Reflection as empowerment?

Reflective practice, as an ideal model, is generally espoused as a developmental process to empower practitioners to achieve and sustain effective practice. Yet when reflective practice is accommodated into the real world of everyday practice can this ideal itself be realised? Or will reflective practice be accommodated within existing norms whereby it becomes another technology of surveillance? The paper draws on dialogue taken from a guided reflection session to consider whether reflection can be empowering and to consider those factors which limit this potential.