Informal education methods with children, young people and adults have been enriched by the concept of ‘reflective practice’. This has originated within learning theory applied to school teaching and from a branch of behavioural psychology in the US and Germany. It has never fitted easily with youth work, play work, community work or adult education in Britain in which more socially aware traditions of education technique have developed. Nevertheless it has been a useful tool in deepening critical, often peer-assessed ways of working. It has also been of assistance in developing progressive supervision and teaching techniques and it has been important in providing self-defined terms of assessment and supervision.

Simple reflective practice has also had a positive role as being the possession of the professional practitioner, a mark of their professionally self-determined skills and autonomy. It has therefore provided a useful foil against the array of what I consider neoliberal, managerial weapons, such as targets, monitoring, evaluation and job evaluation. It represents a mode of thought that only the skilled practitioner can apply. I believe that youth workers have to go through so many forms of external assessments that they feel ‘assessinated’. Reflection, coupled with analysis and enriching practice, is about taking back control.

Creation

In manual trades the concept is as old as the pyramids, if not older. The idea that in any process of construction or development the creator constantly reflects on the nature and form and functionality of their product is essential. It provides a constant check against faults and puts the creators more in charge of the process of creation.

However, it has had a purely empirical side to it. Reflecting theoretically on practice in social education processes often limits reflection to the immediacy of the practice itself, or to the immediate impact of that practice on the groups and individuals concerned.