Critical Reflections on Reflective Practice

Critical Reflections on Reflective Practice Stephen Brookfield Distinguished University Professor University of St. Thomas Minneapolis-St. Paul www.stephenbrookfield.com

Being Reflective • A premature ultimate – its invocation stops further analysis & questioning • In many mission/vision statements • Broad agreement on process – identifying & checking assumptions • Implementation changes depending on intellectual tradition most influential

Reflection On What? For What? • On Making Technique More Effective & Productive? • On Solving Organizational Problems in the Delivery of Services? Is this the “Instrumentalization of Reason” / “One Dimensional Thought”? • How Reflection is Conceived & Practiced Depends on the Intellectual Tradition One Works Within

Critically Reflective Traditions …. • ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY – logical fallacies, argument analysis – inductive, deductive, analogical, inferential • NATURAL SCIENCE – hypothetical-deductive method, principle of falsifiability • CRITICAL THEORY – uncovering power dynamics & ideological manipulation • PRAGMATISM – experimental pursuit of beautiful consequences (democracy)

Core Assumptions of Critical Theory • Society organized to make permanent inequity appear normal, a natural state of affairs • Perception of normality created & disseminated via dominant ideology • Point of theory is to illuminate as a prompt to action

What Does it Mean to Be Critically Reflective? Five Tasks Pursued Experimentally • Understand better how power operates – its dynamics, its ethical use & abuse in relationships, work & community • Detect ideological manipulation • Recognize & challenge hegemony • Be alert to how repressive tolerance neutralizes challenges to the system • Practice democracy

Understanding Power • • • • • • • •

Researching use of positional power Understanding team / client dynamics CRITICAL INCIDENT QUESTIONNAIRE Most engaged moment Most distanced moment Most helpful action Most puzzling action What surprised you most

IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATION • How ideology is embedded in microactions & everyday decisions … • Depression – patriarchy • Micro-aggressions: racial & gender • Political participation – “they’re all the same”, “everything’s fixed”, “mustn’t grumble”

Detecting Hegemony • Enthusiastic embrace of actions & beliefs that harm us & serve the interests of others ….

VOCATION • “Killing me softly” • PATRIARCHY • CAPITALISM – organizations that prosper do so because they are ‘fitter’, ‘leaner’, smarter

Repressive Tolerance (Marcuse) • Include enough challenge to the system to neutralize it – presenting an organizationally diverse public face • Diversifying curriculum as smorgasbord – mainstream always defines the norm • Ideology of democratic tolerance – flattening of discussion when all experiences & viewpoints are considered equally valid

PRACTICING DEMOCRACY • Decisions after inclusive conversation • Decision making processes represent interests of those most affected (Parecon – Albert) • Resources stewarded & used for the benefit of the widest number of people, the ‘common good’ (Bill Shankly) • Negotiation of shared interest – collective interest privileged over private interest

Resources • www.stephenbrookfield.com • www.the99ersband.com • The Power of Critical Theory (2004) Jossey-Bass/Open University Press • Learning as a Way of Leading (2008) (w/Stephen Preskill) Jossey-Bass/Wiley • Radicalizing Learning (2010) (w/ John Holst) JosseyBass/Wiley • Teaching for Critical Thinking (2012) Jossey-Bass/Wiley • Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults (2013) JosseyBass/Open University Press