Reflective practice and learning from mistakes in social work

229 Pages·2017·5.278 MB·English

by  Sicora, Alessandro

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ISBN 978-1-4473-2522-2 c
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www.policypress.co.uk
@policypress PolicyPress 9 781447325222
Sicora-ReflectivePractice-Cover.indd 1 20/01/2017 10:29
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE AND
LEARNING FROM MISTAKES IN
SOCIAL WORK
Alessandro Sicora
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by
Policy Press North American office:
University of Bristol Policy Press
1-9 Old Park Hill c/o The University of Chicago Press
Bristol BS2 8BB 1427 East 60th Street
UK Chicago, IL 60637, USA
t: [phone] t: [phone]
e: [email protected] f: [phone]
www.policypress.co.uk e:[email protected]
www.press.uchicago.edu

© Policy Press 2017
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN 978-1-4473-2522-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4473-2523-9 (ePub)
ISBN 978-1-4473-2524-6 (Kindle)
The right of Alessandro Sicora to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.
All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise without the prior permission of Policy Press.
The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the editors
and contributors and not of The University of Bristol or Policy Press. The University of Bristol
and Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any
material published in this publication.
Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race,
disability, age and sexuality.
Cover design by Andrew Corbett
Front cover: image kindly supplied by Andrew Corbett
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
Policy Press uses environmentally responsible print partners
To my mother and my father
To the courageous social workers who endeavour to look at
their vulnerabilities and mistakes because they know this is the
only way to learn and also help others
iii

Contents
List of figures and tables vii
Notes on the author and contributor ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
One The never-ending cycle of reflective practice 7
Learning outcomes 7
Introduction 7
Voices on reflectivity and reflective practice 8
Experience–reflection–action: reflective practice 16
and associated concepts
Reflection as an exploration: diving deeper or 20
walking wider?
Reflection and decision making 24
Intuition and emotions vs reasoning? 32
Chapter summary 41
Two What is a mistake in social work? 43
Learning outcomes 43
Introduction 43
Errors and other unpleasant events 45
Heuristics, shortcuts and errors 50
The changing nature of error 59
In the jungle of errors in social work: 67
before, during and after
Chapter summary 75
v
Reflective practice and learning from mistakes in social work
Three Risks, responsibilities and opportunities 77
from mistakes in social work
Learning outcomes 77
Introduction 77
Why do social workers ‘need’ mistakes? 79
The dark side of the ‘planet mistake’ 87
Codes of ethics and errors in social work: 94
a global picture
Ethical and professional responsibilities in the UK 101
(by Michael Preston-Shoot)
Chapter summary 112
Four Questions and narratives: basic tools for 113
enhancing learning from professional mistakes
Learning outcomes 113
Introduction 113
The art of asking questions 115
Reflective frameworks 125
Reflective writing 144
Reflective journal to learn how to navigate 152
through the calms and storms of professional practice
Metaphors, art and imagination as catalyst 156
for reflection
Chapter summary 163
Five Feedback and other tools for learning together 165
from mistakes in organisations
Learning outcomes 165
Introduction 165
What do you do when (you think) your 167
colleague is wrong?
Giving and receiving feedback assertively 173
Reflection in groups 177
Reflective organisations and mistakes 179
Chapter summary 186
Conclusion: The start of a never-ending process 189
References 193
Index 207
vi
List of figures and tables
Figures
1.1 A circumplex model of affect: direct circular 41
scaling coordinates for 28 affect words
3.1 Learning and damage from mistakes 90
3.2 Effect of reflecting on mistakes 90
4.1 Structure of Gibbs’ reflective cycle 132
4.2 Mind map of chapter four 162
5.1 Reason’s Swiss Cheese Model 181
Tables
1.1 Kahneman’s two systems model 35
2.1 Three positions on failures 49
2.2 Decisions on an only-child sole-custody case 51
2.3 Heuristics and biases 54
2.4 Different perspectives on mistakes: 66
reflective questions
3.1 Key questions for auditing decisions 103
4.1 Stages towards asking critical questions 123
4.2 Deficit-based and strength-based questions 124
4.3 Questions to prompt reflection and reflexivity 129
4.4 Practical and emancipatory reflection – 136
comparative table
4.5 Reflective framework on errors and failures – 143
synthesis of a case study
4.6 Reflective writing using the Gibbs’ reflective cycle 151
with a limited number of words
4.7 Examples of extremely concise reflective writings 152
(titles and SMS)
4.8 Purposes of keeping reflective journals 154
vii
Reflective practice and learning from mistakes in social work
5.1 From blame to appreciation 172
5.2 Grid to evaluate ‘How reflective is my 183
organisation?’
5.3 Framework to evaluate practices or procedures 185
that seem to have lost their original functionality
viii
Notes on the author and contributor
Alessandro Sicora is social worker and Lecturer at the
University of Calabria, Italy, where he teaches Methods and
Techniques of Social Work. He also teaches Theory of Social
Work at the University Ca’Foscari in Venice, Italy. He has a
BA in Social Work, an MA in Political Sciences and a PhD in
Sociology, Social Work and Education Sciences. In the period
1990–2007 he was director of a number of small charities in Italy.
He is a Marie Curie Fellow. From 2011 to 2015 he was a member
of the Executive Committee of EASSW (European Association
of Schools of Social Work). Currently he is President of the
Italian Society of Social Work (SocISS).
His main research interests include: methods of social work,
reflexive practice, social policy. He has published books and
articles on these topics.
Michael Preston-Shoot, who wrote section four of chapter
three of this book, is Emeritus Professor of Social Work and
Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at
the University of Bedfordshire, England. He is a Fellow of the
Academy of Social Sciences. He was Chair of the Joint University
Council Social Work Education Committee between 2005 and
2009. He was Editor of Social Work Education between 1993
and 2006 and Managing Editor of the European Journal of Social
Work between 2003 and 2007. He is one of the Founding Editors
of the journal Ethics and Social Welfare. He holds a National
Teaching Fellowship awarded by the Higher Education Academy,
of which he is now a senior Fellow.
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