An analysis of professional practice as a means to enhance one’s skills: Theoretical basis, actual process, and associated limitations
With the advent of skill-based approaches to training health professionals, trainers have been encouraged to make use of a methodology which analyzes actual practice. This paper’s main objective is to take a deeper look, from a theoretical perspective, at the process of analyzing professional practice. This particular training method, which has been in use for a considerable amount of time in certain professional circles, has two “historical” sources: Balint Groups and Schön’s Reflective Practice. I intend to concentrate on the latter. This involves a group of peers working with a facilitator, whose objective is to consider the various work contexts associated with the participants. As a result, they involve a “hindsight approach,” which allows participants to understand real work situations, the way in which practitioners have carried out a contextual analysis, how this has been interpreted, and the strategies which have been put in place. What process do these approaches enable as regards developing professional skills? How does this evaluation of practice challenge knowledge, experience, and representations? Finally, if this approach indeed facilitates a change in practice, what are the constraints?