Week 2: Reflecting on the assessment of reflection!

Week 2 is already upon us and looking back over the first week, I can affirm that in many ways it has been productive, with most of my activity centring around the discussion forums where I’ve been introduced to some interesting new concepts and read numerous comments which have struck a chord with me professionally and personally. Where I have so far been less active is on my blog, and knowing myself I have to say this was entirely predictable. I think it’s really important at this early stage to consider the barriers which could impede me from developing sound blogging habits and making the ultimate commitment to pressing that ‘post’ button. In the case of this particular blog, the issue which most concerns me right now is that of assessment, and grappling with the very idea that it is possible to assess reflective output and dialogue.

When I did an English language teaching diploma course a couple of years ago, each of my six observed lessons were subjected to a rigorous assessment procedure, one aspect of which involved submitting a written post-lesson reflection which was then awarded a mark out of twenty. In most of these assessments I was given a high score and positive feedback, implying that I had a strong ability to reflect on my practice and draw out pertinent conclusions and priorities for future attention and action. So, on the reflection side of things at least, it was all going so well until it came to the final moderation of marks by the external assessor. I clearly remember the moment when I looked at my final marks and noticed that my reflection mark had been downgraded by one or two marks from a distinction to a pass, accompanied by a comment along the lines of “Not quite strong enough to warrant a distinction”.

Now not wanting to appear like a bad sport, I hope I will be forgiven for admitting that a few expletives nearly escaped my lips at that moment and I was left with a slightly bitter sensation and several unanswered questions pestering my mind: What was it about my reflection that underwhelmed the assessor so? What is it that enables such a precise differentiation to be made between an ‘average’ reflection and a ‘distinguished’ one? How can a person who I have barely met have the ultimate authority over the grading of my reflective ability? How can such an ability be assessed in the first place? Standard assessment criteria can only be partially fit for purpose here.

Attempting to put a more positive spin on all of this, hopefully the process of writing this blog will serve to answer some of the above questions and nurture in me a better understanding of the reflective process and the role of dialogue and feedback within it. From this point forward, I will try not to allow my reservations and lack of clarity surrounding the assessment aspect cloud my thinking and inhibit my expression of thoughts and ideas. Perhaps the only way to demystify the whole process is to engage with it and somehow appropriate it; to find my ‘blogging voice’.