Reflective Thinking in Social Work

Learning from student narratives

Mekada Julia Graham

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138779013
• eBook ISBN: 9781317675792
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Social Work

It is vital that social work students learn to integrate their personal and professional selves if they are to meet the challenges of social work in complex changing environments. This accessible text is designed to enable readers to explore and build on their existing skills and abilities, supporting them to become competent and self-aware reflective practitioners.

Reflective Thinking in Social Work uses stories told by a range of social work students to model reflective practice learning. Discussing issues such as identity, motivation to enter the social work profession and lived experiences in the journey into social work, the book brings together stories of hardship, privilege, families, hopes, interests and community activism from many diverse ethnic backgrounds. Each narrative is introduced by the author and ends with a commentary drawing out the key themes and exploring how the reader can use the narrative to enhance their own understanding and critical thinking, and to engage in transformative practice.

Framed by an in-depth discussion of available frameworks for reflective practice in different contexts and the importance of narratives in constructing identities, this is an invaluable text for social work students at both bachelor's and master's degree levels.

PART I

Narrative, reflection, personal stories and research

1

Introduction

Reflective practice learning in social work has taken center stage in recent years, applying various models for students to engage in reflections on and in practice across different contexts and situations. This interest in reflection is not only confined to the world of social work but rather is a key teaching and learning strategy in other practice disciplines including teaching, medicine, occupational therapy, nursing and adult education. Even though there is a lack of agreed upon definitions of reflective practice and how these activities might be researched, these strategies are deemed essential in developing knowledge for practice and professional life. Whereas much attention has been paid to these core practice developments, others have promoted the transformative qualities of reflective practice to craft a kind of knowing in action which examines the social, cultural and political contexts of learning and practice (Lyons, 2010).

The ‘reflective turn’ coined by Schön (1991) is not only driven by the importance of reflection in social work practice but also its intrinsic capacity for self-awareness and a sense of self in helping relationships. These threads of self-awareness weave an intersecting web of professional life-long learning often through writing ourselves into practice. Reflection has become an important part of learning to become a social worker, through various processes, which invite students and professionals to question their understandings and beliefs about how the world works, locating ourselves in context. This learning model is based upon our active involvement through a journey of discovery, problem solving and linking the realities of practice experience with creative action strategies (Cooper, 2006).

Developing skills and abilities through this reflective process is the first step to becoming a competent reflective practitioner. This is not an easy task in a demanding and busy world of social work practice, yet this is when we need to make increasing effort to be reflective using a ‘reflective space’ to think about expectations, priorities and managing pressures of work, education and best use of time (Clutterbuck, 2001). It is all very well to talk about reflection even in our professional lives when the hectic pace of day-to-day work leaves little opportunity to notice or find these spaces and we often stick to routines as a way of coping with heavy workloads. The journey towards being and doing reflective practice are often beset with bumps and setbacks along the way through social work education and beyond. The process involves personal growth through the development of emotional capacities, focus on self and lived experiences, openness to life’s possibilities and to be aware of our own biases and preferences.

Our personal histories and experience shape our thinking and assumptions that underlie our thoughts and actions. Questions come up about how our personal history and culture have impacted the way we interact with others; thinking about the ways in which all aspects of the human self and everyday environments affect our choices of modality in practice. Reflective practice prompts questions about what we know and why – in other words, how we come to know it. Being reflective requires us to examine our own meaning-making processes. What we see and understand in a situation is influenced by our ‘subjectivity’ including our embodiment – for example, gender, ethnicity, social location, age, sexual orientation and ability. As practitioners, we do not simply collect ‘facts’ in a neutral fashion about people and their ‘problems’; we are implicated in the work we are engaged in, constructing versions of cases and in this sense making knowledge about clients (Fook, 2012).

In writing the preface to Guided Reflection, Johns (2010: vii–viii), comments on the reflective turn and its movement into a narrative turn, ‘marking a distinction between representing lived experience as narrative to presenting it as performance … narrative is not primarily an intellectual inquiry pursuit. Rather, it is a genuine endeavour to become better at what we seek to do.’ These comments bring together reflection and narrative, weaving a pattern of knowing and self-inquiry. The concept of narrative is often equated interchangeably with stories and their structures as a way of transforming lived experiences into meaning. Polkinghorne (1988: 18) considers narrative as ‘a meaning structure that organizes events and human actions into a whole, thereby attributing significance to individual actions and events according to their effect on the whole.’ The stories we tell about our lives knit together with our evolving identities, embracing our lives in various ways. The past decades have witnessed a growing interest in all aspects of narrative with an increase in the number of conferences and seminars bringing together researchers from a range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Despite this interest, there is no consensus on a definition of narrative and in any case it seems no definition will fit all approaches to narrative existing in various places. Perhaps it is safe to say that there are many meanings attached to narrative depending upon its use in different disciplines and contexts.

