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FrancoAngeli Journals

Articles

No. 2 (2025)

Reflexivity in education: A transformative practice for professional and personal development

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/erpoa2-2025oa20534
Submitted
luglio 1, 2025
Published
2026-10-23

Abstract

In current society, characterized by excessive immediacy and instinctually, reflective activity is lacking and most of the time is replaced by the support of digital technologies which pursues the objective of 'not making us waste too much time' on reflecting. On the one hand, if technology has greatly facilitated our daily lives, on the other it has prevented human beings from stopping to think and becoming aware of their actions. In the field of teaching and education, this is widely reflected in the learning style of students of all levels, preventing them from developing a fundamental skill: metacognition. The objective of this article is to explore how reflexivity has been a fundamental element in educational and training processes.

However, there remains the risk that reflexivity is given an exclusively functionalist role, oriented towards acquiring skills only for the world of work, alienating its essence centered around the construction of the awareness of the human being. Therefore, we need to investigate the real function of reflexivity and the need to preserve the emancipatory and educational dimension.

In this context, the academic debate has focused on the post-reflexive paradigm, which wants to rethink the function of reflexivity in the light of social transformations and onlife life. The article aims to analyse the challenges to preserve the natural mission of reflexivity.

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