Critical Reflection: Generating Theory from Practice : the Graduating Social Work Student Experience

Educating students for professional practice is both complex and challenging. Striking the right balance between 'theory and practice' and 'thinking and doing' remains a cornerstone of effective teaching and learning. In the last two decades, social work education has drawn from critical perspectives based on understandings of power imbalances that perpetuate inequalities in social structures and relationships. These perspectives go to the heart of social work practice in the contemporary context where critical reflection is recognized as a useful, meaningful approach used by practitioners to examine aspects of their practice and redevelop practice theory.Giving a voice to the student experience, this edited collection fills a gap in the literature about the student experience of critical reflection as a tool for learning and practice. The papers have been written by final year social work students and demonstrate the application of a critical framework to incidents selected from their field education placements. This has resulted in knowledge building and personalized meaning for students in transition to becoming new graduate social workers.The collection has relevance to social work students, educators and other human service professions where critical thinking is a fundamental part of education for practice.