Reflection of Placement

The rationale of this assignment is to discuss and critically appraise my own reflective practice developed within the MSc programme of study. Using reflective practice, in this assignment I demonstrate how I have experienced the swampy low lands of my social work practice as envisaged by Schon (1983:54). I have chosen to use some elements of Schon's (1983) theory of reflection and Fook and Gadner's (2007) critical social theory to elucidate my understanding and learning process. Critical social theory focuses on power domination in both personal and structural arena; therefore it has enabled me to understand the connection between the individual and society (Fook and Gadner 2007). It is significant to highlight that in agreeing with Schon (1983) ,and Yelloly & Henkel (1995:8) I have attempted to unpack elements of reflective practice in relation to learning Log 20 ( appended) basing on Yelloly and Henkel's (1995) notion that social work is a multifaceted profession. Fook and Gardner, (2007) further elaborate that contemporary social work deals with complex issues, uncertainty and risks hence the need to have practitioners that are reflective and responsive to various situations. Personally, I think that social work is a challenging profession by virtue of being constantly subject to societal interpretation which is highly influenced by media perspectives. Moreover, the curriculum and standards set by NOS, GSCC and training in Universities does not prescribe answers to peoples issues, but instead I found more gaps and inconsistencies being exposed as reflected in the case study below.
I met up with VB in her ward following a pre-arranged meeting. VB had actually forgotten that we were meeting up, on that day, so she was preparing to go out to have a cigarette, and had indicated to me that she was not in a good mood. I assured her I was going to wait till she was ready and let her have her cigarette. In coming back, we found a quiet room to go through the national...