Reflectivity, reflexivity and situated reflective practice

This paper enters the debate and discussion on the nature of reflective practice. During a study of professional training within a major corporation it became clear that standard references to individual trainers' acts of reflection were only partially successful in describing the data, there was a gap in ways reflection explored interactions within the corporation's systems and organisation. For this we have turned to social theories of structuration and reflexivity. In particular, we move within Giddens's (1984) theory of structuration, which sees social life as an interplay of agency and structure. Our interest lies in the reflective practice of professionals within their ‘field of professionalism', and the emergence of a form of personal reflection we call ‘Situated Reflective Practice' (SRP). We propose Giddens' structuration theory as one ‘lens' through which to view these reflective processes.