ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the facilitation of reflective practice to aid and guide educators seeking to develop these soft skills and to assist them in developing educational programmes in the international classroom. Knowledge about learning, teaching, and education is a basic requirement. Few institutions, if any, would dispute the need for teaching staff to have an inventory of skills and expertise in course design and delivery as part of their hard-skill base. A quick survey of professional development offerings at higher education institutions (HEIs) reveals a broad range of opportunities for in-service training of academic staff in traditional pedagogical theories and didactic skills. Research on focused reflective practice for competence development has expanded considerably since the 1980s with broad ranging perspectives across disciplines. A common technique that allows occasions for reflection on new input and facilitates a shift in perspective is reflective writing, i.e. writing tasks that document reflective thinking in progress, often driven by guided prompts or a stated purpose.
