Career & Wellbeing

Reflective Practice for Social Workers: A Complete Guide

January 2025•12 min read

What is Reflective Practice?

Reflective practice is the process of thinking critically about your work—what you did, why you did it, what happened, and what you might do differently. It's a core professional requirement for social workers and essential for continuing development.

Donald Schön distinguished between reflection-in-action (thinking while doing) and reflection-on-action (thinking after the event). Both are important in social work.

Why Reflection Matters

Professional Development

  • Helps you learn from experience
  • Develops self-awareness and insight
  • Improves decision-making
  • Strengthens professional identity

Better Practice

  • Helps identify what works and what doesn't
  • Supports evidence-based practice
  • Reduces repeated mistakes
  • Improves outcomes for service users

Wellbeing

  • Helps process difficult experiences
  • Reduces emotional burden
  • Supports resilience
  • Prevents burnout

HCPC requirement: Reflective practice is embedded in the Standards of Proficiency for Social Workers. You must be able to reflect on and review your practice.

Models of Reflection

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

A widely used model with six stages:

  1. Description: What happened?
  2. Feelings: What were you thinking and feeling?
  3. Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience?
  4. Analysis: What sense can you make of the situation?
  5. Conclusion: What else could you have done?
  6. Action plan: If it arose again, what would you do?

Kolb's Learning Cycle

  • Concrete experience
  • Reflective observation
  • Abstract conceptualisation
  • Active experimentation

Brookfield's Lenses

Critical reflection through four lenses:

  • Your own perspective
  • Service users' perspectives
  • Colleagues' perspectives
  • Theoretical perspectives

Practical Reflection Techniques

Reflective Writing

  • Keep a reflective journal
  • Write freely without self-censorship
  • Be honest about feelings and doubts
  • Return to entries to track your development

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What was I trying to achieve?
  • What was the impact of my actions?
  • What assumptions was I making?
  • What might the service user's perspective be?
  • What theory or research is relevant here?
  • What would I do differently next time?

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Peer Discussion

  • Discuss cases with colleagues
  • Seek different perspectives
  • Challenge each other's thinking
  • Learn from others' experiences

Reflective Supervision

Good supervision includes reflective elements:

  • Space to think aloud about cases
  • Exploration of feelings and responses
  • Questioning that promotes insight
  • Connection between practice and theory
  • Support for professional development

Getting the Most from Supervision

  • Come prepared with cases to discuss
  • Be honest about difficulties
  • Ask for reflective space, not just task management
  • Be open to challenge

Critical Reflection

Critical reflection goes beyond surface-level thinking to examine:

  • Power dynamics in your practice
  • Cultural and social influences
  • Organisational and political contexts
  • Your own values, biases, and assumptions

Asking Critical Questions

  • Whose interests are being served?
  • What power imbalances are present?
  • How might my background affect my perspective?
  • What systemic factors are at play?

Common Barriers to Reflection

Time Pressure

Busy caseloads leave little time for reflection. But even brief moments of reflection are valuable.

Defensive Responses

It can be uncomfortable to examine our mistakes or assumptions. Creating a non-judgemental space helps.

Superficial Reflection

Simply describing what happened isn't reflection. Push yourself to analyse and evaluate.

Documenting Reflection

For CPD and registration purposes, document your reflection:

  • What prompted the reflection
  • What you learned
  • How it will change your practice
  • Links to professional standards or knowledge areas

Reflection and CPD

Reflection is central to continuing professional development:

  • Identify learning needs through reflection
  • Reflect on training and learning experiences
  • Apply learning to practice through reflective planning
  • Evidence your development for re-registration

Conclusion

Reflective practice is more than a professional requirement—it's a tool for becoming a better social worker. By regularly examining your practice, assumptions, and feelings, you develop insight, improve your work with service users, and support your own wellbeing. Make reflection a habit, not an afterthought.