we might think about something, to critical consciousness where we pay attention and scrutinise our thinking processes. Thinking is inherently problematic. Hence our thinking is a focus for reflection. Hence I need to think differently to perceive the situation differently, and in doing so, to unearth those assumptions that govern thinking. If reflection is viewed merely as problem solving, and we used the same thinking to solve the problem that caused the problem, then we wouldn’t get very far. Our solutions would quickly break down. Mezirow (1981, p. 6) conceptualised the outcome of reflection as perspective transformation:

The process of becoming critically aware of how and why the structure of psycho‐cultural assumptions has come to constrain the way we see ourselves and our relationships, reconstituting this structure to permit a more inclusive and discriminating integration of experience and acting upon these new understandings.

Mezirow’s focus on understanding assumptions takes reflection into what is generally regarded as a ‘critical’ domain. The focus on emancipatory action is to rewrite one’s own and collective assumptions to govern a more satisfactory state of affairs, however, that might be framed. Not easy stuff for the humble practitioner to grasp as Smith (2011, p. 212) acknowledges:

Despite widespread and long standing commitment to the notion of critical reflection across the health and social care professions, it can be difficult to assimilate into teaching because the language is complex, and the same terminology is used in different ways in different contexts so carries different nuances.