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The purpose of this paper is to identify the main problems in assessing reflective learning and to seek ways of tackling them. Lessons are sought from HE’s long engagement with critical thinking that can be transferred to reflective learning. A solution to the problems is offered that is based on a questioning approach to reflective learning. In so doing, the paper explores the nature of reflective learning and advances the idea that the distinction between “surface” and “deep” learning can be generalised to the domain of reflective learning. It concludes with some implications for the development of reflective learning.

This chapter explores the benefits of reflective practice in learning environments and discusses the conditions that can impede and facilitate reflection for teachers and teaching assistants. Various strategies and tools to support teaching teams to reflect collaboratively are discussed and recommendations about how to introduce reflective practice are outlined.

This chapter charts the recent evolution of research focused on reflective supervision provided to practitioners delivering services to young children and their families through early intervention programs. The authors explore research focused on defining reflective supervision, identifying five essential elements or “active ingredients” of reflective supervision as a professional development model and demonstrating the impact on practitioners. The impact studies described in this chapter have produced empirical data demonstrating an increase in reflective supervision behaviors as a result of participation. In addition, the studies provide qualitative accounts of practitioners’ experiences, conveying positive effects on intervention practice and reduction of practitioner job stress.

Library administration is a balancing act: leading and managing the library and its employees while simultaneously responding to initiatives and demands of institutional leaders and/or trustees. This chapter provides an overview of emotional self-regulation, its importance to library administrators, and the roles that intentional reflective practice and mindfulness play in adaptive emotional self-regulation. There were few articles exploring the impact of intentional reflective practice or mindfulness in libraries, particularly with respect to emotional self-regulation. Much of the reviewed literature was from other disciplines; however, there was much to be applied to library administrators. There are a variety of techniques for intentional reflective practice that library administrators can use to improve emotional self-regulation (as well as improve other aspects of performance). There are fewer techniques to increase mindfulness, though there is stronger evidence of the benefits of mindfulness meditation on emotional self-regulation. This chapter is the first review applying intentional reflective practice and mindfulness on the emotional self-regulation of library administrators.

Since the publication of Venkatraman and Grant's (1986) article two decades ago, considerably more attention has been directed at establishing the validity of constructs in the strategy literature. However, recent developments in measurement theory indicate that strategy researchers need to pay additional attention to whether their constructs should be modeled as having formative or reflective indicators. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to highlight the differences between formative and reflective indicator measurement models, and discuss the potential role of formative measurement models in strategy research. First, we systematically review the literature on construct measurement model specification. Second, we assess the extent of measurement model misspecification in the recent strategy literature. Our assessment of 257 constructs in the contemporary strategy literature suggests that many important strategy constructs are more appropriately modeled as having formative indicators than as having reflective indicators. Based on this review, we identify some common errors leading to measurement model misspecification in the strategy domain. Finally, we discuss some implications of our analyses for scholars in the strategic management field.

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the reflective practice of business students on how it helps to develop their employability skills through various university strategies.

The study employed a simple random sample to select undergraduate level 400 students from the Universities under study (the University of Ghana, University of Professional Studies Ghana, Lancaster University Ghana and Webster University Ghana). Only final-year students with an informed judgement on the reflective practice and various institutional practices to acquire graduate employability skills were participated. The independent variables of the study are institutional strategies (curriculum design, extra curriculum, work-integrated learning, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement, internship job placement), the moderator is the reflective practice and the dependent variable of the study is graduate employability.

The study found that the moderation role of reflective practice had a significant effect on institutional strategies (extracurriculum, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement and internship job placement) and graduate employability.

The study was limited to only undergraduate business students from four universities ignoring other disciplines and postgraduate students.

The practical implication is that reflective practice must be an integral tool for various universities if they want students to use their strategies to sharpen their employability skills.

The social implications of the study emphasise the reflective practice of graduate students in universities. This implies that firms and other institutions must consider reflective practice for the maximum output of their employees.

The concept of employability is a bit complex as it concerns many stakeholders of the educational process; the students, academic staff, employers, policymakers and higher education; the private sector; and the government. Although examining students' employability development skills is of great importance, students' reflective practice tends to be overlooked in most studies. Therefore, the focus of this study examines how the reflective practice of graduate students promotes employability through the various university strategies, which had not been considered.

This paper explores the challenges, issues and benefits of reflective practice faced by work-based practitioners undertaking negotiated experiential learning. The study focuses upon the case of a ground-breaking UK-based Senior Leader Master's Degree Apprenticeship (SLMDA) programme which requires learners to develop and apply reflective practice skills through comprehensive work-based learning and research activities. Degree apprenticeships represent a significant opportunity for providers and employers to become more closely aligned in the joint development and promotion of innovative learning opportunities, yet the efficacy of individually negotiated, experiential learning and reflective practice for senior leaders within a challenging healthcare environment remains relatively unexplored from a tripartite perspective. This paper investigates the role of reflective practice within a leading degree apprenticeship programme which embraces this pedagogic approach and considers the potential barriers and benefits for learners and their organisations.

