'It definitely should… if you had kind of an ideal service'

Abstract

It has been suggested that reflective practice is a fundamentally ethical process (Bolton, 2014). Intuitively, this statement seems convincing. However, the author was interested in exploring this issue empirically in the context of the Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) identity. Data was gathered during focus groups with SLTs and also during one to one interviews with SLTs and speech and language therapy educators. During these focus groups and interviews, participants were facilitated in reflecting on some of their professional (i.e. clinical and educational) practices. Transcripts were then analysed, focusing in particular on modality (Palmer, 2001; Rocci, 2009) and footing (Goffman, 1981), with a view to exploring both reflection and ethics in relation to SLT identity. Ethical talk was found to be embedded within the reflective discourse studied. Analysis uncovered ethical facets of institutional identities emergent during the reflective talk of SLTs and educators. Reflection, as a discursive activity, is a complex and multi-layered process. While reflecting on their professional practice members of the speech and language therapy community also ‘do’ identity work. This analysis suggests that ethical facets of professional identity are, in part, constructed and maintained vis-à-vis reflective talk. The potential for reflection to be used as a tool for supporting healthcare professionals, such as SLTs, to nurture ethical identities deserves further investigation. The importance of infusing ethics into everyday clinical thinking and action is also discussed.