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Contribution short abstract:

This paper shares critical incidents identified by development professionals - vignettes which coalesce around reflexive themes of professional identity, uncertainty, humility, power, vulnerability and trust; the assumptions that underpin them, and the learning and shifts in practice they generate.

Contribution long abstract:

Against a backdrop of ‘Aidnography’ (Gould 2004), this study draws on Fook and Gardner’s model of Critical Reflection (2007) to explore the reflexivity of development professionals, using the mechanism of critical incidents as an entry point. A critical incident is defined as “any significant event that leaves the participant to feel puzzled or unclear about the incident and the outcome” (Hickson 2011.) The study explores the extent to which development professionals use Situated Reflective Practice (Malthouse et al 2014 ) to scaffold their professional identity, inform the evolution of practice and contain the uncertainty inherent within complex unstable environments in which they work.

In the context of extreme power dynamics of ‘Aid’ relationships, the link between self-awareness and ethics (Sultana 2007) requires development professionals to transcend the reflective to the reflexive and ensure that learning generated from critical incidents informs their practice, with professional reflexivity a moral question of ethical competence (Ulrich 2000.)

The presentation will identify reflexive themes or ‘learning edges’ (Amulya 2004) through the sharing of vignettes based on critical incidents identified by development professionals. The vignettes coalesce around themes of professional identity, uncertainty, humility, power, vulnerability and trust and the study unpicks the assumptions, beliefs or attitudes underpinning these critical incidents and the extent to which reflection leads to professional learning and changes in thinking or practice.