Drawing on the human service professions, Mary Issitt applies a feminist critique to developing professional capability in work settings. While there are parallels between feminist and reflective practice approaches to professionalism, particularly through their rejection of positivist models of practice and development, there has been limited dialogue between them. A feminist reflective practice model is proposed, which highlights the need to be aware of power relationships and political dimensions in professional practice. Although reflective practitioner and feminist approaches are intrinsically concerned with competent practice, the current preoccupation in the UK with a model of competence purporting to reflect 'objective' task performance is a cause for concern: as well as being oversimplistic, it serves as a measure of social control that reinforces existing power relations and gender inequalities. The chapter concludes by proposing that an integrated model of learning is needed, which goes beyond individualized, atomistic conceptions of competence and enables practitioners to develop the criticality and creativity central to feminist reflective practice. © Individual authors 1999.
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