Is reflective writing an enigma?

Can preparing evidence for an electronic portfolio develop skills for reflective practice?

Abstract

Documenting reflective practice would be easier if practitioners were in agreement about the meaning of reflection for practice. Even though evidence exists to support the links between reflection, professional learning and reflective practice, agreement about how to effectively facilitate the reflective process for deeper levels of reflection is not yet established. The reflective writing of postgraduate teacher education students was scaffolded using a Three-Step Reflective Framework. Written reflections were prepared for an electronic design portfolio and assessed by the subject lecturer. All participants demonstrated three levels of reflection in their writing, namely, Descriptive, Explanatory and Supported. There was a degree of critical reflection although this was not directly scaffolded by the framework. All participants found the Reflective Framework useful for assisting them to write reflectively, and the majority intended to carry on using it to assist in constructing a professional portfolio.