The way this book is organized

There is no shortage of literature on reflection as a framework for students to engage in reflective learning covered in this book. However, what this book does offer is a range of perspectives and connections across social work, reflection, critical practice, narrative and personal story. Taking these themes on board, the book is organized into two distinct parts, with the first three chapters exploring reflective practice, social work, research and self-inquiry within the context of narrative. In Part II, Chapters 4 to 11 focus on student narratives which include personalized and detailed passages about identities, lived experiences often within the context of social justice, empowerment, journeys through and within social work education and child welfare.

In this Chapter I introduce my own story and insights from life experiences as a contribution to my pathway of reflection and self-inquiry. I also believe a story can be judged as valuable in its own right as a learning construct bringing academic ideas and narrative approaches to the world of social work practice. Many have advocated that our personal stories and lived experiences include elements of cultural and social narratives linking reflection with a deeper sense of self. Later in this chapter I describe a student exchange Skype project in which students in social work programs in London and Los Angeles shared different ideas and points of view about the nuts and bolts of social work practice in both localities. In addition, I have included excerpts from podcasts shared among students¹ about their backgrounds, identities and motivations to pursue a career in social work as resources for reflection and practice work. This outline gives a valuable context to the rest of the book.

In Chapter 2, I explore the nature of reflection, reflective practice and links with critical theory and practice. Just as there are many definitions surrounding notions of professionalism, this is the case for reflection and reflective practice. I draw on the work of a range of authors, including Fook and Schön, amongst others, to open up evolving debates about critical reflection and professional practice. This section continues with the interplay of reflection, critical theory and postmodern approaches and their influence on forms of social work practice. The final sections of the chapter include the changing dynamics of anti-discriminatory/oppressive models and their applications in a postmodern framework, as well as emotional aspects of reflection.

In Chapter 3, my interest moves to qualitative research where emerging developments have constructed approaches that embrace different media, many derived from the humanities. Narrative research has been referred to as a ‘field in the making’ since it invites attention to experiences that other research approaches are unable to reveal (Clough, 2002). With reference to authors in the field, this chapter presents a brief overview of qualitative research and social work, tracing emerging forms of narrative research. In many ways, narrative research has resonance with social work’s social justice ambitions because it involves stories from the ground up in collaboration with the researcher often working in tandem to ensure marginalized voices are heard. This research practice highlights lived experience in context, thereby opening up new lines of inquiry and possibilities. Forms of narrative inquiry pay attention to how we make sense of human experiences and learning that emerge from these experiences. I also look at auto-ethnography which allows researchers to write themselves into research using a participatory frame of reference. Through this experience, researchers find themselves in the middle of evolving stories together with becoming aware of their own learning about narrative. These self-reflection activities provide important forms of narrative offering a platform for developing skills of critique about one’s professional practice. With attention to everyday life, interactions can signify sites for the exercise of and indeed resistance to the power of dominant discourses. In all, this chapter briefly touches on the wide-range set of activities in narrative research and links with reflective practice and critical social work.

In Part II of the book, I introduce a collection of student narratives from around the world, including India, Sweden, England, Australia and here at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). Throughout Part I, I make reference to these narratives to encourage readers to delve into this part of the book, taking the first three chapters as the landscape and vista into the ways in which we experience the world as storytellers.

In Chapters 4–11, the narratives are loosely linked separately through the themes of identities, social justice, empowerment, child welfare and journeys through social work education. The narratives are not prescribed, they follow a tentative path, organized around this set of themes, some of which were outlined in my call for narratives and some influenced by their work in critical race studies, an anti-racist framework incorporated into a critical social work course. Each narrative is presented separately and represents a journey and reflective space where students consider their experiences. I encouraged students ‘to talk about how I felt’ and in this way bring to life the personal and social past in the present (Ellis, 1993: 720). The narratives open up a reflective space for readers to think about their own experiences in the field or through education to encourage dialogue and learning. Rather than taking the narratives apart, the purpose here is to think with and through stories as a unified whole (Herrmann and DiFate, 2014). Simply put, there are commonalities between experiences as well as layers of complexity located in various contexts. This process involved students being able to acknowledge the way their own values, assumptions and interpretations have influenced their construction of stories. One of the contributions of postmodern approaches is the encouragement of representations of ‘realities’ and the role of personal voice in writing about lived experiences. These narrative sources carve out forms of communication to create meaningful dialogue with readers. I do hope that these narratives are not only read by individuals but also are used to provoke useful discussions about motivations, values, purpose and commitments in classrooms and other settings. These stories can be particularly valuable in field and research seminars in initiating reflection, perhaps illuminating hidden avenues of thought and action. In thinking about these learning stories, we catch a glimpse of lived experiences in a particular time and context to mull over conversations about the meaning and significance of reflection connecting personal stories of self in places where developing reflective practice and self-study hold a central place. The final comments pick up themes of the book and return to questions about narrative, personal story, reflection and critical practice.

