Doing reflective practice: A data-led way forward

Abstract

This article makes the case for an approach to reflective practice (RP) that is both evidence-based and data-led. We argue that, while RP within the field of TESOL enjoys a relatively high level of acceptance and status (perhaps even an orthodoxy), it has little corresponding knowledge base that demonstrates how RP 'gets done'. We propose a need for more concrete descriptions of RP in order for teachers and teacher educators to fully engage with its possibilities, and in order to establish a knowledge base for promoting and supporting research by and for practitioners. In this article, we focus on the approaches that might be adopted to promote data-led and evidence-based reflection. Such a data-led approach would encourage the use of professional data, alongside appropriate tools (presented below) as a means of aiding and promoting practitioner reflection. In the first part of the article, we briefly outline what we consider to be some of the main challenges facing RP; in the second, we put forward a number of tools and procedures for enhancing RP and making it collaborative, data-led, and evidence-based.