Selvrefleksion som uddannelsesgreb – en kritisk diskussion

Abstract

Unreflective motivation can be a disruptive influence on students’ scientific inquiries, but how can we, as supervisors, intervene in these private matters in a professional and ethical way? In the article it is illustrated how easily students can act on behalf of unreflective motives during project work and other scientific inquiries. According to existential phenom- enology, we always make use of ourselves and of our lifeworld during scientific inquiries, and our lifeworld both acts as a basis for this endeavour, as well as a possible derailment of it. Another dimension further highlights the need of an examination of students’ potentially unreflective motives: students with human science subjects such as psychology, sociology etc. are often allured to subjects that contain aspects of what they are still to understand as active themes in their own lives. This is the source of wondering, and it ignites an involvement that is crucial to the students’ embodiment of a professional-academic habitus. As a means to support this process of embodiment and learning supervisors must reflect psychologically on their students’ motives and academic problems. This can be viewed as an act of surveillance of students’ behaviour and expressions at levels that are private and often unknown to the student herself. This practice of surveillance must therefore be subject to a critical examination and discussion, disclosing pitfalls and possible avenues. Despite these reservations, the self-reflective awareness of the supervisor is an important educational grip to support students’ embodiment of self-reflection in their own professional and academic practice. Self-reflection is important, if we are to prepare our students to reflect and act professionally and scientifically in their future line of work.