A longitudinal study exploring perspectives of participants regarding reflective practice during their transition from higher education to professional practice

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of reflective practice with a group of participants during their transition from higher education to professional practice. A longitudinal study was conducted with a group of nine students when they were on a Masters programme with a follow‐up a year into practice. The findings suggest that as students, they all considered reflective practice to be very important. After transition the importance of reflection had magnified due to the direct relevance of reflection to their practice. The methods of reflection had changed for some and had been embedded into their practice. The participants had strong positive and negative views regarding the teaching and assessment of reflection as students and practitioners. Implications for programme design and practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• reflective practice
• transition
• methods of reflection
• teaching and assessment