The concept of critical reflection: promises and contradictions

In the world of professional education today we see frequent calls for practitioners to be critically reflective. This conflating of the terms ‘reflection’ and ‘critical reflection’ implies that adding the qualifier ‘critical’ somehow makes the kind of reflection happening deeper and more profound. I contend that reflection is not, by definition, critical. It is quite possible to practise reflectively while focusing solely on the nuts and bolts...