How to teach students to truly reflect

Students often see a reflection assignment as something to rush through, fail to see the point of it, or find it uncomfortable. The result? A hasty reflection they learn little from. With a structured approach, you can help students actually get something out of it.

Students learning about themselves is an important goal of education and fits the VU Amsterdam's educational vision. In practice, however, students often see a reflection assignment as something to rush through or simply find it uncomfortable. As a teacher, it is therefore important to emphasize the value of reflection. If you don't take it seriously, your students will sense that too. Feeling uncomfortable during reflection is part of the process and can actually be a sign of success. 

Good reflection builds self-awareness and helps students make plans to improve their behaviour in the future. With the five steps from Korthagen's reflection model, they do this properly. Below, we walk you through the steps so that you can teach them to your students. We have also developed a knowledge clip you can share with your students (available in Dutch and English).