Reflection in Action and Business Undergraduates: What Learning Curve?

Scho¨n (1991, p. 9) says 'reflective practice in its own right (poses) a set of questions that researchers avoid at their own peril'. Such questions as 'what is it appropriate to reflect on? … What kinds of phenomena? … What is an appropriate way of observing and reflecting on practice? In what sort of activity does reflection consist …? How ought we to represent, in words or other symbols, our discoveries about practice …? By telling stories … explanatory models? … how shall we assess the consequences of our choices (of strategy for different purposes)? What constitutes appropriate rigour? how do we know what we claim to know?' He asks these questions on the back of his statement that 'there is nothing in the reflective turn (reflective on the understandings already built into the skillful actions of everyday practice) that requires a uniform approach to reflection'. So, no uniform approach? Questions we avoid at our peril? What chance then for undergraduate students, bound by the rigour of final level studies, where weakness in the art of reflection (in a core module) will have a major impact on their degree--and subsequent career--achievements? How should their tutor advise them with their reflective efforts, when there is realisation all round that the process is not easy, not always achieving of results, not--in these students' case--bound by the usual conventions for completing work for assessment?