The paper begins by discussing the nature of reflective practice in the workplace and explores the growing importance of this activity in contemporary organisations. Theoretical and conceptual foundations relating to experiential learning and reflective practice are analysed and discussed. The SLMDA programme and NHS case organisation are described in detail. Qualitative data drawn from semi-structured interviews undertaken with learners, employers and personal academic tutors (PATs) are then analysed to identify the key issues and challenges encountered.

The study identifies the benefits of reflective practice, explores the challenges and issues that act as barriers to reflective practice and highlights the importance of the role of the personal academic tutor (PAT) and that of employers in supporting and developing reflective practice in one of the first SLMDA programmes to launch within the UK.

Although reflective practice and work-based research have attracted considerable scholarly activity, investigations have overwhelmingly been focused upon professions such as teaching and nursing and have explored challenges and issues from the perspective of the provider. This study explores reflective practice from the viewpoint of learners, employers and PATs and thereby seeks to complement and expand current understanding by developing a more holistic approach. This work will inform future programme design, practitioner skills development and employer support procedures as learners plan and prepare to facilitate work-based research projects within their organisations.

The purpose of this paper is to describe, examine and discuss scholarly literature on reflective leadership, a topic gaining momentum as a result of globalization. Despite the growing popularity of reflective leadership techniques, current and aspiring leaders are struggling to find ways in which to effectively practice reflection as a consequence of a lack of tangible available guidance.

Scholarly literature on reflective leadership was examined and presented in this paper. Discussion on the potential efficacy of reflective leadership is also included as the available literature on the topic is scarce in comparison to other more established leadership techniques.

Reflective leadership has been shown to improve organizational performance. The advent of globalization further intensifies the need for an effective approach leaders may deploy when assessing the long-term consequences of their actions and decisions. Therefore, methods to extend the theory and effective practice of reflective leadership are necessary to enable the future development of leaders.

This paper provides leaders with strategies for improving their leadership effectiveness. Practical techniques for utilizing reflective leadership are offered.

This paper describes the challenges faced by leaders when adopting reflective leadership as a way to improve organizational performance. A universal framework is presented for the effective practice of reflective leadership. This framework provides a basis for future research to test the efficacy of the model.

This paper provides an analysis of the experiences of undergraduate business students undertaking reflective writing as a series of incremental assessments. Using Moon’s map of learning (1999) as an analytical framework, it explores the value of reflective writing to students studying Asian culture in the business context during the first semester of 2017.

With 200 enrolments, the authors taught a core business course, Asian culture in the business context, in the first semester in 2017. The value of the assessments is analysed based on two data sources: written course feedback via a course survey and a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The written course feedback was collected by the university during the semester. Approximately, one-third of the students (n = 63) participated in the survey. The other data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups for nine students. Ethical approval for the collection of data was obtained from the university ethics committee.

The study confirms that reflective writing enables students to make meaning of their learning and transfer it to the cultural context of business practice. In addition, the assessments help the students develop logical thinking and academic writing skills. To increase the use of reflective assignments in business programmes, further research and teaching practice is required.

A limitation of this research was the relatively small sample size. Even though written survey feedback (n = 63) was used to complement the number of interviewees (n = 9), the findings of the data analysis may not represent the experiences of all students in the course. However, the data are valuable to bridge a gap between the existing research and teaching practice on the use of reflective writing in other disciplines and business education.

Although the transfer of academic knowledge to business practice is a core capability of the business programmes, business students may not obtain this during their study in the programme. Several students mentioned a lack of opportunity to apply reflective writing skills to other courses in their business degree, except one core course using a reflective essay as an assessment. This implies that the majority of the students in the degree are not exposed to situations that require them to critically evaluate, consolidate and consider what has been taught in relation to future practice.

Further research and practice will increase the popularity of reflective writing assessments in business programmes. As Hedberg suggests, reflective practice should be integrated into all classrooms in business education. Together with analysis and action, reflection should be a core capability for managers (Hedberg 2009). In addition, the business faculty needs to work in a reflective manner that encourages students to be familiar with the reflective practice.

This paper analyses the pedagogical aspects of reflection based on the experience of undergraduate business students undertaking reflective writing assessments.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a reflective essaying model as a useful way of encouraging learning in higher education. It aims to define reflective essaying as the free and serious play of mind on an interesting topic in an attempt to learn.

Reflective essaying is first introduced as a unifying concept in the model. Second, the model is introduced and justified especially in connection with De Montaigne's invention of the essai as a process of trying out opinions and testing responses. Third, the role of teachers as essaying mentors is discussed. Fourth, mentoring for essaying is examined as a learning transaction which exemplifies Dewey's transactional theory of experience and knowing.

Reflective essaying is promoted as an important way of letting students try to learn. Reflective mentors should promote student learning through reflective essaying which would encourage students to develop their own criticality.

The paper has implications for both teachers and students. Teachers are urged to become more like mentors and less like didactic instructors. As mentors they should be encouraging students to see academic writing as trying out, as essaying, as experimenting with, and as learning through the ideas and materials they reflect upon.

The paper is original in its approach in that it draws on a wide range of historical and contemporary sources on essaying in order to re‐evaluate and resurrect essaying as an experimental process of learning.