ABSTRACT
Gathering accurate, valid and reliable evidence of reflective practice is not a simple matter. Neither is gathering evidence that resources and learning strategies to develop reflective skills and capacities are efficacious, effective or successful. The project raised significant questions in relation to both of these issues.
Evidence for reflective practice, whether in- or on-action can be behavioural, verbal or written. A combination of some or all of these would constitute the strongest evidence. Arguably, the best evidence for reflective practice is to observe it happening in professional or field placement settings, particularly if it is possible to have some discussion of what was observed with the practitioner. If the observer is an experienced practitioner it may even be possible to intuit when reflection-in-action is taking place/has taken place from observing the practitioner’s verbal/non-verbal behaviour. However, often it is not possible to gather such strong observable behavioural evidence.
The chapter identifies strategies, other than observation, that can be used to gather evidence for professional reflective practice in programs of preservice and in-service professional education and in research. Some strategies, such as written vignettes may not be the most efficacious or effective and some recent research in neuroscience and
neuropsychiatry may explain why this is the case.
The chapter provides a number of recommendations regarding future research into professional reflective practice.
