Modes of Reflection: Is it possible to use both individual and collective reflection to reconcile the ‘three‐party knowledge interests’ in workplace learning?

The European Commission’s 2003 Memorandum of Lifelong Learning recognises the importance of experiential learning in its emphasis on APEL [Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning] both in valuing individual learning that takes place outside the university and in raising individual self-confidence (Pouget and Osborne, 2004, 46). This focus on the importance of APEL to the individual is echoed in the concept of the reflective practitioner, which has been widely adopted across university programmes for professionals. Here, reflection focuses on the development of individual practice, with the (often implicit) assumption that more effective professional practice will enhance performance in the workplace, and thereby provide an indirect benefit to the employer. Recently, drawing on the concept of reflection but extending it beyond the individual to the group, Boud, Cressey and Docherty have developed the concept of ‘productive reflection at work’. This collective approach to reflection ‘brings changes in work practice to enhance productivity together with changes to enhance personal engagement and meaning in work’ (2006, 5). Moving away from the individual focus which has been dominant in the discourse relating to reflection, productive reflection ‘places reflection of groups in organizations as central’ (2006, 6). Such an approach appears to offer an avenue whereby the process of reflection, through being used individually and collectively, could reconcile the needs of the learner, their employer and the university, in that it could develop the learner, enhance the effectiveness of the organisation and meet the requirements of higher education. This article considers whether this can be the case, and whether the forms of individual reflection and productive reflection are complementary or conflicting. (A brief glossary of terms is given at the end of the article.) Reflection, productive reflection, collective reflection, knowledge interests, experiential learning The value and importance of experiential learning as an element of lifelong learning has been recognised both nationally and internationally. As Pouget and Osborne