Development of a tool to assess teachers’ level of reflective practice

This article describes the development, validation process, and construction of an instrument to assess a teacher’s level of reflection. It discusses the need for a commonly shared language to categorize the various levels involved in becoming a critically reflective teacher. The research design for the creation of the Survey of reflective practice: A tool for assessing development as a reflective practitioner initially called for identifying individuals who had conducted research on the development of reflective practice and then soliciting their expert judgment in establishing specific descriptors to define levels of reflective practice utilizing an online interactive format. The aim of this assessment tool is to provide a way to gauge how a prospective or practicing teacher is progressing as a reflective practitioner to serve as a vehicle for facilitating the development of structures to mediate higher order reflection.