Writing this book

My motivation in writing this book emerged through my teaching and academic research as a faculty member in the Department of Social Work at CSUDH in Los Angeles. My experiences of teaching students over many years have brought me to this point with the intention of exploring the possibilities of critical social work and reflection, and perhaps more importantly through learning stories from student narratives. Most of my academic research has centered upon what can be loosely described as oppression studies through the frame of critical theory.

As I write this introduction, I have considered why a book about narratives? What is it about narratives that I am drawn to in this moment? I can think of two reasons that come to mind. First, histories of narrative as voice in telling of lived experiences continue to be pivotal in galvanizing social and political movements for civil and human rights. In many other ways I have always enjoyed reading about people’s lived experiences in both historical and contemporary fiction and non-fiction. I am attracted to these intellectual and fiction works and spend time reading about life as it is lived in different locations and social environments. Second, although social work and social welfare have been my main fields of inquiry, narrative is broad enough to engage across my interests in other disciplines. I want to extend my knowledge of narrative inquiry to unravel puzzles, unknowns and questions in this evolving field. What better way to start than write a book? In all this, I am, as are many others, interested in how people make sense of the world around them and connect meaning to their lives. As Bold (2012: 13) explains, ‘I believe that narratives of various kinds help people to construct and understand their social world.’ It is through narratives that social and cultural constructs are communicated as a means of reality giving importance to subjective meaning and emotion. I have a sense of wanting to know more about how things work in the social world and particularly entrenched social divisions impacting individuals and families, their life chances and daily lives.

In this opening chapter I want to set the scene and context, so to speak, for this project on reflective thinking and student narratives. Initially, as I was sketching out the chapters of this book, I noticed that in this writing, the book moved along in different directions than I envisaged. Some of the shifts in direction came about in wanting to write myself into the text, and steering it along with this in mind I found to be challenging because in many ways this work is also about my own life story and journey of self-inquiry. In writing and reflecting about my own story I was struck by its links with prior experiences and emotions, some of which steered reflections about what I should leave out and what would be ‘okay’ in the book for everyone to see. My first step into the ‘personal’ in public writing pushed me to reflect upon my story as a speaking of experience and telling of a story; a narrative of oneself that could be placed alongside other narratives (Healy and Leonard, 2000). Of course, experiences are not lived or necessarily reflected upon in an orderly fashion with neat beginnings and endings; they are a series of evolving, complex, contradictory narratives. The story is simply a glimpse into a series of unfolding experiences (Johns, 2010).

The process of accessing experiences can be a daunting task sitting at a computer waiting for experiences to appear to tell a story, recapturing an event in the moment, bringing all the senses to bear through the writing. It was almost as if I needed the security of a template to guide me and offer some kind of structure – a safer way, a more familiar way I am used to in my academic writing. In any case, while an academic format is not entirely discounted, I wanted to allow for a personal style, one which is more in tune with narrative. The experience of letting the words flow into their own creation was shrouded in contradictory feelings like dipping your toe into uncharted waters as the personal is written into the text. Although I wanted to be present in this project, I had to reassure myself that people tell their stories as best they can and in this postmodern era knowledge is diverse with new forms of research and understanding of the social world. In writing about my own experiences and placing them into stories, this telling is part of a process of revealing myself to myself as I continue to dialogue with self-inquiry in tentative ways. There were many stops and starts along the way as well as pauses before moving back on track.

Although I have not been able to develop all the areas as I would have liked, it is apparent to me through the process of writing this book that I have a clearer understanding of my own personal story through connections with education as a transformative experience; structural forces and relations of power; critical reflection, narrative in a wider cultural sense and student narratives. In writing this book, I hope to have achieved a style that the readers, albeit students in social work, human services, practitioners or social work educators, will find useful and accessible. This book includes references to work in other fields besides social work. I wanted to show wider connections with studies of changing experiences and different outlooks of individuals in their daily lives as well as glean insights from a range of sources. As I moved along, writing the chapters, I became more aware of developments in other disciplines and their relevance to this book project.

During my years of working with students, I have found that students often choose to study social work coupled with notions about wanting to help others. This desire to help others is sometimes framed by simplistic ideas about social justice and how the world can be changed for the better. On the surface, understanding students’ motivations seems a reasonable way to indicate how they will approach this work. Yet it is a more complicated story involving not only this choice of career but also steeped in personal and social contexts as well a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• PART I: Narrative, reflection, personal stories and research
• PART II: Student narratives
• Index