explain the use of critical thinking in social work by use of relevant illustrations

Home » PCF 6: Critical Reflection & Analysis

PCF 6: Critical Reflection & Analysis

CRITICAL REFLECTION AND ANALYSIS – Apply critical reflection and analysis to inform and provide a rationale for professional decision-making.

Social workers critically reflect on their practice, use analysis, apply professional judgement and reasoned discernment. We identify, evaluate and integrate multiple sources of knowledge and evidence. We continuously evaluate our impact and benefit to service users. We use supervision and other support to reflect on our work and sustain our practice and wellbeing. We apply our critical reflective skills to the context and conditions under which we practise. Our reflection enables us to challenge ourselves and others, and maintain our professional curiosity, creativity and self-awareness.

More tools coming soon…

PCF 6: Tool 2 – Cake model for reflecting on an intervention/incident

PCF 6: Tool 3 – Suggested Critical Incident prompts

PCF 6: Tool 5 – Knowns / Unknowns exercise

PCF 6: Tool 6 – Template for Critical Incident Analysis

PCF 6: Tool 8 – Personal Reflective Model

About Our Partnership
The Teaching Partnership Team
People with Lived Experience
The Teaching Consultants
Upcoming Training and Events
Step Up to Social Work
Social Work FAQs
About Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Accredited CPD courses
CPD Frameworks and Training Opportunities
SWE video: How to…Record continuing professional development (CPD)
Professional Standards
External Publications
Publications about Teaching Partnerships
Newsletters
Recordings of Online Events
Interview Tips
Practice Education in our TP
Practice Education Resources
PCF Toolkit
Practice Education Workshops
Practice Education Updates
Support for me
Support for my team
Wellbeing Articles
Share Point
Anti-Racism
Teaching Partnership Equality Statement

Student selection

Ensure the highest calibre of social work students with the attributes, competencies and passion needed to thrive in the profession are recruited to our academic programmes.

Curriculum development

Develop a curriculum that aligns with local need and is grounded not only in research and the CSWs’ KSS, but also in practice.

Readiness for practice

Give students the experience and support they need to ensure they are ready to practice within our region as Newly Qualified Social Workers.

Academics in practice

Ensure practice across our region is consistently informed by theory and research and that academics’ teaching is equally informed by practice.

Regional progression and development

Create regional progression pathways and CPD opportunities capable of attracting and retaining the best and brightest social workers in the UK.

Future workforce

Better understand our regional labour market to enable us to develop a robust plan to meet our partnership’s current and future workforce demands.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

We're Hiring!
Help Center

Download Free PDF

Thinking Like a Social Worker: Examining the Meaning of Critical Thinking in Social Work

Critical thinking is frequently used to describe how social workers ought to reason. But how well has this concept helped us to develop a normative description of what it means to think like a social worker? This critical review mines the literature on critical thinking for insight into the kinds of thinking social work scholars consider important. Analysis indicates that critical thinking in social work is generally treated as a form of practical reasoning. Further, epistemological disagreements divide 2 distinct proposals for how practical reasoning in social work should proceed. Although these disagreements have received little attention in the literature, they have important implications for social work practice.