Critical Reflection

I have to confess to rather regretful reservations about this point, on three grounds:

• The first concerns accuracy: reflection on its own does not lead automatically to "more inclusive, discriminating, permeable and integrative perspectives". In the real world it is just as likely to lead to self-justification, self-indulgence or self-pity. I am sure that this is not what Mezirow means, but his "more inclusive, discriminating, permeable and integrative perspectives" remain ill-defined. In the Kolb model, reflection is linked to Abstract Conceptualisation, and without being a slave to Kolb, it seems true that it needs to take place in the context of a cognitive framework, which may be empowering or disempowering (excuse these waffle words, used as shorthand here), positive or pathological. As the other papers in the 1990 collection imply, that framework has to be supplied by the teacher, mentor or  learning group.

• This leads on to the second reservation, which concerns the ethics of the whole process: Mezirow appeals to Habermas� notion of the ideal communicative act to legitimate his idea, but � from an old-fashioned liberal position � I�m not convinced. Lifton (1961) describes the process of thought reform ("brainwashing") as practised by the Chinese in the Korean War, and there are disconcerting overlaps. Pity, because I should like to believe it! (In my (probably uninformed) opinion, the notion of the "ideal communicative act" is undermined by its failure to take into account the issues of process. Please argue!)

• Third: for a politicised perspective, which this is�at least implicitly�it is excessively individualistic. Social institutions do not create equal opportunities and encourage people to fulfil their potential simply because they come to realise that potential is greater than they thought. It only makes a difference when people have the opportunities to change. Otherwise their critical reflection may simply lead to the conclusion that they are on a "hiding to nothing" and to learned helplessness.
• In this respect, Ecclestone and Hayes draw attention to what they call the "dangerous rise of therapeutic education"; in British schools (2008).

And there needs to be a real, rather than merely dismissive, response to Thomas Gray�s assertion that:

�When ignorance is bliss
�Tis folly to be wise�

from "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"

On the other hand: I taught this�without much conviction, I confess�a few years ago, and received a remarkable assignment from a student who taught, of all things, basic computer literacy. She wrote about middle-aged semi- and un-skilled people who attended her classes because they recognised the need to be computer literate for the present job market. But, she noted, what they really learned when they were there was that they could still learn. They were not stuck in the rut of no qualifications. Not many, but a significant few, took up the challenge of going on to other qualifications and higher aspirations. So it does happen�  (Thanks to Lorraine Belam)