Abstract
Critical reflection in social work is explicitly taught as an on going professional skill in one of the fourth year units. Students are encouraged to select an event or incident from their first field placement to reflect on from a number of different theoretical perspectives, including poststructrualism (Fook 2001; 2002). In class students present their selected incident, reflect on how they have made sense of it and in dialogue with other students explore commonly held assumptions (Ramsden 1992). This process is often "transformative in that learners become aware and critical of their own and other's assumptions" (Mezirow 1997, p. 10). These classes reflect Bell Hook's (1989) approach to teaching, where she describes the focus as "staff and students working together to explore the real world". By using various theoretical lenses and many specific examples drawn from students' "lived experience", students practise how to recognise "frames of reference and using their imagination to redefine problems from a different perspective" (Mezirow 1997, p. 10). Their learning is contextual, invites peer collaboration and develops "autonomous thinking through challenging points of view and habitual ways of thinking" (Mezirow 1997, p. 5; Lynch 2005). In this paper we will illustrate how this approach facilitates students' active engagement in learning.